[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 135 (Friday, September 19, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1467]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         REGARDING H. RES. 707

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 18, 2014

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise as a cosponsor in support of H. 
Res. 707, a resolution condemning all forms of anti-Semitism. I also 
rise to spotlight the troubling and rising tide of hate crimes against 
Jews that has recently begun sweeping the globe. There have been 
violent attacks against Jews in the Middle East, death threats in Latin 
America, synagogues fire-bombed in Europe and the desecration of the 
property of Jews in North Africa.
  World leaders have spoken out against these acts of violence and 
condemned those responsible. The resolution I helped to introduce 
expresses that same sentiment by unequivocally condemning all forms of 
anti-Semitism and urging the secretary of state to maintain as a 
foreign policy priority of the United States the fight against anti-
Semitism in all of its forms.
  The resolution also recognizes that condemnation alone will do little 
without the added threat of strong and effective laws to back it up. 
The resolution urges governments around the world to ensure that 
adequate laws are in place to monitor and punish those responsible for 
anti-Semitic violence and hate crimes.
  Today I stand with my colleagues on the floor of the U.S. House of 
Representatives in solidarity with all those around the world who will 
not permit these hate crimes to pass without comment and who believe 
that acts of religiously and ethnically motivated violence against one 
of us is an act perpetrated against all of us.

                          ____________________