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“We've seen, in recent months, current events trigger latent bias in our communities. We go back to 9/11 where we saw the rise of hate against the Muslim community, which was translated into violence against Muslim Americans. We saw during COVID-19 latent bias against the Asian American community. There has been a rise of anti-Asian activity, bias and violence, and this body took action. Once again, as a result of recent violence in the Middle East, we see a rise of anti-Semitism here in the United States and around the world.
“I mention all that because we need to speak out whenever we see a rise of intolerance in our communities. Let me talk about anti-Semitism and what's happened recently.
A 29-year-old Jewish man was punched, kicked and pepper sprayed last week in New York in broad daylight as a group of men yelled anti-Semitic statements.
People in cars began throwing bottles and yelling anti-Semitic is slurs including words like dirty Jew at a dinner party in Los Angeles.
In Skokie, Illinois, someone shattered a window at a synagogue.
In Bal Harbour, Florida, men yelled “Die Jew” at a man in a skullcap and then threatened to rape his wife and daughter.
“These incidents are compounded by an uptick in anti-Semitic speech online. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) finding 17,000 tweets between May 7 and May 14 – one week – with some variation of the phrase ‘Hitler was right.’
“These attacks follow the January 6 Capitol insurrection earlier this year where white supremacists and extremist groups displayed anti-Semitic and racist symbols and recited conspiracy theories blaming Jews for the pandemic.
“These conspiracy theories have proliferated alongside anti-Semitic stereotypes and images being main streamed by some political leaders and public figures.
“While these events are shocking, perhaps we should not be surprised. The Anti-Defamation League Global Index on Anti-Semitism, updated in 2019, found that more than one billion people – nearly one in eight around the world – harbor anti-Semitic attitudes.
“Over 30 percent of those surveyed said it was “probably true” that Jews have too much control over financial markets, that Jews think that they are better than other people, that Jews are disloyal to their country, and that people hate Jews because of the way Jews behave.
“A full 41 percent think Jews are more loyal to Israel than the country they live in. Such sentiments too often translate into violence, leading Jews to report in 2018 that they lived in daily fear of being physically attacked.
“Here at home, Jews make up fewer than 3 percent of the American population, but the majority of reported religious-based crimes targeted Jewish people and institutions.
“I strongly agree with ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt who said last week: We are witnessing a dangerous surge in anti-Semitic hate. To those who choose to engage in anti-Semitic tropes and inflammatory rhetoric, it has consequences. Attacks in real life on real people targeted for no other reason than they are Jewish. This is anti-Semitism plain and simple. It is indisputably inexcusable in any context.
“In 2004, I had the opportunity to represent America at the Berlin Conference where we developed an action plan to stand up against anti-Semitism. Coming out of the Berlin Conference was that leaders must speak out against anti-Semitism in any form. They cannot be silent.
“So I was very pleased when our President, Joe Biden, stated this past week that ‘the recent attacks on the Jewish community are a despicable, and they must stop. I condemn this hateful behavior at home and abroad – it's up to all of us to give hate no safe harbor.’
“Thank you, President Biden.
“I was proud also of our colleague, Senator Mazie Hirono, a leader in the Asian American community, who posted on social media: ‘I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again -- an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. We all must condemn the recent surge of anti-Semitic attacks in our country. Each of us needs to stand up, speak out, and confront this hatred.’
“At my last in-person OSCE meeting before the COVID-19 pandemic, I hosted an event with my European colleagues entitled, ‘Lessons from the Past, Leadership for the Future,’ where we spoke about the lessons from the Holocaust, including early warning signs from the past, some of which have been rising to the surface again in the present. These warning signs include the rise of populist leaders, demonizing of minorities, propagandizing of hate, and the neglect of refugee protections, which ultimately became the factors that resulted in genocide.
