Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) released the following statement after Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s speech to a joint session of Congress. Senator Warnock, who is a proud member of the Senate Caucus on Black-Jewish Relations, also welcomed Macon Temple Beth Israel’s Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar to attend today’s joint address as the Senator’s guest.

“As a steadfast ally and friend of the state of Israel, hearing from President Isaac Herzog was inspiring and invigorating, and I was especially glad to have Macon Temple Beth Israel’s Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar attend today’s address as my guest. Her leadership, resilience and grace after the recent vile antisemitic episode in Macon is a clear reminder why we must actively and urgently combat antisemitism and prejudice in our world,” said Reverend Warnock, who has long supported Georgia’s Jewish community, and has championed stronger relationships between Georgia’s Black and Jewish communities as the pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. “It is the shared histories of Jewish and Black communities experiencing oppression and hate that unite our two vibrant communities and guide me personally in my embrace of Dr. King’s declaration that ‘Israel’s right to exist as a state in security is incontestable.’   

Reverend Warnock continued: “As President Herzog made clear today, both America and Israel are safer and stronger when our two nations work together to face any threat that comes our way. As a voice for Georgia in the U.S. Senate, I will seek to continue building on the work I have already engaged in in bringing our two nations closer.”