[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 88 (Friday, June 12, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H6668-H6669]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    DENOUNCING THE MURDEROUS ATTACK ON THE HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam 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 Zimbabwe's 
progress towards democracy and away from dictatorship, its problems 
with hyperinflation, and multiple health crises, including cholera, and 
to obtain a fuller understanding of what additional steps the United 
States can take right now to help.
  That meeting, however, occurred at precisely the same time that 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. And as so 
eloquently articulated by so many of my colleagues yesterday during 
that debate, we salute Officer Johns for his bravery and his courage, 
and extend our deepest condolences to his family.
  I rise today not only to express my support for H. Res. 529, but also 
to thank my good friend and colleague, Mr. Klein, for introducing it 
and for including me as a cosponsor.
  Madam 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 the 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 today facing violent attacks against 
synagogues, Jewish cultural sites, cemeteries and individuals. Anti-
Semitism is an ugly reality that won't go away by ignoring it or by 
wishing it away. It must be combated with resolve and tenacity, and it 
must be defeated.
  The sad and 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 makes 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 in 
the Union.
  The attack on the Holocaust Museum is the most ominous aspect of this 
evil wave that we have seen worldwide and in our own country. The 
Holocaust Museum is a unique institution. It is a 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 as well.
  Madam 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. They never 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

[[Page H6669]]

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 re-educate ourselves and systematically educate our 
children. While that starts at our homes, the classroom must be the 
incubator of tolerance as well. 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!

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