Title: Condemning rising antisemitism.
Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues

Summary:
This resolution calls on elected officials, faith leaders, and civil society leaders to condemn anti-Semitism in all forms. It also calls for renewed efforts to combat anti-Semitism domestically, globally, and online.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1125 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1125

                    Condemning rising antisemitism.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 17, 2022

Ms. Wasserman Schultz (for herself, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Mr. Schneider, and 
 Mr. Zeldin) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
  the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on 
  Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
                    Condemning rising antisemitism.

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--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 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.
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