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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, On March 11, 2011, in the Israeli town of Itamar,
3five members of the Fogel family were brutally stabbed to death
4in their home: Father Udi, Mother Ruth, eleven-year old Yoav,
5four-year-old Elad, and 3-month-old Hadas; three of the Fogel's
6other children survived the attacks to see their parents and
7siblings murdered; and
 
8    WHEREAS, The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militant
9political faction of the Fatah party, which is a member of the
10Palestinian Liberation Organization, claims responsibility for
11the attacks; Fatah's leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud
12Abbas, has denounced the attacks internationally as
13"despicable, immoral, and inhuman"; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Despite public condemnation of the attacks, the
15Palestinian government has done little to end the rhetoric of
16anti-Semitism prevalent among political youth movements such
17as the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Two days after the horrific attack on the Fogel
19family, in a ceremony attended by Fatah leaders, the town of
20Al-Bireh renamed their town square in honor of Dalal Mughrabi,
21considered a martyr in Palestine for her role in organizing the
221978 bus hijacking in which 35 Israelis and 10 of the

 

 

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1Palestinian hijackers, including herself, were killed; and
 
2    WHEREAS, The renaming of a public square after Mughrabi, a
3Palestinian militant who is reviled as a terrorist in Israel,
4so soon after the Israeli national tragedy provoked an uproar
5throughout the international Jewish community and imperils the
6tenuous relationship between the two countries further; and
 
7    WHEREAS, The White House has issued a statement condemning
8the terrorist attacks in Itamar and calling for the Palestinian
9Authority to hold the perpetrators accountable; therefore, be
10it
 
11    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL
12ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we condemn the al-Aqsa
13Martyrs' Brigade for the Itamar murders of an innocent man and
14woman and of innocent children in an act of terrorism; and be
15it further
 
16    RESOLVED, We ask the Palestinian Authority to use every
17possible means available to bring the Fogels' killers to
18justice; and be it further
 
19    RESOLVED, We denounce the naming of the public square at
20Al-Bireh in honor of Dalal Mughrabi as a glorification of
21violence against the Israeli people; and be it further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, We ask the United States Congress and the
2President of the United States to condemn the naming of the
3Dalal Mughrabi public square as an anti-Semitic act; and be it
4further
 
5    RESOLVED, That we urge Israeli and Palestinian leaders to
6come together in the wake of these unspeakable crimes and find
7a meaningful compromise to end bloodshed in the region; and be
8it further
 
9    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
10delivered to the President of the United States, the Majority
11and Minority Leaders of the United Senate, the Speaker and
12Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives,
13the Consulate General of Israel, and the Consulate General of
14Egypt.