Combating European Anti-Semitism Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this measure. Let me start by thanking the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), my good friend and neighbor, the ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations.

I also want to thank Chairman Royce for his steadfast support in bringing this bill to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, it is so shocking and so heartbreaking to me that, in the year 2017, we wake up day after day to read about anti-Semitic vandalism and violence, anti-Semitic slurs on Munich buses, Russian so- called law makers pedaling anti-Semite conspiracy theories, horrific murders in a kosher market in Paris 2 years ago. Of course, Mr. Speaker, here in our own country, bomb threats to Jewish community centers, desecration of cemeteries. Actually, I can hardly believe it.

We know this ancient hatred has never been extinguished. It has always found some dark corner in which to fester until some new group on the fringe tries to pull it back into the mainstream. I fear we are seeing that sort of resurgence right now.

When we hear these toxic ideas emanating from major political parties and governing bodies in Europe, we know it is time for action. It needs to be stopped, and this bill will help.

This legislation builds on the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, which established annual reporting on religious freedom worldwide, as well as the 2004 Global Anti-Semitism Review Act, which required the State Department to report every year on anti-Semitism around the world.

This measure calls for continued and enhanced reporting on anti- Semitic incidents in Europe. We want to focus on what has been a hotbed of anti-Semitism in recent years so that no active anti-Semitic hatred goes unnoticed.

This bill also expresses our view in Congress that it is in our country's interest to combat anti-Semitism here and abroad; that it is critical to ensure the safety of European Jewish communities; that multilateral organizations like the U.N. and OSCE have an important role to play in combating anti-Semitism; that we should continue to report anti-Semitic acts worldwide; and that our allies should follow our lead and document anti-Semitic acts when they take place so we can share our findings amongst ourselves.

We also call on the State Department to adopt the working definition of anti-Semitism used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, because words do matter when it comes to the way we talk about this challenge.

It is absolutely amazing that 70-some-odd years after World War II ended--and that decade culminated in

the murder of 6 million Jews in Europe in the Holocaust, men, women, and children--it is absolutely unbelievable that 70 years later you would see anti-Semitism in the same places in Europe rear its ugly head by stupid people who don't know what they are saying or doing. It is just amazing. You think there would be some kind of sensitivity about the Holocaust and about all the innocent people who were murdered for just the one reason that they were Jewish, and yet you see no-nothings, as far as I am concerned, popping up again with their anti-Semitic hatred. It is bad wherever it goes, but it is especially repugnant to have it in Europe, the site of the murder of 6 million Jewish people.

I am very grateful to Representative Lowey for her hard work on this bill. I am pleased to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), my good friend, my fellow New Yorker, the author of this bill, and the ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to close.

Let me first say, I agree with all the eloquent statements made by my colleagues on both sides of the aisle pertaining to this bill.

I want to thank Mrs. Lowey, again, because it is a really important bill. It is really important that we don't sweep this under the rug. It is really important that we don't try to hide it or sugarcoat it. Whether it happens here, whether it happens in Europe, no matter where it happens, any form of anti-Semitism, any form of hatred of one group toward another needs to be roundly condemned and stopped. That is what we are trying to do here.

It hasn't even been a century since we heard this canary in the coal mine: political parties scapegoating Jews; insidious campaigns that question the humanity of Jewish populations or their legitimacy as members of certain societies; governments, popularly elected governments, saying that it was okay to hate.

We don't think it is okay to hate. That is why we are doing this. What we hear today is unnerving in light of that history.

Mr. Speaker, we know what happened when too few good people stood up and spoke out. We cannot allow that history to repeat. We must do whatever it takes to ensure that it doesn't.

This bill will help us address a part of this growing concern. It will shine a bright light on the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. It is just a piece of the puzzle, but it is a good start.

I am proud to stand with my colleagues today to support this measure. I urge all Members to do the same.

I thank the others on this side of the aisle and the other side of the aisle who have spoken on this, especially Chairman Royce.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 672) to require continued and enhanced annual reporting to Congress in the Annual Report on International Religious Freedom on anti-Semitic incidents in Europe, the safety and security of European Jewish communities, and the efforts of the United States to partner with European governments, the European Union, and civil society groups, to combat anti-Semitism, and for other purposes, as amended.

I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous material in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking my colleagues Nita Lowey and Chairman Emeritus Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for their leadership on the Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism and for their good work on this timely and important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I will lay out this case, but it is one we are familiar with. Hostility towards the Jewish people in some European cities is very deep, making Jews in certain areas look over their shoulders, afraid to walk the streets at night. In recent years, this surge in anti-Semitism has led to an outbreak of violent attacks.

Those violent attacks are targeting certain Jewish neighbors. They are targeting places of worship. I think back to 2015, the deadly attacks on the kosher supermarket in Paris and, later on, the synagogue in Copenhagen.

European governments have since passed laws designed to better protect their Jewish citizens, designed to punish those who perpetrate anti-Semitic incidents, but much more work remains to be done because there needs to be a better coordination on these efforts between Jewish communities and law enforcement and more comprehensive reporting on the incidents to identify trends, to identify problematic regions.

In addition, in order to consistently apply anti-Semitism laws throughout Europe, there needs to be a uniform legal understanding of what constitutes anti-Semitism.

Let me explain. We must be clear on this. The fire bombing of synagogues is not a political protest. The defacing of cemeteries, the yelling slurs at rabbis, the threatening of Jewish school children, this is not political protest. This is anti-Semitism, and it must be stopped.

Absent a clear-eyed definition of anti-Semitism, perpetrators of violent acts have, at times, been given a pass for their actions due to the flimsy defense of political protest.

Adoption across Europe of a single definition of anti-Semitism would provide an important foundation for law enforcement officials, enabling them to better enforce laws and develop strategies for improved security for the Jewish community.

This bill, H.R. 672, the Combating European Anti-Semitism Act of 2017, calls for these fundamental improvements, and it reaffirms the U.S. commitment to combating anti-Semitism. It urges European nations to adopt a working definition of anti-Semitism. It calls for increased reporting on it.

Anti-Semitic incidents in Europe have to be reported in a way in which people can be held accountable. Collaborative efforts between U.S. and European law enforcement and the efforts to improve security for Jewish communities is another important aspect of this legislation.

Now is the time to act and pass this important measure.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe), chairman of the Foreign Affairs' Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), who chairs the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa and is our chairman emeritus.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

First, let me say that the words just spoken by Ranking Member Eliot Engel are precisely the sentiment that I think we all wish to convey. We must do all we can to combat anti-Semitism in all of its insidious forms, and we do it because the consequences, the horrifying consequences of doing nothing in the face of such evil, are unconscionable. We must not repeat the mistakes of the past by remaining silent, as this same poison affects our communities today.

Passage of this bill sends a clear signal that anti-Semitism has no place in free societies and urges our European partners to provide practical guidance that will empower law enforcement and better equip them to tackle this rising problem, and it sends the message that our own law enforcement is willing to work hand in hand with theirs in order to tackle this problem.

I appreciate the work of Congresswoman Lowey and Congresswoman Ros- Lehtinen and, of course, Mr. Engel, the ranking member. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for working to help bring this important bill to the floor in a timely manner and, more importantly, for conducting the affairs of our full committee in an even-tempered, professional manner that is an example to the rest of the House. It is an honor to serve under their leadership.

I also want to thank my good friend Nita Lowey because she is the author of this bill, but I want to thank her for her leadership in fighting anti-Semitism across the world. She has been at this fight for many a year. We have worked closely together on defeating this hatred, one of the world's oldest forms of discrimination. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of her bill, and I thank the gentlewoman from New York.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is an important initiative for our Bipartisan Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism, a task force of which I am proud to be a cofounder and a co-chair along with Mrs. Lowey, Mr. Engel, of course Chris Smith, Ted Deutch, Kay Granger, Peter Roskam, Marc Veasey, so many good Members. But more than that, Mr. Speaker, it is an important initiative for the Jewish communities across Europe who have been facing a troubling increase in anti-Semitic incidents and attacks over the past years that have put their safety and their security at risk.

Mr. Speaker, all across Europe, Jews have been targeted. Their places of worship have been targeted, their homes, targeted; their businesses, targeted. Why? Because of their faith.

They have been the target of deadly attacks in European cities, democratic societies that we call allies: France, Belgium, Denmark, elsewhere--horrific. This is simply unconscionable, Mr. Speaker.

There is no time to delay in taking action. We cannot allow for an atmosphere of intolerance and hatred to once again rear its ugly head in Europe. That is why this bill is an important first step.

We have identified growing anti-Semitism as a problem before, but this bill will enhance reporting requirements so that we can more acutely identify the problems and, equally important, Mr. Speaker, we can identify the security challenges facing these Jewish communities. Then we can learn how to best tackle this, and we can learn how we can partner with our European allies and our friends and local law enforcement, along with civil society, to protect against anti-Semitic acts. We can get a better understanding of how our partners in Europe can better educate their children. We can get a handle on how to better promote awareness in their societies to the dangers of such blind hatred.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want to say that the first step in fighting anti-Semitism is identifying the problem areas and then developing a plan to address it. This bill will help us identify the problem. It is an important first step in taking the necessary action to protect the Jewish communities of Europe. I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 672, the Combating Anti-Semitism Act of 2017, sponsored by my friend Nita Lowey. I and all of our fellow Co-Chairs of the Bi-Partisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism are original cosponsors.

Among its provisions, the bill would require the State Department to include in existing annual reports information about the security challenges and needs of European Jewish communities and European law enforcement. This report would also document related U.S. government efforts to partner with European law enforcement agencies and civil society groups.

H.R. 672 is important and timely. As witnesses testified at a hearing I chaired in March on ``Anti-Semitism Across Borders,'' physical attacks on European Jewish communities, and other forms of anti-Semitic hatred, remain rampant on the continent. Rabbi Andy Baker, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Combating Anti- Semitism and Director of International Jewish Affairs at the American Jewish Committee noted that even after the deadly anti-Semitic attacks in Paris, Brussels and Copenhagen, ``problems still remain. Governments have taken different approaches, and some only in stop-gap measures.'' Rabbi Baker also emphasized that ``We need to be clear-eyed in confronting and combating anti-Semitism, which manifests itself on both the right and the left.''

At the same hearing, Paul Goldenberg, Director of the Security Community Network and Senior Advisor to the Rutgers University Faith- Based Communities Security Program, warned that ``Ever-more connected, extremist groups in the United States are borrowing, adapting and enhancing the tactics and strategies adopted in Europe.'' This is an especially sobering warning, given the man recent anti-Semitic incidents here in the United States.

Mark Weitzman, Director of Government Affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, emphasized that ``Fighting antisemitism has always been a bipartisan commitment and in today's fractured political world it is more necessary than ever that the U.S. maintain its diplomatic and moral leadership in this issue. . . . we would strongly suggest that the position [of Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti- Semitism] even be upgraded, to that of Ambassador, thus demonstrating the importance attached by our government to this issue.''

H.R. 672 is an example of such bi-partisanship. It would ensure that the Special Envoy, other U.S. officials, the Congress, and civil society--especially European Jewish communities that their security groups--have key information to act fully and effectively. With the right information, and robust action, the United States can help ensure the safety and security of Jewish communities in Europe and elsewhere.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friends, Chairman Ed Royce and Ranking Member Eliot Engel, and all those involved in advancing this important legislation.

I rise in support of H.R. 672, the Combating European Anti-Semitism Act, which was introduced by the co-chairs of the Bipartisan Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism.

With the rising threat of anti-Semitism in Europe, this bill would require enhanced reporting to Congress on anti-Semitic incidents in Europe, the safety and security of European Jewish communities, and the efforts of the United States to partner with European entities to combat anti-Semitism. This bill also urges the Department of State to continue encouraging European governments and multilateral institutions to adopt a clear and comprehensive working definition of anti-Semitism.

I find it hard to believe that in the 21st century European Jews worry about whether or not there is a future for their communities in Europe. But with increased anti-Semitic sentiments throughout Europe and many Jews becoming the targets of verbal, physical, and even deadly terrorist attacks, the security and quality of life for European Jewish communities has deteriorated. This is simply unacceptable.

Anti-Semitism is not simply a Jewish problem. Xenophobia and other forms of racism are never far behind when this pernicious threat rears its ugly head. The United States must remain a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism wherever it occurs to ensure that our commitment to ``never again'' remains a reality.

Finally, I want to express my appreciation to my fellow co-chairs of the Bipartisan Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism, Representatives Smith, Engel, Granger, Deutch, Ros-Lehtinen, Veasey, and Roskam. The task force remains committed to working across regions, religions, and party lines to condemn all anti-Semitism and fight for the right of Jews to live freely without fear at home and abroad.