A few hours prior to his address to the US Congress on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a memorial for the late Democratic Senator Joe Liberman of Connecticut, the first Orthodox Jew to serve in the US Senate.
The former senator and vice presidential candidate died March 27, 2024. His family held a memorial service for him at the Washington Hebrew Union Congregation in Washington, DC.
“I miss Joe terribly,” Netanyahu said from the podium at Washington Hebrew Union synagogue. “He left an indelible mark on me, just as he did on everyone who had the good fortune to know him.
“He was unfaltering in his integrity, his decency, his loyalty. He was an exemplary leader who combined clear and forceful convictions with a pragmatic approach to solving problems and to solving conflict.
“He was an American Patriot and a proud Jew who steadfastly stood with Israel and the Jewish people, especially during trying times, and it’s precisely during these trying times that I miss him even more,” Netanyahu noted.
“I met Joe in the early 80s when I was representing Israel in the United Nations and he was Attorney General in Connecticut. When we met he said one day, ‘You’ll be prime minister,” and I said, ‘One day you’ll be Senator or
maybe president.
“What struck me first when I met him was his moral clarity and his moral courage. This was apparent during his 24 years as senator and during his vice presidential candidacy.
“Over the years we met countless times. I treasured his wise counsel, his bright sense of humor; he had a way of saying it with a smile at the corner of his lips. He had that smile.
“I valued his unflagging friendship in good times and in bad. He was unwavering in defending Israel and expressed his support literally
up to the end of his life, literally up to the end of his days.
“Hours before his passing he was editing the final draft of a statement that he and Alan Dershowitz had co-authored, backing Israel’s war in Gaza. His last written words, I believe, were the following:
“‘We believe that Israel must be allowed to achieve its legitimate goal of disabling Hamas after October 7th.’
“Joe understood that what was at stake in this war was the survival of the Jewish State and hence the survival of the Jewish people. Throughout his distinguished career he also understood, as few do, how important the alliance between America and Israel was for the future of both countries.
“He knew that we must stand together against dangers that could threaten our common future. This is why he spent his last years as the head of
an organization United Against a Nuclear Iran. He knew how dangerous our world would become if Iran were ever to develop and acquire nuclear weapons.
“Over the years we often discussed how Iran was behind the entire Axis of Terror that threatened both our countries. He told this to Forbes Magazine a few days after the October 7th savagery. He said: ‘Focus on the problem, which is Iran.’ This was quintessential Joe, focused clear and right to the point.
“Dear Hadassah, you and your family have lost a loving husband, father and
grandfather. America has lost one of its finest public servants. The Jewish people have lost one of its most noble sons. Israel has lost one of its greatest champions, and I have lost a beloved friend and an irreplaceable comrade in arms. We shall always remember Joe. May his memory be a true blessing.”
