WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen’s (D-NV) released the following statement in response to news of an anti-Semitic incident that occurred at Escobedo Middle School in Las Vegas, where anti-Semitic notes and images were placed on the desk of a middle-school student.
“This outrageous act requires a swift and firm response from our community. No child, or adult for that matter, should ever be made to feel unsafe, threatened, or intimidated by anti-Semitic or white supremacist bigotry,” dijo el Senador Rosen. “We all have an obligation to speak up and fight against all forms of hate in our community. I will continue to shine a light on this very serious issue and I urge community leaders everywhere to do the same.”
BACKGROUND: Senator Rosen is a cosponsor of the bipartisan Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2018, which addresses anti-Semitism in schools by adopting 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.
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. Last Congress, Rosen co-sponsored this bipartisan legislation and helped advance it in the House, where it passed by a vote of 393-2.
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.
While serving in the House, then-Congresswoman Rosen served as a member of the Bipartisan Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism.
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.
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