Full Text of HJR0068 98th General Assembly
HJ0068eng 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 68
| 2 | | WHEREAS, During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Pentagon | 3 | | officials discovered a trove of thousands of centuries-old | 4 | | artifacts from Iraq's Jewish community in the basement of | 5 | | Saddam Hussein's intelligence service headquarters; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, These artifacts were improperly seized by force | 7 | | from their rightful owners by the regime of Saddam Hussein, | 8 | | which then stored them in a flooded basement, most likely in an | 9 | | effort to marginalize the culture and history of Mesopotamian | 10 | | Jews; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, The artifacts were brought to the United States in | 12 | | 2003, where they were carefully cleaned, preserved, | 13 | | photographed, and displayed at the National Archives; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, The United States Department of State has | 15 | | announced its plans to return the Iraqi Jewish Archive | 16 | | collection to the government of Iraq in the summer of 2014, | 17 | | claiming the Iraqi people are the rightful owners; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, More than 40 American Jewish groups have expressed | 19 | | their deep misgivings about returning the artifacts to Iraq, | 20 | | citing "uncertain conditions" in Iraq and calling for the | 21 | | artifacts to be given to the synagogues of Iraqi Jews around |
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| 1 | | the world; and | 2 | | WHEREAS, The Pentagon official who discovered the | 3 | | collection, Harold Rhode, has likened the prospective return of | 4 | | the artifacts to "giving the personal effects of Jews killed in | 5 | | the Holocaust back to Germany"; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Religious documents and artifacts such as these | 7 | | are sacred and should properly be returned to the Jewish | 8 | | communities from which they were stolen; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, The United States Senate has unanimously passed | 10 | | Senate Resolution 333 calling for the United States to | 11 | | renegotiate the return of the Iraqi Jewish Archive collection | 12 | | to Iraq; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, United States House Resolution 505, which echoes | 14 | | United States Senate Resolution 333, was introduced into the | 15 | | United States House of Representatives; therefore, be it | 16 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 17 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 18 | | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge the United States | 19 | | Department of State to renegotiate with the Government of Iraq | 20 | | the provisions of the original agreement in order to ensure | 21 | | that the Iraqi Jewish Archive collection be kept in a place |
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| 1 | | where its long-term preservation and care can be guaranteed; | 2 | | and be it further
| 3 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the relevant authorities to house | 4 | | the Iraqi Jewish Archive collection in a location that is | 5 | | accessible to scholars and to Iraqi Jews and their descendants | 6 | | who have a personal interest in it; and be it further | 7 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 8 | | delivered to the President of the United States, the Secretary | 9 | | of State of the United States, and the members of the Illinois | 10 | | congressional delegation.
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