Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HJR0068
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Full Text of HJR0068  98th General Assembly

HJ0068ham001 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

 


 
HJ0068HAM001LRB098 19491 GRL 56961 a

1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 68

2    AMENDMENT NO. ___. Amend House Joint Resolution 68 by
3replacing everything after the heading with the following:
 
4    "WHEREAS, During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Pentagon
5officials discovered a trove of thousands of centuries-old
6artifacts from Iraq's Jewish community in the basement of
7Saddam Hussein's intelligence service headquarters; and
 
8    WHEREAS, These artifacts were improperly seized by force
9from their rightful owners by the regime of Saddam Hussein,
10which then stored them in a flooded basement, most likely in an
11effort to marginalize the culture and history of Mesopotamian
12Jews; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The artifacts were brought to the United States in
142003, where they were carefully cleaned, preserved,
15photographed, and displayed at the National Archives; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The United States Department of State has
2announced its plans to return the Iraqi Jewish Archive
3collection to the government of Iraq in the summer of 2014,
4claiming the Iraqi people are the rightful owners; and
 
5    WHEREAS, More than 40 American Jewish groups have expressed
6their deep misgivings about returning the artifacts to Iraq,
7citing "uncertain conditions" in Iraq and calling for the
8artifacts to be given to the synagogues of Iraqi Jews around
9the world; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The Pentagon official who discovered the
11collection, Harold Rhode, has likened the prospective return of
12the artifacts to "giving the personal effects of Jews killed in
13the Holocaust back to Germany"; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Religious documents and artifacts such as these
15are sacred and should properly be returned to the Jewish
16communities from which they were stolen; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The United States Senate has unanimously passed
18Senate Resolution 333 calling for the United States to
19renegotiate the return of the Iraqi Jewish Archive collection
20to Iraq; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, United States House Resolution 505, which echoes
2United States Senate Resolution 333, was introduced into the
3United States House of Representatives; therefore, be it
 
4    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
5NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
6SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge the United States
7Department of State to renegotiate with the Government of Iraq
8the provisions of the original agreement in order to ensure
9that the Iraqi Jewish Archive collection be kept in a place
10where its long-term preservation and care can be guaranteed;
11and be it further
 
12    RESOLVED, That we urge the relevant authorities to house
13the Iraqi Jewish Archive collection in a location that is
14accessible to scholars and to Iraqi Jews and their descendants
15who have a personal interest in it; and be it further
 
16    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
17delivered to the President of the United States, the Secretary
18of State of the United States, and the members of the Illinois
19congressional delegation.".