Whereas the United States Government has consistently
supported efforts to address the rise in anti-Semitism through its bilateral
relationships and through engagement in international organizations such as the
United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
and the Organization of American States;
Whereas, in 2004, Congress passed the Global Anti-Semitism
Review Act (Public Law 108–332), which established an Office to Monitor and
Combat Anti-Semitism, headed by a Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat
Anti-Semitism;
Whereas the Department of State, the Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE, and others have reported that
periods of Arab-Israeli tension have sparked an increase in attacks against
Jewish communities around the world and comparisons of policies of the
Government of Israel to those of the Nazis and that, despite growing efforts by
governments to promote Holocaust remembrance, the Holocaust is frequently
invoked as part of anti-Semitic harassment to threaten and offend Jews;
Whereas, since the commencement of Israel’s military
operation in Gaza on December 27, 2008, a substantial increase in anti-Semitic
violence, including physical and verbal attacks, arson, and vandalism against
synagogues, cemeteries, and Holocaust memorial sites, has been reported;
Whereas, among many other examples of the dramatic rise of
anti-Semitism around the world, over 220 anti-Semitic incidents have been
reported to the Community Security Trust in London since December 27, 2008,
approximately eight times the number recorded during the same period last year,
and the main Jewish association in France, Counsel Representatif des
Institutions Juives de France, recorded more than 100 attacks in January,
including car bombs launched at synagogues, a difference from 20 to 25 a month
for the previous year;
Whereas, interspersed with expressions of legitimate
criticism of Israeli policy and actions, anti-Semitic imagery and comparisons
of Jews and Israel to Nazis have been widespread at demonstrations in the
United States, Europe, and Latin America against Israel’s actions, and placards
held at many demonstrations across the globe have compared Israeli leaders to
Nazis, accused Israel of carrying out a Holocaust
against
Palestinians, and equated the Jewish Star of David with the Nazi
swastika;
Whereas, in some countries, demonstrations have included
chants of death to Israel
, expressions of support for suicide
terrorism against Israeli or Jewish civilians, and have been followed by
violence and vandalism against synagogues and Jewish institutions;
Whereas some government leaders have exemplified courage
and resolve against this trend, including President Nicolas Sarkozy of France,
who said he utterly condemned the unacceptable violence, under the
pretext of this conflict, against individuals, private property, and religious
buildings
, and assured that these acts would not go
unpunished
, Justice Minister of the Netherlands Ernst Hirsch Ballin,
who announced on January 14, 2009, that he would investigate allegations of
anti-Semitism and incitement to hatred and violence at anti-Israel
demonstrations, and parliamentarians who have voiced concern, such as the
British Parliament's All-Party Group Against Anti-Semitism, which expressed its
horror as a wave of anti-Semitic incidents has affected the Jewish
community
;
Whereas, despite these actions, too few government leaders
in Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America have taken action against the
anti-Semitic environments in their countries and in some cases have even
promoted violence;
Whereas other leaders have made hostile pronouncements
against Israel and Jews, including the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, who
called Israel’s actions a Holocaust against the Palestinian
people
and singled out Venezuela’s Jewish community, demanding that
they publicly renounce Israel’s barbaric acts
and in so doing
implying that the Jewish community is co-responsible for any actions by the
Government of Israel and thus a legitimate target, the leader of Hamas, Mahmoud
al-Zahar, who recently called for Jewish children to be attacked around the
world, and the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, who vowed to
confer the status of martyr
on anyone who dies in this
holy struggle against World Zionism
;
Whereas incitement to violence against Jews also continues
in state-run media, particularly in the Middle East, where government-owned,
government-sanctioned, or government-controlled publishing houses publish
newspapers which promulgate anti-Jewish stereotypes and the myth of the Jewish
blood libels in editorial cartoons and articles, produce and broadcast
anti-Semitic dramatic and documentary series, and produce Arabic translations
of anti-Semitic tracts such as The Protocols of the Elders of
Zion
and Mein Kampf
;
Whereas Jewish communities face an environment in which
the convergence of anti-Semitic sentiment and demonization of Israel in the
public debate have fostered a hostile environment and a sense of
global
insecurity in certain
countries, especially in places such as Belgium,
Argentina, Venezuela, Spain, and South Africa;
Whereas, in response, the United States Government and
other governments and multilateral institutions have supported international
government and civil society efforts to monitor and report on anti-Semitic
activities and introduce preventive initiatives such as tolerance education and
Holocaust Remembrance; and
Whereas challenges still remain, with the governments of
many countries failing to implement and fund preventive efforts, accurately
track and report anti-Semitic crimes, and prosecute offenders: Now, therefore,
be it
That Congress—
(1)unequivocally
condemns all forms of anti-Semitism and rejects attempts to rationalize
anti-Jewish hatred or attacks as a justifiable expression of disaffection or
frustration over political events in the Middle East or elsewhere;
(2)decries the
comparison of Jews to Nazis perpetrating a Holocaust or genocide as a
pernicious form of anti-Semitism, an insult to the memory of those who perished
in the Holocaust, and an affront both to those who survived and the righteous
gentiles who saved Jewish lives at peril to their own and who fought to defeat
the Nazis;
(3)calls on leaders
to speak out against manifestations of anti-Semitism that have entered the
public debate about the Middle East;
(4)applauds those
foreign leaders who have condemned anti-Semitic acts and calls on those who
have yet to take firm action against anti-Semitism in their countries to do
so;
(5)reaffirms its
support for the mandate of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat
Anti-Semitism; and
(6)urges the
Secretary of State—
(A)to maintain the
fight against anti-Semitism as a foreign policy priority of the Untied States
and to convey the concerns of the United States Government in bilateral
meetings;
(B)to continue to
raise with United States allies in the Middle East their failure to halt
incitement to violence against Jews, including through the use of
government-run media;
(C)to urge
governments to promote tolerance education and establish mechanisms to monitor,
investigate, and punish anti-Semitic crimes, including through utilization of
the education, law enforcement training, and civil society capacity building
initiatives of the Tolerance and Non-discrimination Department of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE);
(D)to swiftly
appoint the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism of the Department
of State;
(E)to ensure that
Department of State Annual Country Reports on Human Rights and International
Religious Freedom Reports continue to report on incidents of anti-Semitism and
the efforts of foreign governments to address the problem;
(F)to provide
necessary training and tools for United States embassies and missions to
recognize these trends; and
(G)to ensure that
initiatives of the United States Government to train law enforcement abroad
incorporate tools to address anti-Semitism.
April 2, 2009
Reported without amendment and with amendments to the
preamble