[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 18, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H5119-H5120]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CONDEMNING RISING ANTISEMITISM

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Res. 1125), condemning rising antisemitism, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1125

       Whereas the Jewish-American experience is a story of faith, 
     fortitude, and progress and is connected to key tenets of 
     American identity;
       Whereas generations of Jewish people have come to this 
     Nation fleeing oppression, discrimination, and persecution in 
     search of a better life for themselves and their children;
       Whereas these Jewish Americans have created lives for 
     themselves and their families and played indispensable roles 
     in our Nation's civic and community life, making invaluable 
     contributions to our Nation through their leadership and 
     achievements;
       Whereas, on August 21, 1790, President George Washington 
     sent a letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode 
     Island, expressing that the newly formed United States would 
     be a Nation that ``gives to bigotry no sanction, to 
     persecution no assistance'' and that the Jewish people should 
     ``dwell in this land [and] continue to merit and enjoy the 
     good will of the other inhabitants . . . and there shall be 
     none to make him afraid.'';
       Whereas we should acknowledge and celebrate the crucial 
     contributions that Jewish Americans have made to our 
     collective struggle for a more just and fair society, leading 
     movements for justice and equality, and working to ensure 
     opportunities for all;
       Whereas alongside this narrative of achievement and 
     opportunity, there is also a history, far older than the 
     Nation itself, of racism, bigotry, and other forms of 
     prejudice manifesting in the scourge of antisemitism;
       Whereas antisemitism is an insidious form of prejudice 
     stretching back millennia that attacks the humanity of the 
     Jewish people and has led to violence, destruction of lives 
     and communities, and genocide;
       Whereas conspiracy theories that Jews are uniquely evil and 
     influential has led to mass killings of Jews throughout time, 
     including the poisonous Nazi ideology that resulted in the 
     murder of 6,000,000 Jews, including 1,500,000 Jewish 
     children, and millions of other victims of the Nazis in 
     Europe;
       Whereas over the course of the past decade, Holocaust 
     distortion and denial has grown in intensity;
       Whereas a 2020 survey of all 50 States in the United States 
     on Holocaust knowledge among Millennials and Gen Z conducted 
     by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany 
     (Claims Conference), found a clear lack of awareness of key 
     historical facts; 63 percent of respondents did not know that 
     6,000,000 Jews were murdered during the Holocaust and 36 
     percent thought that ``two million or fewer Jews'' were 
     killed;
       Whereas there is a documented and dangerous rise of 
     antisemitism globally and in the United States, where Jews 
     are increasingly affected by the grotesque spread of 
     misinformation and lies including blame for the spread of 
     COVID-19, false claims including the control of the media and 
     the financial system, accusations of dual loyalty, and a 
     multitude of negative stereotypes;
       Whereas the American Jewish Committee (AJC)'s 2021 State of 
     Antisemitism in America report, a survey of American Jews and 
     the general public's perceptions of antisemitism, revealed 24 
     percent of American Jews have been personally targeted by 
     antisemitism in the past 12 months, 4 in 10 American Jews 
     changed their behavior at least once out of fear of 
     antisemitism, 90 percent believe antisemitism is a problem in 
     the United States, and 82 percent feel it has increased in 
     the past 5 years;
       Whereas, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 
     Jews were the target of 55 percent of all religiously 
     motivated hate crimes in 2020, despite accounting for no more 
     than 2 percent of the United States population;
       Whereas the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)'s 2021 Audit of 
     Antisemitic Incidents in the United States recorded 2,717 
     acts of assault, vandalism, and harassment this past year 
     alone, an average of more than 7 incidents per day; a 34-
     percent increase from 2020 and the highest year on record 
     since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979;
       Whereas 525 antisemitic incidents took place at Jewish 
     institutions, an increase of 61 percent from data collected 
     in 2020;
       Whereas antisemitic assaults increased by 167 percent in 
     2021 compared to the previous year and assaults in 2021 were 
     138 percent higher than the rolling 5-year average of 
     antisemitic assaults;
       Whereas there was a substantial surge of antisemitic 
     incidents in the United States in May 2021, 387 incidents 
     were reported, a 141 percent increase in reports of 
     antisemitic incidents compared to May 2020; Jewish 
     individuals were violently attacked in major cities including 
     New York and Los Angeles;
       Whereas the use of antisemitic language, conspiracy 
     theories, and hatred has increased on multiple social media 
     platforms--from Facebook and Instagram to Twitter and TikTok, 
     among others--including tropes about Jewish control and 
     messages praising Hitler and demonizing all Jews;
       Whereas a recent example of the violent antisemitism took 
     place on Saturday, January 15, 2022, when, during religious 
     services at Congregation Beth Israel, a terrorist held

[[Page H5120]]

     4 people, including a rabbi, hostage at gunpoint for 11 
     hours;
       Whereas police departments in a number of American cities, 
     including New York and Los Angeles, have said that they are 
     stepping up patrols at synagogues and other locations 
     associated with the Jewish community following the hostage 
     situation;
       Whereas there are regular acts of antisemitic vandalism 
     against synagogues and Jewish schools in the United States 
     and numerous nonlethal attacks on American Jews, leaving many 
     Jews feeling increasingly unsafe in public spaces and houses 
     of worship;
       Whereas AJC's 2021 State of Antisemitism in America report 
     revealed 56 percent of respondents' religious institutions 
     increased security since the Tree of Life synagogue shooting; 
     and
       Whereas the rise in antisemitism is part of the larger 
     trend of the rise of hate-filled movements that are targeting 
     marginalized communities here in the United States: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) calls on elected officials, faith leaders, and civil 
     society leaders to use their bully pulpit to condemn and 
     combat any and all manifestations of antisemitism;
       (2) calls on elected officials to condemn and combat any 
     and all denials and distortions of the Holocaust and to 
     promote Holocaust and antisemitism education;
       (3) calls for amplifying and ensuring United States 
     leadership to fight global antisemitism, working with the 
     Department of State's Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat 
     Antisemitism and intensifying cooperation with international 
     governments and parliaments around the world;
       (4) works in tandem with the cross-party Inter-
     Parliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism to 
     help craft thoughtful global initiatives designed to address 
     online antisemitism;
       (5) calls on social media platforms to institute stronger 
     and more significant efforts to measure and address online 
     antisemitism while protecting free speech concerns;
       (6) takes all possible steps to improve the physical 
     security of Jewish institutions and organizations, including 
     by using existing tools such as increasing funding 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;
       (7) ensures the safety, security, and dignity of American 
     Jews in all aspects of their lives, including the workplace, 
     college and university campuses, synagogues, and at home; the 
     development of these measures must reflect the full diversity 
     of the Jewish community in its entirety; and
       (8) supports the right of Americans to freely exercise 
     their religious beliefs and rejects all forms of terror and 
     hate.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) and the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Bentz) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee.


                             General Leave

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 
5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material H. Res. 1125.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Tennessee?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, throughout the month of May, we recognize the struggles 
and triumphs of Jewish Americans, and we honor the indispensable 
contributions that the Jewish community has made to our Nation's civic 
life. Sadly, we also know that anti-Semitism continues to be a menace 
here at home and around the world. That is why I am pleased to support 
this important resolution condemning rising anti-Semitism.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Representative Debbie Wasserman 
Schultz, for being so vigilant over the years to recognize a particular 
month where we have particular appreciation of Jewish residents' 
contributions to our country, and for bringing this resolution to the 
floor to recognize this horrific rise in anti-Semitism.
  Since our Nation's founding, Jewish Americans have served in elected 
office, from local school boards to this building's hallowed halls, the 
Supreme Court, and other prestigious positions. They have done so in 
magnificent manners. They have made crucial contributions to the arts, 
the sciences, and to our collective struggle for a more just America. 
They even had a baseball pitcher, Sandy Koufax, who was better than 
any.
  Indeed, this resolution calls upon us to recognize the Jewish-
American story, like the story of America itself, which is also marked 
by bigotry and hatred. Informed by this experience of prejudice, by the 
scourge of anti-Semitism, the Jewish Americans have worked so that the 
opportunities they have secured are extended to others. That is part of 
the Jewish religion. Part of what you do to have a good life is to help 
others have that good life, too. They have led movements for social 
justice, demanding civil rights, women's rights, and workers' rights.
  This work is far from over. Anti-Semitism violence is on the rise. 
This past weekend, we saw a deranged individual in Buffalo kill 10 
African Americans and injure others. He had a hate for African 
Americans, but he also said he was anti-Semitic. He learned all this 
over the internet, and he learned a lot of that from rhetoric that has 
sprung up in different places and political circles around this 
country. It has spread, and it has influenced people to commit acts of 
violence.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, for collegiality purposes, I ask to withdraw 
the motion.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The motion is withdrawn.


 =========================== NOTE =========================== 

  
  May 18, 2022, on page H5120, in the second column, the following 
appeared: Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, for collegiality purposes, I ask 
to withdraw the motion. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without 
objection, the motion is withdrawn.
  
  The online version has been corrected to read: Mr. COHEN. Mr. 
Speaker, for collegiality purposes, I ask to withdraw the motion. 
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The motion is withdrawn.


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