[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 88 (Friday, June 12, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1394-E1395]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CONDEMNING SHOOTING AT U.S. HOLOCAUST MUSEUM

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 11, 2009

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, as Ranking Member of 
the Africa Subcommittee, I joined several colleagues at an important 
Foreign Affairs Committee meeting with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai 
of Zimbabwe.
  It was an extraordinary opportunity to discuss Zimbambwe's progress 
towards democracy and away from dictatorship, hyperinflation, and 
multiple health crises, including cholera--and obtain a fuller 
understanding of what additional steps the U.S. can take to help.
  That meeting, however, occurred at precisely the same time the House 
considered H. Res. 529, a resolution condemning the June 10th violent 
attack on the Holocaust Memorial Museum--a despicable anti-Semitic act 
that killed Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. As so eloquently articulated 
by many colleagues yesterday, I--we--salute officer Johns for his 
bravery and courage and extend our deepest condolences to his family.
  I rise today to not only express my support for H. Res 529 but also 
to thank my friend and colleague Mr. Klein for introducing it and for 
including me as a co-sponsor.
  Mr. Speaker, the Holocaust Memorial Museum is a noble and vitally 
necessary attempt to remember and honor the victims of the Holocaust. 
The memorial itself is a witness to truth and promotion of human 
dignity and tolerance.
  Wednesday's attack on that museum by a crazed, hate-filled gunman is 
yet another chilling reminder that our society still harbors a 
dangerous collection of bigots and racists who hate Jews.
  Unparalleled since the dark days of the Second World War, Jewish 
communities around the world are facing violent attacks against 
synagogues, Jewish cultural sites, cemeteries and individuals. Anti-
Semitism is an ugly reality that won't go away by ignoring or wishing 
it away. It must be combated with resolve and tenacity.
  The sad deeply troubling reality is that James von Brunn cannot be 
dismissed as an aberration, but is connected to a whole hate-promoting 
movement that results in violence against Jews in America and around 
the world on practically a daily basis.
  The Anti-Defamation League recently issued its annual Audit of Anti-
Semitic Incidents. While the ADL is to be congratulated for its careful 
research on an unpleasant but absolutely necessary subject, the ugly 
facts that the report documents make for painful reading.
  In 2008, the ADL noted 1,352 reported incidents of vandalism, 
harassment, and physical assaults on Jewish people or Jewish-owned 
property nationwide.
  Sadly and shamefully, my own state of New Jersey had more reported 
anti-Semitic incidents--238--than any other state.
  But the attack on the Holocaust Memorial Museum, Mr. Speaker, is the 
most ominous aspect of this wave of evil. The Holocaust Memorial Museum 
is a unique institution. It is a

[[Page E1395]]

memorial, a museum, a center of Holocaust scholarship, and a promoter 
of tolerance and preventer of genocide. It is a very powerful symbol of 
the solidarity of America with those murdered in the Holocaust, and 
with the Jewish people.
  Mr. Speaker, at this critical moment we need government officials at 
all levels to denounce, without hesitation or delay, every anti-Semitic 
act wherever and whenever it occurs. No exceptions. At this moment, not 
to speak out enables the purveyors of hate. They never take a holiday 
or grow weary, nor should we.
  Just as Mr. Brunn attacked the Holocaust Memorial Museum and murdered 
a courageous security officer tasked with its protection, Holocaust 
remembrance and tolerance education must dramatically expand, and we 
need to ensure that our respective laws punish those who hate and 
incite violence against Jews.
  Finally, if we are to protect our children from the evil of anti-
Semitism, we must reeducate ourselves and systematically educate our 
children. While that starts in our homes, the classroom must be the 
incubator of tolerance. It seems to me that only the most hardened 
racist can remain unmoved by Holocaust education and remembrance. Only 
the most crass, evil, and prejudiced among us can study the horrors of 
the Holocaust and not cry out: Never again!

                          ____________________