Senators on Euro Anti-Semitism - September 14-15, 2004

Senators Address European, Worldwide Anti-Semitism

News Coverage:

JTA


Jewish Week

Statements:


Sens. Santorum, Brownback


Sen. Frist


Sen. Bond


Sens. Voinovich, Coleman, Smith and Bunning

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JTA - 09.15.2004

Push for more government attention to anti-Semitism, but some objections 

By Matthew E. Berger 

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Politicians looking at what the United States can do to help quash a rise in international anti-Semitism are arriving at different conclusions. 

Republicans in the U.S. Senate are leading an effort to raise awareness of the rise of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist attacks in Europe and elsewhere.

At the same time, a bipartisan group of policy intellectuals is criticizing the Bush administration for not backing new efforts to monitor and combat anti-Semitism abroad.

While the re-emergence of international anti-Semitism is a phenomenon virtually no one in Washington disputes, opinions differ as to how to tackle it from here.

Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) is pushing legislation that would mandate an annual State Department report on anti-Semitism and what countries are doing to combat it. It also would create an office within the State Department to handle the issue. 

“Unfortunately, anti-Semitism has had an appalling upsurge in many countries across the globe,” Lantos told JTA. “It is my judgement, as the only Holocaust survivor in this Congress, that anti-Semitism deserves special attention.”

The State Department opposes the legislation, arguing it already monitors anti-Semitism in other annual reports.

A group of 104 “prominent Americans,” coordinated by the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, sent a letter Monday to Secretary of State Colin Powell suggesting that the fight against anti-Semitism deserves “specific, focused attention,” and expressing disappointment that the State Department opposes Lantos’ legislation. 

“This is, unfortunately, a historic and worldwide phenomenon,” former Rep. Steve Solarz (D-N.Y.), a coordinator of the effort, told JTA. “We know what the consequences of anti-Semitism are.” 

Solarz is joined by Jack Kemp, a former secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Jeanne Kirkpatrick, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and James Woolsey, a former CIA director. 

In its official comments on the Global Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, the State Department said that other department reports already touch on anti-Semitism, and that a report devoted solely to anti-Semitism “could erode our credibility by being interpreted as favoritism in human rights reporting.” 

The department also said that anti-Semitism issues already are coordinated out of the Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.

Lantos said Powell told him he agrees with the department's position. A State Department spokesman was unavailable for comment.

Solarz and Lantos said they think global anti-Semitism warrants the same treatment as international human trafficking and the situation in Tibet, which are dealt with in specific State Department reports.

“The notion that Jews are singled out for special and preferential treatment is sort of insane,” Lantos said. “Jews are singled out for persecution, and we need to prevent that.”

The State Department has said it does not oppose a similar bill sponsored by Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), which passed the Senate in May and which calls for a one-time report on global anti-Semitism. It also requires the department to document anti-Semitic acts in its annual reports on international religious freedom and human rights. 

Lantos said he is close to a deal with Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who is expected to sponsor the House of Representatives’ version of the Voinovich legislation, to amend it and make it similar to Lantos’ vision.

Lantos said he believed the bill could be voted on this year and receive unanimous support if he can come to an agreement with Smith.

Support for increased monitoring of anti-Semitic acts is popular on Capitol Hill. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) said Monday that he supports the Lantos legislation in principle, but believes the State Department is impeding progress.

“My feeling is this is an important enough issue that we should be taking note of it and documenting it,” he told reporters. “The general concept is one we should be paying attention to.” 

Santorum hopes his colleagues will pay attention this week when the Senate Republican caucus devotes its floor time during morning business to global anti-Semitism. Six GOP senators were expected to address the issue for 10 minutes each on Tuesday and Wednesday, timed for the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

“It’s important for us to take that time as a point of reflection for the Jewish community and as a point of reflection for this country,” Santorum said Monday. 

Republicans have been touting their efforts against anti-Semitism as part of a larger election strategy to court the American Jewish vote. 

A recent White House booklet, “President George W. Bush: A Friend of the American Jewish Community,” focused on Bush’s condemnation of anti-Semitic comments by the former prime minister of Malaysia and his decision to send high-level delegations to anti-Semitism conferences sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Warren Miller, chairman of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, also praised Bush’s efforts Tuesday, suggesting that since taking office Bush has made priorities of Holocaust remembrance and action against anti-Semitism.

“There is action to fight anti-Semitism wherever it occurs, and strong efforts are underway to protect and preserve the cultural heritage of the Jewish people,” Miller said in a speech at the National Press Club. “Our citizens and our government are actively engaged.”

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Jewish Week - 09.17.2004

Jewish Week

Anti-Semitism Aired On Hill
 

By James D. Besser - Washington Correspondent 

The global rise of anti-Semitism continues to get a thorough airing in Washington and in European capitals. 

On Tuesday, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), the third-ranking Republican in the Senate and chair of the Senate Republican Conference, organized a special session on the Senate floor devoted to the subject. 

Santorum said it is critical to focus attention on the issue “not just because of concerns for Jewish people, but because of the war on terrorism. All of this, to me, is woven together.” 

The lawmaker said it was particularly significant that his colleagues took time to address the issue “during prime election time.” 

Santorum, working with Jewish groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Orthodox Union, assembled and distributed to GOP lawmakers thick briefing books dealing with anti-Semitism and “anti-Israelism.” 

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said he would have preferred a more bipartisan effort. 

“I wish he hadn’t done it this way,” Foxman said. “I don’t understand why he did.” 

But Foxman commended the lawmaker for raising the profile of the anti-Semitism issue and said that support for strong action against anti-Jewish bigotry will continue to be bi-partisan. 

Santorum told a handful of reporters that the special session was not an attempt to score partisan points. As leader of the Republican Conference, he said, “it’s not my job to tell the Democrats what to do. [Senate Minority Leader] Tom Daschle doesn’t call me and ask about what to bring to the floor.” 

Also on the anti-Semitism front, a group of activists is criticizing the State Department for opposing legislation that would require the department to monitor and report on anti-Semitic activities around the world. 

The effort, organized by former Rep. Stephen Solarz and the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, represents an attempt to boost the Global Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, introduced by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.). 

Co-sponsors of the legislation include Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). 

Signers of the letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell are luminaries such as former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp, former UN ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and Clinton Administration National Security Adviser Anthony Lake. 

“The State Department’s position on the Lantos legislation carries troubling echoes of the past,” according to the letter. “During the Holocaust, the State Department did its best to downplay the Jewish identity of Hitler’s victims — even though the Nazi regime had clearly singled out Jews for annihilation.” 

Administration officials oppose the bill because of claims it would single Jews out for special treatment.