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Combatting the Rise of Anti-Semitism

  • February 20, 2020

Anti-Semitism has a long and insidious history around the world, and recent events in the United States have reminded us in horrific fashion that American Jews are not immune to hatred and prejudice either.

In recent weeks, violent attacks and crimes motivated by hatred of Jews have occurred across the country, including in our community.

On December 10th, three people were murdered at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City. On December 28th, five people were stabbed at a Hanukkah celebration in New York. On January 2nd, video cameras caught a man spray-painting anti-Semitic graffiti on a store in West Hollywood. Sadly, these are hardly isolated events.

The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks hate crimes, found nearly 2,000 anti-Semitic incidents in 2017, the highest number since the organization began recording data in the 1970s. In 2018, 1,879 anti-Semitic incidents occurred, the third highest year on record. While the data is still being finalized for 2019, multiple horrific attacks targeting Jews suggest the problem has continued to grow.

The rise in anti-Semitic rhetoric and violence has left many Jewish American communities concerned for their safety and scared to freely and publicly practice their faith.

No one should be targeted for their religion, and as a nation we must work to stamp out all forms of hate crime and discrimination. It falls on all Americans, together, to repudiate the violence and hatred, to change the tone, and to ensure that America lives up to its promise as a nation where hate and discrimination have no place.

In response to the rise in anti-Semitic incidents, local governments, law enforcement agencies and community organizations across the country are grappling with how best to protect Jewish communities.

One solution is to reform the way hate crimes are reported and categorized so we can better understand the full magnitude of anti-Semitism, as well as other crimes targeting people based on religion, gender identity, race, national origin, sexual orientation, or any other category.

I am proud of the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Dept., which recently broadened the definition of anti-Semitic cases to include vandalism.

As a result, reporting of anti-Semitic hate crimes in Los Angeles has doubled, meaning we have a much more accurate understanding of anti-Semitism in our community. I hope that more cities will follow Los Angeles’ lead.

We must also educate younger generations about the horrors of the past so they are not doomed to repeat them in the future. That’s why I’m a proud cosponsor of the Never Again Education Act, which would create a new grant program at the U.S. Department of Education to give teachers the tools they need to teach students the important and tragic lessons of the Holocaust and the consequences of hate and bigotry.

In America, we hold religious freedom as a sacred cornerstone of liberty. All Americans have the right to worship freely without persecution. In this new year, let us mourn those lost to this tragic violence and resolve to fight anti-Semitism wherever it occurs.