HJ0068 EngrossedLRB098 19491 GRL 54666 r

1
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 68

 
2    WHEREAS, During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Pentagon
3officials discovered a trove of thousands of centuries-old
4artifacts from Iraq's Jewish community in the basement of
5Saddam Hussein's intelligence service headquarters; and
 
6    WHEREAS, These artifacts were improperly seized by force
7from their rightful owners by the regime of Saddam Hussein,
8which then stored them in a flooded basement, most likely in an
9effort to marginalize the culture and history of Mesopotamian
10Jews; and
 
11    WHEREAS, The artifacts were brought to the United States in
122003, where they were carefully cleaned, preserved,
13photographed, and displayed at the National Archives; and
 
14    WHEREAS, The United States Department of State has
15announced its plans to return the Iraqi Jewish Archive
16collection to the government of Iraq in the summer of 2014,
17claiming the Iraqi people are the rightful owners; and
 
18    WHEREAS, More than 40 American Jewish groups have expressed
19their deep misgivings about returning the artifacts to Iraq,
20citing "uncertain conditions" in Iraq and calling for the
21artifacts to be given to the synagogues of Iraqi Jews around

 

 

HJ0068 Engrossed- 2 -LRB098 19491 GRL 54666 r

1the world; and
 
2    WHEREAS, The Pentagon official who discovered the
3collection, Harold Rhode, has likened the prospective return of
4the artifacts to "giving the personal effects of Jews killed in
5the Holocaust back to Germany"; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Religious documents and artifacts such as these
7are sacred and should properly be returned to the Jewish
8communities from which they were stolen; and
 
9    WHEREAS, The United States Senate has unanimously passed
10Senate Resolution 333 calling for the United States to
11renegotiate the return of the Iraqi Jewish Archive collection
12to Iraq; and
 
13    WHEREAS, United States House Resolution 505, which echoes
14United States Senate Resolution 333, was introduced into the
15United States House of Representatives; therefore, be it
 
16    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
17NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
18SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge the United States
19Department of State to renegotiate with the Government of Iraq
20the provisions of the original agreement in order to ensure
21that the Iraqi Jewish Archive collection be kept in a place

 

 

HJ0068 Engrossed- 3 -LRB098 19491 GRL 54666 r

1where its long-term preservation and care can be guaranteed;
2and be it further
 
3    RESOLVED, That we urge the relevant authorities to house
4the Iraqi Jewish Archive collection in a location that is
5accessible to scholars and to Iraqi Jews and their descendants
6who have a personal interest in it; and be it further
 
7    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
8delivered to the President of the United States, the Secretary
9of State of the United States, and the members of the Illinois
10congressional delegation.