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| 1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, On March 11, 2011, in the Israeli town of Itamar, | ||||||
| 3 | five members of the Fogel family were brutally stabbed to death | ||||||
| 4 | in their home: Father Udi, Mother Ruth, eleven-year old Yoav, | ||||||
| 5 | four-year-old Elad, and 3-month-old Hadas; three of the Fogel's | ||||||
| 6 | other children survived the attacks to see their parents and | ||||||
| 7 | siblings murdered; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militant | ||||||
| 9 | political faction of the Fatah party, which is a member of the | ||||||
| 10 | Palestinian Liberation Organization, claims responsibility for | ||||||
| 11 | the attacks; Fatah's leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud | ||||||
| 12 | Abbas, has denounced the attacks internationally as | ||||||
| 13 | "despicable, immoral, and inhuman"; and
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| 14 | WHEREAS, Despite public condemnation of the attacks, the | ||||||
| 15 | Palestinian government has done little to end the rhetoric of | ||||||
| 16 | anti-Semitism prevalent among political youth movements such | ||||||
| 17 | as the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade; and
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| 18 | WHEREAS, Two days after the horrific attack on the Fogel | ||||||
| 19 | family, in a ceremony attended by Fatah leaders, the town of | ||||||
| 20 | Al-Bireh renamed their town square in honor of Dalal Mughrabi, | ||||||
| 21 | considered a martyr in Palestine for her role in organizing the | ||||||
| 22 | 1978 bus hijacking in which 35 Israelis and 10 of the | ||||||
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| 1 | Palestinian hijackers, including herself, were killed; and
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The renaming of a public square after Mughrabi, a | ||||||
| 3 | Palestinian militant who is reviled as a terrorist in Israel, | ||||||
| 4 | so soon after the Israeli national tragedy provoked an uproar | ||||||
| 5 | throughout the international Jewish community and imperils the | ||||||
| 6 | tenuous relationship between the two countries further; and
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| 7 | WHEREAS, The White House has issued a statement condemning | ||||||
| 8 | the terrorist attacks in Itamar and calling for the Palestinian | ||||||
| 9 | Authority to hold the perpetrators accountable; therefore, be | ||||||
| 10 | it
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| 11 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL | ||||||
| 12 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we condemn the al-Aqsa | ||||||
| 13 | Martyrs' Brigade for the Itamar murders of an innocent man and | ||||||
| 14 | woman and of innocent children in an act of terrorism; and be | ||||||
| 15 | it further
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| 16 | RESOLVED, We ask the Palestinian Authority to use every | ||||||
| 17 | possible means available to bring the Fogels' killers to | ||||||
| 18 | justice; and be it further | ||||||
| 19 | RESOLVED, We denounce the naming of the public square at | ||||||
| 20 | Al-Bireh in honor of Dalal Mughrabi as a glorification of | ||||||
| 21 | violence against the Israeli people; and be it further | ||||||
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| 1 | RESOLVED, We ask the United States Congress and the | ||||||
| 2 | President of the United States to condemn the naming of the | ||||||
| 3 | Dalal Mughrabi public square as an anti-Semitic act; and be it | ||||||
| 4 | further | ||||||
| 5 | RESOLVED, That we urge Israeli and Palestinian leaders to | ||||||
| 6 | come together in the wake of these unspeakable crimes and find | ||||||
| 7 | a meaningful compromise to end bloodshed in the region; and be | ||||||
| 8 | it further | ||||||
| 9 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
| 10 | delivered to the President of the United States, the Majority | ||||||
| 11 | and Minority Leaders of the United Senate, the Speaker and | ||||||
| 12 | Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, | ||||||
| 13 | the Consulate General of Israel, and the Consulate General of | ||||||
| 14 | Egypt.
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