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Omaha rabbi who attended Netanyahu speech ‘deeply moved’ by bipartisan support

“To see so many individuals wearing kippot, in the room that serves as the crown jewel of our democracy, will stay with me forever,” Rabbi Steven Abraham tells JNS.

Rep. Mike Flood arrives at the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill on Oct. 23, 2023. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
Rep. Mike Flood arrives at the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill on Oct. 23, 2023. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) invited Rabbi Steven Abraham of Beth El Synagogue, a Conservative congregation in Omaha, to join him for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress on July 24.

“The majesty of the event was greater than the speech itself, though it got the job done,” Abraham told JNS. “The prime minister may be a controversial figure both inside the beltway as well as in his own country, but to witness bipartisan support for the Jewish state and its right to defend itself was deeply moving.”

Flood said it was “an honor to host Rabbi Abraham” and that “Congress will continue to do the important work needed to support Israel in the ongoing fight and to protect the freedom and safety of Jewish people here at home and around the world.”

Abraham told JNS: “As I sat watching, taking it all in, to see so many individuals wearing kippot, in the room that serves as the crown jewel of our democracy, will stay with me forever.”

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