[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 93 (Thursday, May 27, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3904-S3905]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 252--UNEQUIVOCALLY CONDEMNING THE RECENT RISE IN 
  ANTISEMITIC VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT TARGETING JEWISH AMERICANS, AND 
  STANDING IN SOLIDARITY WITH THOSE AFFECTED BY ANTISEMITISM, AND FOR 
                             OTHER PURPOSES

  Ms. ROSEN (for herself, Mr. Lankford, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Blunt, Ms. 
Cantwell, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Carper, Mr. Moran, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. 
Menendez, Mr. Daines, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Peters, Mr. Portman, 
Mr. Sanders, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Cardin, Ms. Collins, Mr. Bennet, Mr. 
Cassidy, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Cramer, Ms. Sinema, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Ms. 
Klobuchar, Mr. Risch, Mr. Markey, Mr. Hoeven, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. 
Braun, Mr. King, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Schumer, Ms. 
Murkowski, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Thune, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. 
Reed, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Booker, Mrs. Fischer, Mr. Coons, Mr. Kennedy, 
Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Casey, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Wyden, Mr. 
Rounds, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. 
Van Hollen, Mr. Romney, Mrs. Murray, and Mr. Young) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 252

       Whereas antisemitism remains a serious and growing danger 
     for Jews in the United States and around the world;
       Whereas, in May 2021, antisemitic incidents and rhetoric 
     have surged in the United States and around the world as 
     hostilities between Hamas and Israel escalated;
       Whereas, since the beginning of 2021, there has been an 
     increase in acts of antisemitism, including--
       (1) individuals in London calling for Jewish ``daughters to 
     be raped'';
       (2) a German synagogue being pelted with rocks;
       (3) an attack on Jewish diners in Los Angeles, California;
       (4) fireworks hurled at a crowd in New York City, New York;
       (5) synagogues in Tucson, Arizona, and Skokie, Illinois, 
     being vandalized;
       (6) Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's 
     claim in an interview that Israel ``controls the media'' and 
     has ``deep pockets,'' perpetuating an antisemitic conspiracy 
     theory; and
       (7) Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's invocation of 
     the blood libel myth, which has historically been used to 
     justify violence against Jews;
       Whereas such antisemitic incidents are part of a broader 
     increase in the number and intensity of antisemitic incidents 
     in the United States and around the world, as evidenced by--
       (1) studies by the Kantor Center for the Study of 
     Contemporary European Jewry, finding that violent antisemitic 
     attacks worldwide rose 18 percent in 2019 and shifted online 
     in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in 
     antisemitic conspiracy theories related to the pandemic 
     proliferating; and
       (2) hate crime statistics collected by the Federal Bureau 
     of Investigation, demonstrating--
          (A) a 14 percent increase in antisemitic hate crimes in 
     the United States in 2019; and
          (B) that Jewish Americans were the target of 60.2 
     percent of all religiously motivated hate crimes in 2019, 
     despite accounting for 2 percent of the population of the 
     United States;
       Whereas Holocaust denial and distortion, including 
     intentional efforts to excuse or minimize the impact of the 
     Holocaust, dishonors those who were persecuted and murdered 
     and reinforces the need for advancing accurate Holocaust 
     education globally;
       Whereas over the course of the past decade, Holocaust 
     distortion has grown in intensity;

[[Page S3905]]

       Whereas protecting the history of the Holocaust and 
     recognizing and confronting Holocaust denial and distortion 
     is critical to preventing antisemitism;
       Whereas Jewish houses of worship are increasingly targets 
     of violent attacks in the United States, as evidenced by the 
     deadly assaults on synagogues in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 
     2018 and Poway, California, in 2019;
       Whereas, in October 2020, the Department of Homeland 
     Security warned that ``racially and ethnically motivated 
     violent extremists--specifically white supremacist 
     extremists--will remain the most persistent and lethal threat 
     in the [United States] Homeland'';
       Whereas the Nonprofit Security Grant Program of the 
     Department of Homeland Security provides critical funding to 
     support physical security enhancements to Jewish 
     organizations and institutions, including synagogues, that 
     are at high risk of a terrorist attack or targeted violence;
       Whereas the United States has played a crucial leadership 
     role in combating antisemitism internationally, including by 
     working to promote Holocaust education, improve the safety 
     and security of at-risk Jewish communities, combat online 
     radicalization, ensure foreign public officials and faith 
     leaders condemn antisemitic discourse, and strengthen foreign 
     judicial systems in their prosecution of antisemitic 
     incidents;
       Whereas section 59 of the State Department Basic 
     Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2731) establishes the 
     Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism of the Department 
     of State, which is headed by an individual who has the rank 
     of ambassador and reports directly to the Secretary of State, 
     to develop and implement policies and projects to combat 
     global antisemitism by working closely with foreign 
     governments, intergovernmental organizations, and civil 
     society; and
       Whereas the Never Again Education Act (36 U.S.C. 2301 note; 
     Public Law 116-141), which was signed into law on May 29, 
     2020, expands United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 
     education programming, requires the museum to develop and 
     nationally disseminate accurate, relevant, and accessible 
     resources to improve awareness and understanding of the 
     Holocaust, and authorizes various Holocaust education program 
     activities to engage prospective and current teachers and 
     educational leaders: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) unequivocally condemns the recent rise in antisemitic 
     violence and harassment targeting Jewish Americans, and 
     stands in solidarity with those affected by antisemitism;
       (2) recommits to combating antisemitism in all forms;
       (3) calls on elected officials, faith leaders, and civil 
     society leaders to denounce and combat all manifestations of 
     antisemitism;
       (4) urges the President to--
       (A) continue the leadership role of the United States in 
     combating antisemitism internationally, including by 
     nominating a qualified Ambassador to Monitor and Combat 
     Antisemitism and engaging intergovernmental organizations to 
     ensure that the anti-discrimination efforts of the 
     organizations include combating antisemitism;
       (B) advance accurate Holocaust education and counter 
     Holocaust denial and distortion, including by fully 
     implementing the Never Again Education Act (36 U.S.C. 2301 
     note; Public Law 116-141);
       (C) ensure the physical security of Jewish institutions and 
     organizations, including by requesting sufficient resources 
     for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program of the Department of 
     Homeland Security to keep at-risk houses of worship, schools, 
     and community centers safe from terrorist attacks and other 
     forms of antisemitic violence; and
       (D) produce an analysis that accounts for the level and 
     scope of the threat that antisemitism poses to the people of 
     the United States; and
       (5) urges Federal, State, local, and Tribal law enforcement 
     agencies to fully participate in the data collection process 
     of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in order to improve 
     antisemitic hate crime data collection.

                          ____________________