March 11, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 43 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
CONDEMNING ANTI-SEMITISM AND ANTI-MUSLIM DISCRIMINATION; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 43
(Extensions of Remarks - March 11, 2019)
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[Extensions of Remarks] [Pages E279-E280] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] CONDEMNING ANTI-SEMITISM AND ANTI-MUSLIM DISCRIMINATION ______ speech of HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE of texas in the house of representatives Thursday, March 7, 2019 Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, the bipartisan Congressional International Religious Freedom Caucus, and the Helsinki Commission, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 183, a resolution that puts the House on record in its condemnation of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, and other forms of bigotry as hateful expressions of intolerance that are inimical to the values and aspirations that define the people of the United States. [[Page E280]] I support the resolution also because it also forcefully expresses the condemnation by this House of anti-Muslim discrimination and bigotry against racial, ethnic, religious, and other marginalized communities. Mr. Speaker, nearly thirty years ago, as a young mother, I first visited Israel and the Holy Land, and I have returned many times since then to the region that gave birth to three of the world's great religions, civilizations, and cultures. I have been a passionate supporter of the Mickey Leland Kibbutzim Internship program, which for nearly thirty years has enabled inner- city high school students who live or study in the 18th Congressional District the opportunity to spend a summer in Israel. As a member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, better known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, I have traveled abroad on numerous occasions to participate in parliamentary diplomacy in support of OSCE and other European efforts to combat anti-Semitism, including legislation calling for increased security for the Jewish community, funds for civil society coalitions to combat hate, and a U.S.-EU Joint Action Plan to combat prejudice and discrimination that would include a specific focus on anti-Semitism. As a member of the Commission I supported the successful effort to include anti-Semitic incidents in the annual State Department International Religious Freedom Reports and Country Reports on Human Rights, and to create the position of the U.S. Special Envoy on Anti- Semitism within the State Department. Mr. Speaker, nearly 74 years have passed since the end of World War II but for those who survived, and the descendants and relatives of those who perished, the Holocaust is not ancient history but a reminder of the evil that can be unleashed when humans give into their worst instincts and appetites. The Holocaust is the worst example of man's inhumanity to man in human history and the magnitude of its destruction numbered more than 12 million deaths, including 6 million Jews and 1.5 million children. A haunting quote in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum refers to the story of Cain and Abel: ``The Lord said, `What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground' '' (Genesis 4:11). The Holocaust is a testament to the fragility of democracy and it forces us to confront uncomfortable questions such as the responsibilities of citizenship and the consequences of indifference and inaction, and the importance of education and awareness. That is why we, all of us, must reject and resist prejudice and intolerance in any form. Mr. Speaker, anti-Semitism is the name for the bigotry and form of racism endured for centuries by Jewish people for no other reason that simply because they are Jews. In 2017 the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a 37 percent increase in hate crimes against Jews or Jewish institutions and found that attacks against Jews or Jewish institutions made up 58.1 percent of all religious-based hate crimes. And it was just last year, on October 27, 2018, the perpetrator of the deadliest attack on Jewish people in the history of the United States killed 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue building in Pittsburgh and reportedly stated that he ``wanted all Jews to die.'' There is an urgent need to ensure the safety and security of Jewish communities, including synagogues, schools, cemeteries, and other institutions. Outside of the United States, Jews are the targets of anti-Semitic violence at even higher rates in many other countries. Anti-Semitism includes scapegoating or blaming Jews as Jews when things go wrong; calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or extremist view of religion; or making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotyped allegations about Jews. Another way that anti-Semitism manifests itself is when Jewish people are subject in the media and political campaigns to numerous other dangerous myths, including the canard that Jews control the United States Government or seek global, political, and financial domination, or that Jews are obsessed with money. Mr. Speaker, we need to denounce and reject forcefully and continuously the scapegoating and targeting of Jews in the United States that has persisted for many years, including by the Ku Klux Klan, the America First Committee, and by modern neo-Nazis, whose membership decidedly is not comprised of ``very fine people.'' We also must have zero-tolerance for any suggestion or accusation that Jews are more loyal to Israel or to the Jewish community than to the United States. Such accusations of dual allegiance constitutes anti-Semitism because they suggest that Jewish citizens cannot be patriotic Americans and trusted neighbors, when Jews have loyally served our Nation every day since its founding, whether in public or community life or military service. Accusations of dual loyalty have an insidious and pernicious history and led, inter alia, to the discriminatory incarceration of Americans of Japanese descent during World War II on their basis of race and alleged dual loyalty; the Dreyfus affair, when Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French artillery captain, was falsely convicted of passing secrets to Germany based on his Jewish background; and the questioning of John F. Kennedy's fitness to serve as President of the United States because of his Catholic faith. Following the terrorist attack of September 11, we saw a noticeable increase in suspicion of, and hostility to, Muslim-Americans in the United States, including Islamophobia, based on false accusations that they were supportive of, or associated with, terrorism. Mr. Speaker, in 2017, mosques were bombed in Bloomington, Minnesota, and burned in Austin, Texas, Victoria, Texas, Bellevue, Washington, and Thonotosassa, Florida, and mass attacks on Muslim communities were planned against communities in Islamberg, New York, in 2019, Jacksonville, Florida, in 2017, and Garden City, Kansas, in 2016. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reported that hate crimes against Muslims or Muslim institutions in the United States increased by over 99 percent between 2014 and 2016. That is why I am so pleased that the resolution before us also strongly denounces anti-Muslim bigotry, which entails prejudicial attitudes towards Muslims and people who are perceived to be Muslim, including the irrational belief that Muslims are inherently violent, disloyal, and foreign; or sympathize with individuals who engage in violence or terror or support the oppression of women, Jews, and other vulnerable communities. It is very important and significant that the resolution before us also condemns White supremacists in the United States who have and continue to exploit bigotry and weaponize hate for political gain, targeting traditionally persecuted peoples, including African Americans, Native Americans, and other people of color, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, immigrants, and others with verbal attacks, incitement, and violence. Let us be very clear: these purveyors of hate will not win because as the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., taught, persecution of any American is an assault on the rights and freedoms of all Americans. Mr. Speaker, anti-Semitism is wrong and based on a lie--as are racism, Islamophobia, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia--but remember the words of William Cullen Bryant, who said: Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again; The eternal years of God are hers; But Error, wounded, writhes in pain, And dies among his worshippers. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for H. Res. 183 and I encourage every person in the United States to confront and reject anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, and other forms of bigotry and do all they can to ensure that the United States lives up to the transcendent principles of tolerance, religious freedom, and equal protection as embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the first and 14th amendments to the Constitution that have made it the envy and the hope of the world. ____________________