SJ0074 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SJ0074 LRB094 19564 RCE 55659 r

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, On October 26, 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, declared that "Israel must be wiped off the map", described Israel as "a disgraceful blot [on] the face of the Islamic world", and declared that "[a]nybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury"; and

WHEREAS, President Ahmadinejad told reporters on December 8, 2005, at an Islamic conference in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, "Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces ... although we don't accept this claim"; and

WHEREAS, Iran funds, trains, and openly supports terrorist groups that are determined to destroy Israel; and

WHEREAS, On December 14, 2005, President Ahmadinejad said live on Iranian television, "[T]hey have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets"; and

WHEREAS, The leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran, beginning with its founder, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, have issued statements of hate against the United States, Israel, and Jewish peoples; and

WHEREAS, An estimated six million Jews were killed in the Nazi Holocaust; and

WHEREAS, The remarks of President Ahmadinejad have been denounced around the world and condemned by, among others, the political leaders of the United States, Arab nations, Israel, Europe, and the United Nations; and

WHEREAS, The United Nations, in General Assembly Resolution 181 (1947), recommended the adoption of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union for Palestine, which called for an independent Jewish State; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that we, in adopting this resolution, condemn the recent statement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that denied the occurrence of the Holocaust and supported moving the State of Israel to Europe, support the demand of the United States Congress for an official apology for these damaging, anti-Semitic statements that ignore history, human suffering, and the loss of life during the Holocaust, and support the call of the United States Congress for Iran to end its support for international terrorism and join other Middle Eastern countries in seeking a successful outcome of the Middle East peace process; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be presented to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Iranian Ambassador to the United States, the President of the United States, the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of the United States Senate, and the members of the Illinois Congressional delegation.