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[Page H2512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ANTI-SEMITISM IS THE CANARY IN THE COAL MINE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Deutch) for 5 minutes.
Mr. DEUTCH. Mr. Speaker, today should not be about politics. I didn't
rise to be political. This is personal.
A few years ago, I was invited to speak at the U.N. General Assembly
special session on anti-Semitism. I told the representatives from the
assembled countries that anti-Semitism is the canary in the coal mine,
that if there is anti-Semitism in your country, there is hatred that
will ultimately permeate throughout society if it is not checked. I
never thought I would need to explain that to my colleagues.
This is not political. No one should make it political.
{time} 1045
The use of anti-Semitic language and images can never be tolerated.
When a Presidential campaign runs a commercial alleging a Jewish global
conspiracy in an ad featuring George Soros, Janet Yellen, and Lloyd
Blankfein, it is invoking classic anti-Semitic tropes and it must be
condemned. When the same campaign tweets an image of their opponent
featuring a Jewish star and piles of money, it does the same thing and
it must be condemned. When one of our colleagues accuses Soros, Steyer,
and Bloomberg of buying the election, it also invokes classic anti-
Semitism that must be condemned. And when one of our colleagues invokes
the classic anti-Semitic tropes that Jews control the world, that Jews
care only about money, and that Jews cannot be loyal Americans if they
also support Israel, this, too, must be condemned.
We have the opportunity to condemn all of that, by all of them,
intolerable as it all is, by passing a strong condemnation of anti-
Semitism. Mr. Speaker, because of anti-Semitism over millennia,
millions of Jews have been hated, targeted, and expelled from their
countries, violently attacked, killed, and exterminated. Words lead to
action and to death.
There is too much hatred, too many other people who are targeted, and
we need to support all of them. But we are having this debate because
of the language of one of our colleagues, language that suggests that
Jews like me, who serve in the United States in Congress and whose
father earned a Purple Heart fighting the Nazis in the Battle of the
Bulge, that we are not loyal Americans.
Why are we unable to singularly condemn anti-Semitism? Why can't we
call out anti-Semitism and show that we have learned the lessons of
history?
It feels like we are only able to call the use of anti-Semitic
language by a colleague of ours--any colleague of ours--if we are
addressing all forms of hatred. And it feels like we can't say it is
anti-Semitism unless everyone agrees that it is anti-Semitism.
Who gets to define what counts as stereotypes or discrimination?
Isn't it the people who experience the bias? The people who have
experienced that hatred for thousands of years?
If Jews whose families were persecuted or attacked or killed are
talking about how anti-Semitic words can lead at their most hateful and
violent extremes, then it is anti-Semitism. And take my word for it. If
you don't do that, then please understand that an anti-Semite will hear
those words as a dog whistle.
What has been so difficult for so many people in my community is that
people who are fearful when anti-Semitic tropes are used are being told
that they are wrong. Jewish elected officials are saying that this
history that we know well is invoked by referencing dual loyalty, and
some of my colleagues are saying that it doesn't matter what that
history means to me. It is intensely personal because it is ongoing: in
Europe, in Asia, in the Middle East, in South America, and in the
United States.
Eleven people were killed less than 6 months ago in a synagogue
because they were Jews. What is happening in our country should alarm
us all. The attacks on our colleagues because they are Muslim or
African American or Hispanic or members of the LGBT community, any
attack must be condemned when it is based on hatred.
But when a colleague invokes classic anti-Semitic lies three times,
then this body must condemn that anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is worthy
of being taken seriously on its own. It is worthy of being singularly
called out.
Jews control the world? Jews care only about money? Jews have dual
loyalty and can't be patriotic members of the country in which they
live?
Words matter. For generations, they have had dangerous consequences
for me, for my family, and for my people. This shouldn't be so hard.
____________________
