[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 61 (Monday, April 16, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E475]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING VICTIMS OF THE HOLOCAUST

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 16, 2018

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise for this Holocaust 
Remembrance Week to honor the people murdered by the Nazis during the 
Holocaust, especially the six million Jews singled out for genocide. 
The methods of mass murder were unspeakable, horrifying and modern. The 
anti-Semitic hate fueling the killing was an ancient, persistent evil, 
a disease of the heart that dehumanizes and destroys.
  The late, iconic Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel wrote that ``The 
anti-Semite is an ideological fanatic and pathological racist. An anti-
Semite is someone who never met me, never heard of me, yet he hates 
me.'' In addition, neighbors, colleagues, and friends, being murdered, 
strangers, from the youngest to the oldest, were targeted and 
annihilated merely for being Jewish or being perceived to be Jewish.
  Children were even taught to hate the Jewish people, informally at 
home and formally at schools and through organizations like Hitler 
Youth. This wicked ideology was imposed on countries conquered by the 
Nazis. Several generations of Germans and other Europeans were infected 
by this poison and it may take several generations more for it to be 
purged from the body of Europe.
  Families were robbed of lives, homes were robbed of their belongings, 
and countries were robbed of the talents of their Jewish citizens. 
Europe, indeed the world, has been poorer because of this theft. We 
will never know which cultural, scientific, and other gifts, past, 
present, and future, were consumed by the carnage of the Holocaust.
  It may be tempting to think of the Holocaust as history from long 
ago. In the span of human history the Holocaust was close enough to be 
more like the present than the past. Some survivors are still alive, 
witnessing to the resilience of the Jewish people over the millennia, 
and perpetrators continue to be prosecuted. Anti-Semitism did not end 
with the Holocaust.
  Anti-Semitic evil is still evident locally and globally. In my 
district, the Congregation Sons of Israel synagogue was recently 
vandalized for the second time in nine months. This time cowardly 
criminals spray-painted 666 on an outdoor Holocaust memorial and drew a 
swastika-like symbol on a nearby pick-up truck.
  For all of America in 2016, the latest year for which the FBI has 
issued hate crimes statistics, fifty four percent of the victims of 
anti-religion criminal offenses were Jewish. Every year since Congress 
began requiring the FBI to collect and report these figures in 1996, 
more victims of anti-religious hate crimes have been Jewish than any 
other religious group.
  Witnesses testified at a hearing I chaired last year on ``Anti-
Semitism Across Borders'' that extremist groups in the United States 
are using, modifying, adapting, and boosting the anti-Semitic tactics 
and strategies of extremists in Europe--which has been the site of so 
many violent and deadly attacks on Jewish communities in recent years.
  Anti-Semitism is hard-wired into the ideology, propaganda, 
radicalization, targeting, and operations of terrorist groups like ISIS 
and Al-Qaeda. Neo-Nazis and fringe political elements in Europe are 
openly promoting anti-Semitism. Segments of Muslim society in Europe 
have been sources of anti-Semitic incidents, including refugees and 
migrants who arrive with the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel attitudes of 
their countries and regions of origin. Anti-Semitism has become 
mainstream across the political and economic spectrum in many European 
countries to a degree unseen since World War II.
  The rise of anti-Semitism in Latin America reflects trends in Europe 
as well as in some instances the influence of Iran and its terrorist 
proxies like Hezbollah that threaten Israel and Jewish communities 
everywhere.
  The Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement, more commonly known as 
BDS, is a vicious example what the great Natan Sharansky rightfully 
called ``new anti-Semitism'': Anti-Semitism under the guise of 
criticizing the State of Israel. This new anti-Semitism is rampant on 
college and university campuses and is even found among local 
governments. Modern anti-Jewish hatred is as outrageous as older anti-
Semitism.
  We must fight anti-Jewish hatred until it is defeated. The safety and 
security of Jewish communities is paramount and must be prioritized--
particularly through strengthened and new partnerships between law 
enforcement agencies and these communities. Our domestic law 
enforcement agencies at every level have to ensure they are focused on 
anticipating, preventing and responding to anti-Semitic crimes. Iran, 
ISIS, Hezbollah, and other terrorist entities that threaten Israel and 
Jewish communities elsewhere must be confronted.
  Stand we must and stand we will with Jewish communities so that they 
are able to flourish without fear.

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