[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 354 Introduced in House (IH)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 354
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the
safety and security of Jewish communities in Europe.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 9, 2015
Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Deutch, Mrs. Lowey, Mr.
Engel, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Ms. Granger, Mr. Israel, and Mr. Roskam)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the
safety and security of Jewish communities in Europe.
Whereas anti-Semitic rhetoric and acts, including violent attacks on people and
places of faith, have increased in frequency, variety, and severity in
many countries in Europe;
Whereas the French Service de Protection de la Communaute Juive (Jewish
Community Security Service) reported an increase in anti-Semitic acts in
France between 2013 to 2014 (from 423 acts to 851), including an
increase in violent ones (from 105 acts to 241); the Community Security
Trust reported an increase in anti-Semitic acts in the United Kingdom
between 2013 to 2014 (from 535 acts to 1,168), including an increase in
violent ones (from 69 to 81); and the Kantor Center for the Study of
Contemporary European Jewry reported an increase in anti-Semitic acts
between 2013 and 2014 in Germany (from 788 acts to 1076, including 36
violent acts to 76), Belgium (from 64 acts to 109, including 11 violent
acts to 30), Austria (from 137 acts to 255, including 4 violent acts to
9), and Italy (from 45 to 90, including 12 violent acts to 23);
Whereas the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported, in its latest available
statistics, 870 incidents in 2012 with anti-Jewish bias motivation,
including 13 violent incidents, and 625 incidents in 2013 with anti-
Jewish bias motivation, including four violent incidents;
Whereas anti-Semitic attacks have been increasingly directed at places of
ordinary daily life and places of worship, including--
(1) the violent extremist who pledged his loyalty to the Islamic State
of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and attacked a kosher supermarket in Paris,
France, January 9, 2015, murdering four Jewish patrons; and
(2) the violent extremist who pledged his loyalty to ISIS and attacked
the Great Synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark, during a bat mitzvah
celebration, February 15, 2015, murdering a member of the Jewish community
on security duty, and wounding two members of the Danish Police Service;
Whereas anti-Semitic attacks are threats to the fundamental freedoms, rights,
security, and diversity of all citizens, societies, and countries in
which they occur;
Whereas governments have primary responsibility for the security and safety of
all of their citizens and therefore primary responsibility for
monitoring, preventing, and responding to anti-Semitic violence;
Whereas Jewish community groups that focus on strengthening safety awareness,
crisis management, and preparedness are essential to keeping members of
the Jewish community safe, and complement efforts of government and
inter-governmental entities;
Whereas keeping members of Jewish communities safe requires government agencies,
intergovernmental institutions and agencies, and law enforcement
associations, formally recognizing and partnering with Jewish community
groups that focus on safety awareness and crisis management and
preparedness;
Whereas in the United States, United Kingdom, and France, there are examples of
formal recognition, partnership, training, and information-sharing
between government entities and Jewish community security groups that
have strengthened these countries and contributed to the safety and
security of Jewish communities;
Whereas Jewish community groups, consortia, and initiatives, have formed and are
forming to focus on safety awareness, crisis management, and
preparedness, and partner with law enforcement entities and thought
leaders;
Whereas information-sharing and action-focused campaigns, including the national
``If You See Something, Say Something'' campaign of the Department of
Homeland Security, which rely on members of the public reporting
suspicious activity to law enforcement personnel, are critical to
preventing violent attacks on individuals and communities;
Whereas relevant information, research, and analysis is vital to strengthening
the preparedness, prevention, mitigation, and response of Jewish
communities and law enforcement agencies;
Whereas broader efforts to counter violent extremism, and efforts to counter
anti-Semitism, should be integrated with each other as appropriate and
share best practices;
Whereas in the Berlin Declaration of April 29, 2004, participating States of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) condemned
anti-Semitism and committed themselves to specific actions to combat it,
including to combat hate crimes and to collect and maintain reliable
information and statistics about anti-Semitic crimes;
Whereas, on December 6, 2013, the Ministerial Council of the OSCE, which is
composed of the Foreign Ministers of participating States, adopted
Decision number 3/13 entitled ``Freedom of Thought, Conscience,
Religion, or Belief'', emphasizing ``the link between security and full
respect for the freedom of thought'', and committing member governments
to adopt ``policies to promote respect and protection for places of
worship and religious sites, religious monuments, cemeteries and shrines
against vandalism and destruction'', among other specific actions;
Whereas, on December 5, 2014, the Ministerial Council of the OSCE adopted
Declaration number 8, the Basel Declaration, on ``Enhancing Efforts to
Combat Anti-Semitism'', in which members of the Council stated, ``We
express our concern at the disconcerting number of anti-Semitic
incidents that continue to take place in the OSCE area and remain a
challenge to stability and security'' and ``We stress the importance of
States collaborating with civil society through effective partnerships
and strengthened dialogue and co-operation on combating anti-Semitism'';
and
Whereas in 2004, Congress passed the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act, which
established an Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, headed by a
Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) urges the United States Government, including the
Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the
Attorney General, and the Director of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, to work closely with European governments and
their law enforcement agencies, the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), European Union, Europol, and
Interpol, encouraging and enabling them to--
(A) formally recognize, partner with, and train
Jewish community groups focused on strengthening
preparedness, mitigation, and response related to anti-
Semitic attacks;
(B) support initiatives to research, analyze, and
strengthen the preparedness, mitigation, and response
of Jewish community groups and law enforcement agencies
to anti-Semitic attacks;
(C) share essential, relevant information with, and
have clear, open channels to receive and respond to
information from, Jewish community groups focused on
strengthening preparedness, mitigation, and response
related to anti-Semitic attacks;
(D) consider formal partnerships in the United
States, United Kingdom, and France, between government
entities and Jewish community security groups as
examples of government recognition of partnership,
training, and information-sharing, with Jewish
community security groups;
(E) support assessments of the--
(i) general environment of hate crimes, the
broader context for understanding the
environment for anti-Semitic attacks;
(ii) anti-Semitism environment that
includes gathering and analyzing data on crimes
committed, response from law enforcement, types
of attacks or incidents that are most
prevalent, types of targets that are most at-
risk, and that draw information from sources
that include Jewish groups, law enforcement
agencies, and independent human rights
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and other
civil society groups and leaders;
(iii) capabilities, resources, and
relationships of Jewish community groups with
local law enforcement agencies;
(iv) preparedness, including emergency
response plans and extent to which
decisionmaking is based on the best available
information, analysis, and practices, of Jewish
community groups that focus on the safety of
members of the Jewish community;
(v) response of local law enforcement
systems to anti-Semitic incidents, including
hate-crime reporting, how law enforcement
agencies usually receive reports of anti-
Semitic crimes, the initial course of action
when a report is filed, the extent to which
anti-Semitic crimes are prioritized and
prosecuted, the processes of investigating and
gaining information about the crime, and ways
in which law enforcement agencies work with
prosecutors; and
(vi) communication and cooperation between
European governments, intergovernmental, and
interorganizational entities on combating anti-
Semitism, especially anti-Semitic violence;
(F) make necessary adjustments to their strategies
and efforts to combat anti-Semitism, particularly
violent attacks on Jewish communities, based on these
assessments;
(G) help Jewish communities develop common,
baseline safety standards, especially for community
service organizations that focus on preparedness,
mitigation, and response, including for training,
controlling access to physical facilities, physical
security measures, crisis communications, emergency
exercises and simulations, mapping access to
facilities, and sharing of information with law
enforcement agencies and other partners;
(H) develop and implement a standardized pan-
European information-sharing, communication, and
alerting system between governments, inter-governmental
agencies, and Jewish communities, that functions day-
round and year-round and includes training for
personnel implementing such a system;
(I) develop and implement safety-awareness and
suspicious activity reporting campaigns;
(J) integrate, as appropriate, efforts to combat
violent extremism and efforts to combat anti-Semitism
with each other and share best practices related to
both;
(K) ensure law enforcement personnel are
effectively trained to monitor, prevent, and respond to
anti-Semitic violence, and partner with Jewish
communities;
(L) reaffirm and work for the implementation of the
OSCE declarations, decisions, and other commitments,
particularly those focusing on anti-Semitism;
(M) ensure senior officials, with commensurate
authority and resources, have been appointed or
designated to combat anti-Semitism and collaborate with
governmental and inter-governmental agencies, law
enforcement agencies, Jewish community groups, and
other civil society groups; and
(N) work closely with associations of law
enforcement professionals, and other relevant
professional entities, to combat anti-Semitism and
particularly to actualize the goals of this resolution;
(2) reaffirms its support for the mandate of the United
States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism as
part of the broader policy priority of fostering international
religious freedom;
(3) urges the Secretary of State to continue robust United
States reporting on anti-Semitism by the Department of State
and the Special Envoy to Combat and Monitor Anti-Semitism; and
(4) calls on the President to report to Congress, not later
than one year after this resolution is passed, on the United
States Government's implementation of this resolution.
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