US Senate launches bipartisan task force to combat anti-Semitism
Co-chairs Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Jewish Democrat from Nevada, and Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, say acts of hate are growing ‘at an alarming rate’
Anti-Semitic graffiti found on Beth Israel Sinai in Racine, Wisconsin, September 22, 2019. (Joyce Placzkowski via JTA)
The US Senate has launched a bipartisan task force for combating anti-Semitism.
The task force was launched this week to coincide with the first anniversary of the anti-Semitic shooting attack at the Tree of Life synagogue building in Pittsburgh which left 11 worshipers dead.
The task force is co-chaired by Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, and Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, both members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism in the House of Representatives was reinstated in February.
Sen. Jacky Rosen, Democrat-Nevada, listens during a committee meeting, July 30, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
“Today, the two of us — a practicing Jewish Democrat from Nevada and a devoted Christian Republican from Oklahoma — are calling on our colleagues to set aside the labels, the bickering and the grandstanding to join together to take on one of the most disturbing trends of our time. We stand united in the common goal of defeating hate and combating the violent scourge of anti-Semitism,” Rosen and Lankford wrote in an Op-Ed announcing the launch of the task force.
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“In the United States, we’ve seen evidence that anti-Semitism and acts of hate are growing at an alarming rate. The State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism earlier this year called the rise in anti-Semitism worse than it has been in decades. And the impacts go far beyond the Jewish community alone,” they also wrote.
Sen. James Lankford, Republican-Oklahoma, speaks to reporters as he walks into a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 25, 2019. (Andrew Harnik/AP)
The lawmakers said the mission of the task force to collaborate with law enforcement, federal agencies, state and local government, educators, advocates, clergy, and other stakeholders to combat anti-Semitism.
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