WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) released the following statement in response to a recently released report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) that found that assaults on the Jewish community are at a “near-historic” high in 2018. The Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents is an annual report conducted by ADL. Last week, Rosen convened a meeting with community leaders in Las Vegas to discuss finding ways to combat the rise of anti-Semitism in America.
“The findings on this report are deeply troubling, and the timing of its release paints a clear picture of how serious of a problem anti-Semitism has become,” said Senator Rosen. “This year’s audit found 2018 as the third-highest year on record for anti-Semitic acts and hate crimes since ADL started tracking them in the 1970s. We witnessed this hatred over the weekend when a Chabad in southern California came under attack on the last day of Passover, a day that is supposed to be a celebration of faith and freedom. We must do more to stop this dangerous and alarming trend, and that means working together to educate our communities about how we combat hate and anti-Semitism across every aspect of our society.
BACKGROUND: Senator Rosen holds the distinction of being the third female Jewish Senator in U.S. history, as well as the first former synagogue president to serve in the United States Senate. As such, Senator Rosen has been an outspoken advocate of combating anti-Semitism in the United States, the Middle East, Europe, and around the world.
Senator Rosen is a cosponsor of the bipartisan Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2018, which adopts a broad definition of anti-Semitism for the purposes of enforcing federal antidiscrimination laws in education. Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Education to consider this new definition of “anti-Semitism” as part of its assessment of whether an action based on an individual’s Jewish ancestry was motivated by anti-Semitic intent, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in education. Among other things, the definition includes making stereotypical allegations about the power of Jews as a collective, denying the Holocaust, and accusing Jewish citizens of a country of being more loyal to Israel to than to the interests of their own nation.
Earlier this year, Senator Rosen helped introduce bipartisan legislation to upgrade the State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism to the rank of an ambassador and require its Presidential appointment and Senate confirmation. This month, Senator Rosen attended the swearing in of the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism. Rosen was the only Member of Congress to attend the swearing-in ceremony for Special Envoy Elan Carr.
Last Congress, Rosen co-sponsored this bipartisan legislation and helped advance it in the House, where it passed by a vote of 393-2.
While serving in the House, then-Congresswoman Rosen served as a member of the Bipartisan Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism.
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