2018 -- S 2827

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LC005501

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2018

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

COMMEMORATING "HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY" ON APRIL 12, 2018, AND

RECOGNIZING THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF ISRAEL'S ESTABLISHMENT

     Introduced By: Senators Goldin, Miller, Raptakis, Ruggerio, and McCaffrey

     Date Introduced: April 24, 2018

     Referred To: Recommended for Immediate Consideration

     WHEREAS, Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah), is a solemn day of

remembrance honoring the victims of the Holocaust and those who showed resistance and

amazing heroism during this horrendous period in our world history. Seventy-three years ago,

Soviet forces and shortly thereafter, Allied forces, liberated Auschwitz and other concentration

camps, liberating thousands of suffering and starving prisoners; and

     WHEREAS, Holocaust is the term used to refer to the period in world history from 1933

to 1945, before and during World War II, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis systematically and

barbarically persecuted and murdered nearly six million Jews and another five million non-Jews

throughout Europe because they were perceived to be "racially inferior" and "life unworthy of

life"; and

     WHEREAS, This year marks the 75th Anniversary of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

and 54th Anniversary of the dedication of the Memorial to the Six Million. The citizens of Rhode

Island, having our own rich heritage of resistance and intolerance for those who would trample

individual liberty and dignity, applaud the courageous efforts of the ghetto residents for whom

day to day survival was a relentless struggle. Their brave actions in April and May of 1943 stand

as testimony to a rare and indomitable human spirit and extraordinary courage exhibited in the

darkest hours of man's inhumanity; and

     WHEREAS, Holocaust Remembrance Day is a day to make a special effort to remember

Zachor. It is a time to applaud the men and women who endured and who bravely rebuilt lives

that had been so cruelly shattered. It is also a time to acknowledge, with admiration, those heroes

who risked and often lost their own lives in order to save others; and

     WHEREAS, On May 14, 1948, the people of Israel proclaimed the establishment of the

sovereign and independent State of Israel, and the United States government established full

diplomatic relations after Israel's first election in 1949; and

     WHEREAS, The establishment of the modern State of Israel as a homeland for the

Jewish people followed the destruction of much of European Jewry during the Holocaust; and

     WHEREAS, The desire of the Jewish people to establish an independent modern State of

Israel is directly linked to the existence of the historic kingdom of Israel established in the land of

Israel 3,000 years ago; and

     WHEREAS, Since its establishment 70 years ago, the modern State of Israel has rebuilt

the nation, forged a new and dynamic society, and created a thriving economic, political, cultural,

and intellectual life despite the heavy burdens of war, terrorism, and unjustified diplomatic and

economic boycotts against the people of Israel; and

     WHEREAS, The people of Israel, in the spirit of Israel's Declaration of Independence,

have established a vibrant, pluralistic, democratic political system, which includes freedom of

speech, association, and religion; a vigorously free press; free, fair and open elections; the rule of

law; a fully independent judiciary; and other democratic principles and practices; now, therefore

be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island Providence Plantations

hereby commemorates "Holocaust Remembrance Day" on April 12, 2018. We call upon our

fellow citizens to join us in remembering and honoring the amazing courage and the enormous

sacrifices of all those killed during the Holocaust, and we reaffirm our pledge to work to eradicate

bigotry, prejudice, brutality and injustice through education and vigilance; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this Senate hereby recognizes the historic significance of the 70th

Anniversary of the reestablishment of the sovereign and independent State of Israel as a

homeland for the Jewish people; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the United States Holocaust Museum, the

Rhode Island Holocaust Museum, Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island, Mr. Adam

Greenman, President and CEO of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and Yehuda

Yaakov, Consul General of Israel.

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