[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 71 (Tuesday, June 4, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4979-S4981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REITERATING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING ANTI-SEMITISM AND
RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE IN EUROPE
The Senate proceeded to consider the resolution (S. Res. 253)
reiterating the sense of the Senate regarding Anti-Semitism and
religious tolerance in Europe, which was reported from the Committee on
Foreign Relations with an amendment.
[Omit the parts in black brackets and insert the parts printed in
italic.]
S. Res. 253
Whereas many countries in Europe are protectors of human
rights and have stood as shining examples of freedom and
liberty to the world;
Whereas freedom of religion is guaranteed by all
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
participating states;
Whereas the 1990 Copenhagen Concluding Document declares
all participating OSCE States will ``unequivocally condemn''
anti-Semitism and take effective measures to protect
individuals from anti-Semitic violence;
Whereas anti-Semitism was one of the most destructive
forces unleashed during the last century;
Whereas there has been a startling rise in attacks on
Jewish community institutions in cities across Europe in the
last 18 months;
Whereas these violent incidents have targeted youth such as
an assault on a Jewish teen soccer team in Bondy, France on
April 11, 2002, and the brutal beating of two Jewish students
in Berlin, Germany, the burning of Jewish schools in Creteil
and Marseille, France and even the stoning of a bus carrying
Jewish schoolchildren;
Whereas attacks on Jewish houses of worship have been
reported in many cities including Antwerp, Brussels, and
Marseille and as recently as April 22 an automatic weapon
attack on a synagogue in Charleroi, Belgium;
Whereas the statue in Paris of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who
was the victim of anti-Semitic accusations and became a
symbol of this prejudice in the last century, was defaced
with anti-Jewish emblems;
Whereas the French Ministry of Interior documented hundreds
of crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions in France in
just the first two weeks of April, 2002;
Whereas the revitalization of European right wing
movements, such as the strong showing of the National Front
party in France's presidential election, reaffirm the urgency
for governments to assert a strong public stance against
anti-Semitism, as well as other forms of xenophobia and
intolerance;
Whereas some government leaders have repeatedly dismissed
the significance of these attacks and attributed them to
hooliganism and Muslim immigrant youth expressing solidarity
with Palestinians;
Whereas the legitimization of armed struggle against
Israeli civilians by some governments voting in the U.N.
Commission on
[[Page S4980]]
Human Rights has emboldened some individuals and
organizations to lash out against Jews and Jewish
institutions;
Whereas hostility, frustration and disaffection over
violence in the Middle East must never be permitted to
justify personal attacks on Jewish citizens;
Whereas when governments have raised a strong moral voice
against anti-Semitism and worked to promote and implement
educational initiatives which foster tolerance, we have seen
success; and
Whereas Congress recognizes the vital historical alliance
between nations of Europe and the United States and has high
regard for the commitment of our allies to fighting
discrimination, hatred, and violence on racial, ethnic, or
religious grounds: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,
[(a) That it is the sense of the Senate that Congress calls
upon European governments to--
[(1) acknowledge publicly and without reservation the anti-
Semitic character of the attacks as violations of human
rights; and to utilize the full power of its law enforcement
tools to investigate the crimes and punish the perpetrators;
[(2) decry the rationalizing of anti-Jewish attitudes and
even violent attacks against Jews as merely a result of
justified popular frustration with the conflict in the Middle
East; and
[(3) take measures to protect and ensure the security of
Jewish citizens and their institutions, many of whom suffered
so grievously in Europe in the past century.
[(b) Further, it is the sense of the Senate that--
[(1) both Congress and the Administration must raise this
issue in its bilateral contacts;
[(2) the State Department's Annual Country Reports on Human
Rights should thoroughly document this phenomenon, not just
in Europe but worldwide; and
[(3) the Commission on International Religious Freedom
should continue to document and report on this phenomenon in
Europe and worldwide.]
That (a) the Senate calls upon European governments to--
(1) acknowledge publicly and without reservation the anti-
Semitic character of the attacks as violations of human
rights;
(2) utilize the full power of their law enforcement tools
to investigate the crimes and punish the perpetrators;
(3) decry the rationalizing of anti-Jewish attitudes and
even violent attacks against Jews as merely a result of
justified popular frustration with the conflict in the Middle
East;
(4) take measures to protect and ensure the security of
Jewish citizens and their institutions, many of whom suffered
so grievously in Europe in the past century; and
(5) make a concerted effort to cultivate an atmosphere of
cooperation and reconciliation among the Jewish and non-
Jewish residents of Europe.
(b) Further, it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) both Congress and the Administration should raise this
issue in their bilateral contacts;
(2) the State Department's Annual Country Reports on Human
Rights should thoroughly document this phenomenon, not just
in Europe but worldwide; and
(3) the Commission on International Religious Freedom
should continue to document and report on this phenomenon in
Europe and worldwide.
Mr. BIDEN. I rise today to support S. Res. 253, which condemns the
growing intolerance and acts of persecution against Jews in many
European countries.
The Resolution urges European governments to own up to this growing
evil, to reject any excuse for it, to use every tool at hand to combat
these crimes, and to punish the criminals.
Finally, the Resolution calls upon European governments to cultivate
an atmosphere of cooperation and reconciliation among the continent's
Jewish and non-Jewish residents.
Making Jews scapegoats for societal ills has an ominous history. The
Nazis' Holocaust was preceded by centuries of gradually increasing
anti-Semitism--first by religious dogma, then by racial pseudo-
theories--spread through preaching, villainous written propaganda,
exclusionary laws, and finally pogroms and massacres.
The so-called civilized governments of the twentieth century largely
remained silent and failed to confront the rising tide of anti-Jewish
persecution. As a result, they set the stage for the murder of the vast
majority of European Jewry.
Some of the individuals committing anti-Semitic acts today are the
affluent beneficiaries of unprecedented Western European prosperity.
Some may be bigots. Others may simply be ignorant of the hideous
causality of the Holocaust, now more than fifty years in the past.
Still others are mindless thugs.
In France, where a large number of violent attacks have occurred,
many of the perpetrators are young anti-Israel Arab immigrants from
North Africa who feel alienated from their host country.
Nearly all European leaders have condemned physical violence against
Jews, although occasionally politicians have tempered their criticism
with ill-considered advice. An unfortunate example of this was the
well-intentioned Mayor of Berlin who, after a vicious attack on an
Orthodox Jewish American tourist, warned Jewish Berliners that if they
didn't want to be similarly beaten up on the street, they shouldn't
wear clothing identifying them as Jews.
Rhetorical anti-Semitism has been met with even less principle.
Instead, verbal expressions of anti-Semitism in Europe are increasingly
being trivialized.
For example, we might consider the recent London dinner party at
which the French Ambassador to the U.K. made a demeaning, scatological
reference to the State of Israel. What happened when the story was
leaked to the press? The major scandal was the so-called
``indiscretion'' of other guests for having revealed the French
Ambassador's crude, bigoted, and amateurish behavior!
Or we might note the wife of Wim Duisenberg, the President of the
European Central Bank, who after flying the PLO flag from her house in
Amsterdam complained that ``Israel is being kept going by those rich
Jews in America.'' Her highly respected husband removed the PLO flag
but remained silent on her incendiary political commentary.
A similar example of objectivity came from Oslo where a member of the
Norwegian Nobel Committee declared that she would like to rescind
Shimon Peres's Nobel Peace Prize. Needless to say, she didn't choose to
mention, let alone criticize, Yasser Arafat or the suicide bombers whom
he aids and abets.
Even venerable European political institutions no longer seem immune
to the anti-Semitic virus. Consider the blatant attempt to woo right-
wing voters by Juergen Moellemann, one of the top officials of
Germany's Free Democrats, a party with a proud history of liberalism
and tolerance. Moellemann explained that the Deputy Director of the
Central Council of Jews in Germany had brought on anti-Semitism himself
by his supposedly aggressive behavior as a television talk-show host!
If this weird argumentation weren't so dangerous, it might almost be
funny. But it's not.
To Germany's credit, Moellemann's warped demagoguery has come in for
massive public criticism, including from both Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder and his conservative challenger Bavarian Minister-President
Edmund Stoiber.
I want to believe that most Europeans reject the nauseating anti-
Semitism of the last several months. I want to believe that a trans-
Atlantic community of shared values still links us with the continent.
But without continuous efforts by European statesmen to combat anti-
Semitism, my optimism may prove to be naive.
Instant communication means that how Europe responds to these acts of
hatred matters around the world. Europe must make bigots, not Jews, its
outcasts. No temporizing, no rationalizing, and no excuses.
Toward that end, I urge my colleagues to vote for S. Res. 253.
The committee amendment was agreed to.
The resolution (S. Res. 253), as amended, was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, as amended, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 253
Whereas many countries in Europe are protectors of human
rights and have stood as shining examples of freedom and
liberty to the world;
Whereas freedom of religion is guaranteed by all
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
participating states;
Whereas the 1990 Copenhagen Concluding Document declares
all participating OSCE States will ``unequivocally condemn''
anti-Semitism and take effective measures to protect
individuals from anti-Semitic violence;
Whereas anti-Semitism was one of the most destructive
forces unleashed during the last century;
[[Page S4981]]
Whereas there has been a startling rise in attacks on
Jewish community institutions in cities across Europe in the
last 18 months;
Whereas these violent incidents have targeted youth such as
an assault on a Jewish teen soccer team in Bondy, France on
April 11, 2002, and the brutal beating of two Jewish students
in Berlin, Germany, the burning of Jewish schools in Creteil
and Marseille, France and even the stoning of a bus carrying
Jewish schoolchildren;
Whereas attacks on Jewish houses of worship have been
reported in many cities including Antwerp, Brussels, and
Marseille and as recently as April 22 an automatic weapon
attack on a synagogue in Charleroi, Belgium;
Whereas the statue in Paris of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who
was the victim of anti-Semitic accusations and became a
symbol of this prejudice in the last century, was defaced
with anti-Jewish emblems;
Whereas the French Ministry of Interior documented hundreds
of crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions in France in
just the first two weeks of April, 2002;
Whereas the revitalization of European right wing
movements, such as the strong showing of the National Front
party in France's presidential election, reaffirm the urgency
for governments to assert a strong public stance against
anti-Semitism, as well as other forms of xenophobia and
intolerance;
Whereas some government leaders have repeatedly dismissed
the significance of these attacks and attributed them to
hooliganism and Muslim immigrant youth expressing solidarity
with Palestinians;
Whereas the legitimization of armed struggle against
Israeli civilians by some governments voting in the U.N.
Commission on Human Rights has emboldened some individuals
and organizations to lash out against Jews and Jewish
institutions;
Whereas hostility, frustration and disaffection over
violence in the Middle East must never be permitted to
justify personal attacks on Jewish citizens;
Whereas when governments have raised a strong moral voice
against anti-Semitism and worked to promote and implement
educational initiatives which foster tolerance, we have seen
success; and
Whereas Congress recognizes the vital historical alliance
between nations of Europe and the United States and has high
regard for the commitment of our allies to fighting
discrimination, hatred, and violence on racial, ethnic, or
religious grounds: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,
That (a) the Senate calls upon European governments to--
(1) acknowledge publicly and without reservation the anti-
Semitic character of the attacks as violations of human
rights;
(2) utilize the full power of their law enforcement tools
to investigate the crimes and punish the perpetrators;
(3) decry the rationalizing of anti-Jewish attitudes and
even violent attacks against Jews as merely a result of
justified popular frustration with the conflict in the Middle
East;
(4) take measures to protect and ensure the security of
Jewish citizens and their institutions, many of whom suffered
so grievously in Europe in the past century; and
(5) make a concerted effort to cultivate an atmosphere of
cooperation and reconciliation among the Jewish and non-
Jewish residents of Europe.
(b) Further, it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) both Congress and the Administration should raise this
issue in their bilateral contacts;
(2) the State Department's Annual Country Reports on Human
Rights should thoroughly document this phenomenon, not just
in Europe but worldwide; and
(3) the Commission on International Religious Freedom
should continue to document and report on this phenomenon in
Europe and worldwide.
____________________