[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 87 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 87

To express the sense of the Senate regarding the rise of anti-Semitism 
   in Europe and to encourage greater cooperation with the European 
governments, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and 
 Co-operation in Europe in preventing and responding to anti-Semitism.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 25, 2015

 Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Reid, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Durbin, 
  Mr. Wicker, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Rounds, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Toomey, Mr. 
  Coons, Ms. Ayotte, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Coats, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. 
 Graham, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Blunt, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Boozman, Mr. King, Mr. 
     Heller, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Gardner, Ms. Warren, Mr. Cotton, Mrs. 
  Feinstein, Mr. McCain, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Markey, Mr. 
 Cruz, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Moran, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Hatch, Mrs. McCaskill, 
Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Franken, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. 
Booker, Mr. Peters, Ms. Cantwell, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Brown, 
Mr. Nelson, Mr. Warner, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Casey, Mr. Murphy, 
 Mr. Portman, and Mr. Scott) submitted the following resolution; which 
           was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
To express the sense of the Senate regarding the rise of anti-Semitism 
   in Europe and to encourage greater cooperation with the European 
governments, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and 
 Co-operation in Europe in preventing and responding to anti-Semitism.

Whereas an alarming increase in anti-Semitic attacks and incidents targeting 
        Jewish institutions, places of worship, and individuals continue to take 
        place in Europe and remain a challenge to stability and security;
Whereas, on January 9, 2015, 4 members of France's Jewish community were 
        murdered in an attack on a kosher supermarket following the deadly 
        terrorist attack on the Paris offices of newspaper Charlie Hebdo;
Whereas in a 2014 Anti-Defamation League survey of attitudes towards Jews in 
        more than 100 countries around the world--

    (1) 24 percent of those surveyed in Western Europe expressed anti-
Semitic views;

    (2) 34 percent of those surveyed in Eastern Europe expressed anti-
Semitic views; and

    (3) a majority of those surveyed worldwide either--

    G    (A) had not heard of the Holocaust; or

    G    (B) do not believe that the factual accounts and recorded history 
of the Holocaust are accurate;

Whereas the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights issued a report in 2013 
        on anti-Semitism in the 8 countries in which 90 percent of Europe's Jews 
        reside, namely France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Belgium, Sweden, 
        and the United Kingdom, in which 76 percent of respondents believed that 
        anti-Semitism had worsened where they lived during the previous 5-year 
        period;
Whereas France, which is home to Europe's largest Jewish population, reported 
        that--

    (1) twice as many French Jews immigrated to Israel during 2014 than had 
immigrated during 2013; and

    (2) for the first time ever, more Jews moved to Israel from France than 
from any other country in the world;

Whereas anti-Semitic acts committed and recorded in European countries in 2014 
        included--

    (1) murders and death threats against Jews; and

    (2) arson, graffiti, and property desecration at Jewish sites, 
including Jewish cemeteries, places of worship, schools, and community 
centers;

Whereas such acts led many Jewish individuals to conceal their religious 
        affiliation;
Whereas, on May 24, 2014, a gunman killed 4 people when he opened fire at the 
        Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, Belgium;
Whereas, on July 29, 2014, Molotov cocktails were thrown at the synagogue in 
        Wuppertal, Germany, which had been burned to the ground by the Nazis 
        during the 1938 Kristallnacht, and was rebuilt as recently as 2002;
Whereas the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and Italy issued a joint 
        statement in July 2014, proclaiming: ``Anti-Semitic rhetoric and 
        hostility against Jews, attacks on people of Jewish belief and 
        synagogues have no place in our societies'';
Whereas in September 2014, British Prime Minister David Cameron declared: 
        ``There can never be any excuse for anti-Semitism, and no disagreements 
        on politics or policy should ever be allowed to justify racism, 
        prejudice or extremism in any form'';
Whereas, on January 13, 2015, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke before 
        the French National Assembly and declared that anti-Semitism must be 
        dealt with ``powerfully'' and that ``there has been an intolerable rise 
        in acts of anti-Semitism in France [that] have not aroused the outrage 
        expected by our Jewish compatriots'';
Whereas at the Tenth Anniversary of the Organization for Security and 
        Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Berlin Conference on Anti-Semitism in 
        November 2014, Samantha Power, the United States Ambassador to the 
        United Nations, noted, ``Rising anti-Semitism is rarely the lone or the 
        last manifestation of intolerance in society. . . . When the human 
        rights and fundamental freedoms of Jews are repressed, the rights and 
        freedoms of other minorities and other sectors are often not far 
        behind'';
Whereas the OSCE's December 2014 Basel Declaration on Enhancing Efforts to 
        Combat Anti-Semitism condemned ``manifestations of anti-Semitism, 
        intolerance and discrimination against Jews'', and protected the 
        commitment to ``declare unambiguously that international developments or 
        political issues, including those with regard to the situation in the 
        Middle East, never justify anti-Semitism'';
Whereas the Government of the United States has consistently supported efforts 
        to address the rise of anti-Semitism through diplomatic efforts 
        including engagement in international organizations such as the OSCE;
Whereas the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism in the Department of 
        State, which is headed by the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-
        Semitism, has consistently supported European efforts to combat Anti-
        Semitism; and
Whereas, at the urging of the United States and 36 other countries, including 
        all European Union States, the United Nations General Assembly convened 
        the first ever meeting on anti-Semitism on January 22, 2015, to consider 
        ways to confront the long-standing and growing problem of anti-Semitism 
        worldwide: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate urges the Secretary of State, the 
Attorney General, and other relevant United States Government agencies 
and officials to work closely with the European Union and European 
governments to encourage further efforts to address anti-Semitism by--
            (1) undertaking prompt, impartial, and effective 
        investigations of any acts of violence motivated by anti-
        Semitism and fully prosecuting those responsible for such 
        violence within the extent of the law;
            (2) encouraging European countries and the European Union 
        to designate senior-level special envoys to monitor, prevent, 
        and combat anti-Semitism regionally and domestically;
            (3) cooperating with European counterparts on developing 
        programs to counter violent extremists engaged in anti-Semitic 
        activity;
            (4) encouraging the European Union and its Member States to 
        integrate measures to combat anti-Semitism into relevant 
        national strategies and action plans by including measures to 
        protect human rights, religious tolerance, and equality, and to 
        ensure hate crime and violence prevention;
            (5) increasing cooperation on training initiatives related 
        to hate crimes, particularly crimes motivated by anti-Semitism, 
        for law enforcement personnel, and improving monitoring and 
        reporting efforts;
            (6) empowering civil society, including diverse religious 
        and ethnic groups, civil and human rights organizations, and 
        the business community, to fight anti-Semitism and 
        discrimination;
            (7) convening regular consultations with Jewish community 
        organizations and non-Jewish civil and human rights 
        organizations to demonstrate visible support, listen to 
        concerns, and solicit recommendations on improving security and 
        supporting victims; and
            (8) reaffirming and implementing the recommendations in the 
        OSCE's December 2014 Basel Declaration on Enhancing Efforts to 
        Combat Anti-Semitism.
                                 <all>