Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Page H3344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STOP ANTI-SEMITISM
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Schneider) for 5 minutes.
Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, our Nation was again stunned
by yet another horrific attack on Americans gathered at worship.
Saturday's shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in California came
as Jews around the world celebrated the last day of Passover.
One woman, Lori Gilbert Kaye, was murdered in the attack and three
others were wounded. I continue to pray for the recovery of those
injured in the shooting and offer my deepest condolences to the family
and friends of the victims.
The latest attack happened exactly 6 months to the day after the
assault on worshipers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh,
which claimed the lives of 11 people, the deadliest attack on the
American Jewish community in our history.
These shootings were committed against a backdrop of rising anti-
Semitism both here at home and around the world.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, in 2017, anti-Semitic
incidents surged in the United States by 57 percent. This represented
the largest single-year increase on record and the second highest
number of incidents since the ADL started tracking such data in 1979.
In 2018, we saw nearly the same number of reported incidents as in
2017.
In recent weeks, there have been other chilling displays of anti-
Semitism beyond our borders as well. In February, a Belgian carnival
float featured grotesque caricatures of Orthodox Jews standing on large
piles of money. On Easter Sunday in a small Polish village, adults and
children beat and burned an effigy of Judas, but the effigy did not
look like a character from Biblical times. Rather, it was a
stereotypical Orthodox Jew dressed in ninth century Hasidic garb.
Feeding into these dangerous incidents, just last week, the
international edition of The New York Times published a disgusting
anti-Semitic cartoon. The paper subsequently apologized, but the damage
was already done. It was an astonishing editorial failure by one of the
Nation's most important papers of record. I was pleased today to see
the editorial board of the Times directly address this issue.
Especially at these times of growing anti-Semitism, we must all be
extra vigilant, lest we add fuel to the flames of hate and intolerance.
Whenever and wherever we see anti-Semitism, we must speak out to
stanch it, for what begins as stereotypes and cartoons far too often
leads to violence that has claimed so many lives throughout our
history.
Our Nation was founded on the idea that every American of every
religion has the fundamental right to practice their faith without fear
of persecution or violence. This was established in the very first
amendment to our Constitution and enshrined in our Bill of Rights. But
this right has been shattered far too many times at the synagogues in
Poway and Pittsburgh; at an African American church in Charleston,
South Carolina; and at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
I will not repeat the Poway shooter's name or give him the notoriety
he sought, but it is clear that he was motivated by white supremacism
and anti-Semitism, citing the shootings at the mosque in Christchurch,
New Zealand, and the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in his
manifesto.
The sad truth is, far-right white supremacists have been responsible
for more terror attacks and deaths in the United States in the past two
decades than any other domestic extremist movement. We need to update
our laws to reflect the growing threat of domestic terrorism.
That is why I introduced, with Senator Richard Durbin, the Domestic
Terrorism Prevention Act, legislation that would strengthen
coordination among the Federal agencies in monitoring radicalized
groups and individuals and, hopefully, preventing hateful acts of
violence.
This is a necessary first step to help our law enforcement agencies
contain the threat, and I urge my colleagues to join me on this
legislation.
We also have a duty to responsibly update our gun laws. I am proud
that this House voted earlier this year to pass universal background
checks and close the Charleston loophole, a loophole that allowed the
Emanuel AME shooter to acquire a firearm before the results of his FBI
background check were complete.
We need the Senate to stop stonewalling and bring these bills up for
a vote.
Mr. Speaker, I cannot help but reflect that, this week, the United
States is observing Holocaust Remembrance Week and honoring the 6
million Jews and millions of others murdered by the Nazi regime.
In the memory of all of those lost to anti-Semitism and other forms
of hate, we have a moral responsibility to stamp out intolerance and
prejudice in our time. Otherwise, as the late Elie Wiesel famously
said: ``To forget the victims means to kill them a second time.''
____________________
