[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 25, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1122-S1123]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 87--TO EXPRESS THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 
 RISE OF ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE AND TO ENCOURAGE GREATER COOPERATION 
WITH THE EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS, THE EUROPEAN UNION, AND THE ORGANIZATION 
FOR SECURITY AND CO-OPERATION IN EUROPE IN PREVENTING AND RESPONDING TO 
                             ANTI-SEMITISM;

  Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Reid, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Durbin, 
Mr. Wicker, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Rounds, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Toomey, Mr. 
Coons, Ms. Ayotte, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Coats, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. 
Graham, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Blunt, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Boozman, Mr. King, Mr. 
Heller, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Gardner, Ms. Warren, Mr. Cotton, Mrs. 
Feinstein, Mr. McCain, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Markey, Mr. 
Cruz, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Moran, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Hatch, Mrs. McCaskill, 
Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Franken, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. 
Booker, Mr. Peters, Ms. Cantwell, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Brown, 
Mr. Nelson, Mr. Warner, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Casey, Mr. Murphy, 
Mr. Portman, and Mr. Scott) submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 87

       Whereas an alarming increase in anti-Semitic attacks and 
     incidents targeting Jewish institutions, places of worship, 
     and individuals continue to take place in Europe and remain a 
     challenge to stability and security;
       Whereas on January 9, 2015, 4 members of France's Jewish 
     community were murdered in an attack on a kosher supermarket 
     following the deadly terrorist attack on the Paris offices of 
     newspaper Charlie Hebdo;
       Whereas, in a 2014 Anti-Defamation League survey of 
     attitudes towards Jews in more than 100 countries around the 
     world--
       (1) 24 percent of those surveyed in Western Europe 
     expressed anti-Semitic views;
       (2) 34 percent of those surveyed in Eastern Europe 
     expressed anti-Semitic views; and
       (3) a majority of those surveyed worldwide either--
       (A) had not heard of the Holocaust; or
       (B) do not believe that the factual accounts and recorded 
     history of the Holocaust are accurate;
       Whereas the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights 
     issued a report in 2013 on anti-Semitism in the 8 countries 
     in which 90 percent of Europe's Jews reside, namely France, 
     Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Belgium, Sweden, and the 
     United Kingdom, in which 76 percent of respondents believed 
     that anti-Semitism had worsened where they lived during the 
     previous 5-year period;
       Whereas France, which is home to Europe's largest Jewish 
     population, reported that--
       (1) twice as many French Jews immigrated to Israel during 
     2014 than had immigrated during 2013; and
       (2) for the first time ever, more Jews moved to Israel from 
     France than from any other country in the world;
       Whereas anti-Semitic acts committed and recorded in 
     European countries in 2014 included--
       (1) murders and death threats against Jews; and
       (2) arson, graffiti, and property desecration at Jewish 
     sites, including Jewish cemeteries,

[[Page S1123]]

     places of worship, schools, and community centers;
       Whereas such acts led many Jewish individuals to conceal 
     their religious affiliation;
       Whereas on May 24, 2014, a gunman killed 4 people when he 
     opened fire at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, 
     Belgium;
       Whereas on July 29, 2014, Molotov cocktails were thrown at 
     the synagogue in Wuppertal, Germany, which had been burned to 
     the ground by the Nazis during the 1938 Kristallnacht, and 
     was rebuilt as recently as 2002;
       Whereas the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and Italy 
     issued a joint statement in July 2014, proclaiming: ``Anti-
     Semitic rhetoric and hostility against Jews, attacks on 
     people of Jewish belief and synagogues have no place in our 
     societies'';
       Whereas in September 2014, British Prime Minister David 
     Cameron declared: ``There can never be any excuse for anti-
     Semitism, and no disagreements on politics or policy should 
     ever be allowed to justify racism, prejudice or extremism in 
     any form'';
       Whereas on January 13, 2015, French Prime Minister Manuel 
     Valls spoke before the French National Assembly and declared 
     that anti-Semitism must be dealt with ``powerfully'' and that 
     ``there has been an intolerable rise in acts of anti-Semitism 
     in France [that] have not aroused the outrage expected by our 
     Jewish compatriots'';
       Whereas at the Tenth Anniversary of the Organization for 
     Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Berlin Conference 
     on Anti-Semitism in November 2014, Samantha Power, the United 
     States Ambassador to the United Nations, noted, ``Rising 
     anti-Semitism is rarely the lone or the last manifestation of 
     intolerance in society. . . . When the human rights and 
     fundamental freedoms of Jews are repressed, the rights and 
     freedoms of other minorities and other sectors are often not 
     far behind'';
       Whereas the OSCE's December 2014 Basel Declaration on 
     Enhancing Efforts to Combat Anti-Semitism condemned 
     ``manifestations of anti-Semitism, intolerance and 
     discrimination against Jews'', and protected the commitment 
     to ``declare unambiguously that international developments or 
     political issues, including those with regard to the 
     situation in the Middle East, never justify anti-Semitism'';
       Whereas the Government of the United States has 
     consistently supported efforts to address the rise of anti-
     Semitism through diplomatic efforts including engagement in 
     international organizations such as the OSCE;
       Whereas the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism in 
     the Department of State, which is headed by the Special Envoy 
     to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, has consistently 
     supported European efforts to combat Anti-Semitism; and
       Whereas, at the urging of the United States and 36 other 
     countries, including all European Union States, the United 
     Nations General Assembly convened the first ever meeting on 
     anti-Semitism on January 22, 2015, to consider ways to 
     confront the long-standing and growing problem of anti-
     Semitism worldwide.
       Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate urges the Secretary of State, the 
     Attorney General, and other relevant United States Government 
     agencies and officials to work closely with the European 
     Union and European governments to encourage further efforts 
     to address anti-Semitism by--
       (1) undertaking prompt, impartial, and effective 
     investigations of any acts of violence motivated by anti-
     Semitism and fully prosecuting those responsible for such 
     violence within the extent of the law;
       (2) encouraging European countries and the European Union 
     to designate senior-level special envoys to monitor, prevent, 
     and combat anti-Semitism regionally and domestically;
       (3) cooperating with European counterparts on developing 
     programs to counter violent extremists engaged in anti-
     Semitic activity;
       (4) encouraging the European Union and its Member States to 
     integrate measures to combat anti-Semitism into relevant 
     national strategies and action plans by including measures to 
     protect human rights, religious tolerance, and equality, and 
     to ensure hate crime and violence prevention;
       (5) increasing cooperation on training initiatives related 
     to hate crimes, particularly crimes motivated by anti-
     Semitism, for law enforcement personnel, and improving 
     monitoring and reporting efforts;
       (6) empowering civil society, including diverse religious 
     and ethnic groups, civil and human rights organizations, and 
     the business community, to fight anti-Semitism and 
     discrimination;
       (7) convening regular consultations with Jewish community 
     organizations and non-Jewish civil and human rights 
     organizations to demonstrate visible support, listen to 
     concerns, and solicit recommendations on improving security 
     and supporting victims; and
       (8) reaffirming and implementing the recommendations in the 
     OSCE's December 2014 Basel Declaration on Enhancing Efforts 
     to Combat Anti-Semitism.

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