US Senate passes bipartisan resolution condemning rise in antisemitism News
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US Senate passes bipartisan resolution condemning rise in antisemitism

The US Senate this week passed a bipartisan resolution condemning the recent rise in antisemitism in the US and around the world.

“Recently, we’ve seen attacks on Jewish communities and Jewish-owned places of business, foreign leaders who have invoked antisemitic conspiracies, and elected officials diminishing the horrors that Jews endured during the Holocaust,” said Senator Jacky Rosen. “No issue threatens Jewish communities more than the alarming rise of antisemitism and violent extremism.”

The resolution cited acts of antisemitism including an attack on Jewish diners in California, vandalized synagogues in Arizona and Illinois, and fireworks fired at Jewish crowds in New York City. According to the resolution, “Jewish Americans were the target of 60.2% of all religiously motivated hate crimes in 2019, despite accounting for 2 percent of the population of the United States.”

In 2021, the Anti-Defamation League reported a 75 percent surge in antisemitic attacks in the US between May 7 and 14, a 438 percent surge in attacks globally (outside of Israel), and a variation of the words “Hitler was right” tweeted over 17,000 times.

Among the elected officials and celebrities criticized for their antisemitic remarks since April’s recent Middle East crisis, Democratic lawmakers recently condemned Rep. Ilhan Omar for comparing the US and Israel to terrorist organizations in a since-removed tweet. Republican lawmakers condemned Marjorie Taylor-Greene for tweeting about how mandating vaccinations for employees are “just like the Nazi’s (sic) forcing Jewish people to wear a gold star.”

This week, a student at the University of Southern California was investigated by the FBI for tweeting about killing Jewish and Zionist students. On Tuesday, a California man was arrested for punching a visibly Jewish child in the face while the child was playing on scooters with his friends, and a second man threatened to kill the boy’s family.

The resolution urges President Biden to establish an Ambassador to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, to advance accurate Holocaust education and counter Holocaust denial and distortion by fully implementing the Never Again Education Act, and to ensure the physical security of Jewish institutions and organizations.

The Senate passed the resolution on Monday by voice vote.

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