[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 9 (Friday, January 30, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E82]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        SUPPORTING ISRAEL'S NATIONAL DAY TO COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 30, 2004

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to lend my support 
for the efforts of our close ally, Israel, in the fight against the 
scourge of anti-Semitism worldwide. It is fitting and appropriate that 
Israel has chosen January 27th to raise the issue of anti-Semitism 
because it marks the day that the Auschwitz death camp was liberated by 
the Allies. Many of our European friends and allies also held Holocaust 
remembrance and public education events yesterday.
  The painful lesson that the Jewish people learned after World War II 
was that the logical conclusion of anti-Semitic thought and ideology 
inevitably leads to anti-Jewish violence. People who are consumed by 
hatred are almost never content to keep their hatred to themselves. 
Organized, systematic doctrines of hatred are not just differing 
opinions. Instead, these anti-Semitic ideologies usually contain an 
exhortation to action, and that action almost always includes vandalism 
and violence.
  The lesson for the rest of the world is that racial hatred and 
religious extremism usually starts with the Jews, but if left 
unchecked, continues to engulf all other peoples and religious views 
that do not comport with the spewers of hatred. Untold millions of 
Slavs, Roma, disabled persons, political dissidents, and other so-
called ``undesireables'' marched alongside the Jews into the death 
camps. They realized all too late, as the saying goes, that first the 
Nazis came for the Jews, but then they came for them too; no one was 
left to stand up for their rights. If Europeans and Americans had had 
more courage to stand up to the fascists and communists who argued that 
human rights must be subservient to the whims of totalitarian 
ideologies, perhaps the mass genocides could have been averted.
  The painful lessons of World War II are just as relevant today. Even 
now, we find that the suicide bombers who gleefully hurtle themselves 
into oblivion in the attempt to kill Israelis and Jewish Americans have 
been steadily fed a rich diet of anti-Semitism. We have learned that 
the September 11th bombers emerged from an extremist Wahhabi 
totalitarian world view in which all those who don't subscribe to their 
own views are not worthy of human rights, and can be killed at will. 
Not only that, but the Wahhabi extremists behind 9/11 actually believe 
that their hatred is divinely justified and required by God.
  Regardless of whether my colleagues always agree with the policies of 
the State of Israel, it is foolish in the extreme to believe that if 
somehow the United States suddenly abandoned our most loyal ally in the 
Middle East, that somehow the Wahhabi extremists and Osama Bin Laden 
supporters would suddenly stop trying to destroy the United States. And 
yet right after September 11th, there were stories popping up all over 
Europe and around the world that made the argument that America got its 
comeuppance that day for its years of staunch support for Israel. This 
argument is a subtle expression of anti-Semitism in that it implies 
that support for Israel and the Jews is a crime, and that massacring 
thousands of innocent civilians can be justified as punishment.

  These extremists surely have a systematic doctrine of hatred that 
starts with hatred of the Jews, but it by no means ends with the Jews. 
As far as these extremists are concerned, the very values and beliefs 
America holds dear are blasphemy and punishable by death. I say this 
because there is a strategic nexus involved here. Israel's fight 
against anti-Semitism is America's fight against the extremists bent on 
our own destruction. If we do not join the battle against the rising 
tide of anti-Semitism both here and abroad, the legacy of that neglect 
will be a disaster for the U.S. Anti-Semitism is a cancer, and like 
cancer it will spread until it is either stopped, or it kills you. In a 
very real sense, anti-Semitism is like the canary in the mine. It 
alerts you that trouble lies ahead.
  I have been actively engaged in the fight against anti-Semitism and 
have both written and supported legislation designed to expose anti-
Semitism. Last summer, I offered an amendment to the State Department 
Authorization Bill for fiscal years 2004 and 2005 (H.R. 1950) calling 
on the State Department, the Administration, and the General Accounting 
Office to expand an ongoing investigation and audit of schools run in 
Palestine by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
  Incredibly, the U.S. provides one-third of UNRWA's budget even though 
this agency has failed to take appropriate measures to combat terrorism 
and fix its broken education system. For instance, UNRWA continues to 
use anti-Semitic textbooks that glorify martyrdom and deny the 
legitimacy and existence of Israel as a Jewish state. If children 
continue to be brainwashed to hate and incited to commit violence in 
UNRWA schools, then there is no real hope for peace in the region. 
These UNRWA schools are like greenhouses that are used to grow the next 
crop of suicide bombers. We must work to change the school curriculum 
so that it teaches peace and tolerance between Muslims and Jews.
  Last summer, I also called for and chaired a Congressional forum 
after a terrible attack that left 16 people killed and more than 80 
wounded after a suicide bomber blew up a Jerusalem city bus during the 
afternoon rush hour. Ms. Sarri Singer, a New Jersey native, was on the 
bus and gave moving testimonies at the forum that highlighted the 
plight of innocent, suffering victims subjected to these awful 
terrorist attacks.
  Unfortunately, anti-Semitic violence and hatred is not limited to the 
Middle East; in the last year other parts of Europe have also 
experienced a rise in anti-Semitic acts. In June 2003, I led a State 
Department delegation, along with former New York City Mayor Rudy 
Giuliani, to a special conference in Vienna of the Organization for 
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
  The conference addressed the rise in anti-Semitic acts both in Europe 
and North America, and discussed ways to combat this problem. In 
addition, both this summer and last, I introduced special resolutions 
at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly that called upon all 55 member 
nations to redouble their efforts to combat anti-Semitism in Europe, 
the United States, and Canada.
  After returning from Vienna, H. Con. Res. 49, a resolution I authored 
to condemn anti-Semitism in Europe and around the world, passed the 
House on June 25 by a 412-0 vote. H. Con. Res. 49 calls upon lawmakers, 
law enforcement officials, and educators to amplify their efforts to 
counter violence and hatred against the Jewish people and their faith. 
Specifically, the resolution calls upon all nations to aggressively 
investigate, prosecute, and punish incidents of anti-Semitic violence, 
discrimination, and destruction of property.
  My resolution and the Vienna conference have spurred several nations 
to act, including Germany, who agreed to host a follow-up conference on 
anti-Semitism next year in Berlin. The symbolism of this gesture is 
obvious, as the former center of Nazi Germany will host a conference to 
address how countries can fight the scourge of anti-Semitism. I will 
continue to tirelessly push governments and elected officials to speak 
out against anti-Semitic acts when they occur as well as to vigorously 
prosecute the perpetrators of these hateful acts. And I am looking 
forward to attending this follow-on Berlin conference and working to 
continue the effort to roll back the tide of anti-Semitism.




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