Search
Displaying results 1 - 8 of 8
April 02, 2013
…that April 8 is Yom Ha Shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, but acts of anti-Semitism still occur in Europe?In Russia, xenophobia and intolerance, including anti-Semitism, fuel hate crimes by skinhead groups. In Belarus, the anti-Jewish utterances of President Lukashenko and the state media are coupled by a failure to identify or punish the vandals of Jewish cemeteries and other property. Echoing Hungary’s Nazi era, the leader of its third largest party recently urged the government to create a list of Jews posing “a national security threat.” Fortunately, Hungary’s government, including its Parliament, condemned this statement.
Elsewhere in Europe, since 2000, anti-Jewish graffiti increasingly has appeared in Paris and Berlin, Madrid and Amsterdam, London and Rome, and synagogues have been vandalized or set ablaze in France, Greece, and Sweden. In France, “unprecedented violence” took place last year, according to a recent report issued by the security unit of France’s Jewish community. There were 614 anti-Semitic incidents in 2012, compared to 389 in 2011. Earlier this February, a woman was arrested in Toulouse, France after trying to stab a student at the Ohr HaTorah Jewish day school where four Jews were shot and killed in March 2012. In Greece, synagogues and Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated, and the rise of the Golden Dawn political party is deeply troubling. In Malmo, Sweden, physical attacks have fueled a Jewish exodus.
Perpetrators range from neo-Nazis or members of skinhead groups to those distorting the religion of Islam to advance their own intolerant agendas.
Four factors compound the problem. First, European officials remain reluctant to identify the perpetrators’ ideological or religious motivations. Second, surveys show that negative attitudes towards Jews remain widespread among Europe’s population. Third, these surveys confirm that some of this bias reveals itself through certain criticisms of the state of Israel. While no country is beyond reproach, when criticism includes language intended to delegitimize Israel, demonize its people, and apply to it standards to which no other state is held, it becomes anti-Semitic. Finally, a number of European governments and political parties have supported restrictions on vital religious practices. At least four countries – Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland – ban kosher slaughter. Authorities and political forces in Norway and Germany also have tried to ban infant male circumcision.
November 10, 2014
Nov 10, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASENovember 10, 2014 | USCIRF
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two anniversaries this month highlight the importance of continually confronting and combatting anti-Semitism wherever and whenever it arises.
This past Sunday, November 9th, marked the 76th anniversary of the 1938 Night of Broken Glass, also known as Kristallnacht, an event many consider the start of the Holocaust. On November 12-13, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will mark the 10th anniversary of the Berlin Declaration on anti-Semitism for which participating States and civil society representatives will gather in Berlin. The Declaration acknowledged that anti-Semitism has assumed new forms and poses a continued threat to security and stability in the OSCE region. OSCE participating States pledged to foster an environment free of anti-Semitic harassment, violence or discrimination, and combat anti-Semitic and other hate crimes.
High-level delegations at the Berlin meeting will assess what has been achieved during the past ten years and focus on addressing current challenges. U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Chair, Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, and USCIRF Commissioner Hannah Rosenthal will attend the meeting as part of the U.S. delegation.
“Kristallnacht and the OSCE meeting both serve to remind us that we must remain vigilant. The denial of freedom of religion or belief serves as a warning sign that malignant forces threaten civil society and freedom. The hatred that targets Jews knows no boundaries and relentlessly targets others, including Baha’is, Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims and Yazidis, and those somehow deemed to be different,” said USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett.
“The fight against anti-Semitism is a struggle for the basic values and principles of liberty against the forces of tyranny in every form. Anti-Semitism is prevalent in many of the countries USCIRF monitors. Even in Western Europe, where some of America’s strongest allies reside, anti-Semitism is increasing, and some Jews question if they have a future there. It is vitally important that anti-Semitism is denounced whenever and wherever it occurs and that ‘never again’ will the forces of democracy and freedom turn their backs,” said USCIRF Commissioner Hannah Rosenthal.
USCIRF’s 2014 Annual Report highlights anti-Semitism in several countries featured in the report, including Western Europe, Turkey (Turkish Translation), Russia (Russian Translation), Iran (Persian Translation) and Egypt (Arabic Translation).
To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at media@uscirf.gov or 202-285-6868 or 202-786-0613.
April 01, 2013
Apr 1, 2013
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
By USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett
Even as we prepare to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, European society's dark past of bigotry haunts our present
The following op-ed appeared in The Guardian on March 31, 2013.
As fellow Americans prepare to join their Jewish friends and neighbors in solemn commemoration of Yom Ha Shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day , on 8 April, for many, the question that haunts us is this: has Europe fully transcended its past? If the past decade is any indicator, it has not. Despite much soul-searching following America's liberation of that continent, European antisemitism persists.
In Russia, which I visited on behalf of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) last October, I heard how xenophobia and intolerance, including antisemitism, fuel hate crimes by skinhead groups. In Belarus, the anti-Jewish utterances of President Lukashenko and the state media are coupled by a failure to identify or punish the vandals of Jewish cemeteries and other property. In Hungary, my parents' native country, the leader of its third largest party recently urged the government to create a list of Jews posing "a national security threat" - even as the government, including its parliament, condemned this statement.
Even in western Europe, where some of America's strongest historic allies reside, antisemitism also remains. Since 2000, anti-Jewish graffiti increasingly has appeared in Paris and Berlin, Madrid and Amsterdam, London and Rome, and synagogues have been vandalized or set ablaze in France and Sweden.
In Malmo, Sweden, physical attacks have fueled a Jewish exodus. A generation ago, Malmo was home to 2,000 Jews; today there are fewer than 700. In France, "unprecedented violence" took place last year, according to a recent report by the security unit of France's Jewish community (pdf) . There were 614 antisemitic incidents in 2012, compared to 389 in 2011. Earlier this February, a woman was arrested in Toulouse, France after trying to stab a student at the Ohr HaTorah Jewish day school where four Jews were shot and killed in March 2012.
Who are the perpetrators of these hateful acts? Some are neo-Nazis or members of skinhead groups. Others are religious extremists who distort the religion of Islam to advance their own intolerant agendas. Most are hostile to democracy and pluralism.
I am reminded of the recently unearthed statements of Egypt's President Morsi, depicting the Jewish people as "descendants of apes and pigs" whom Egyptian "children and grandchildren" must hate, "down to the last generation". As the daughter of Holocaust survivors, I found Morsi's comments evoked Europe's dark past from his Middle East locale.
Compounding the problem are four factors. First, European officials remain reluctant to identify the ideological or religious motivations of the perpetrators. Second, surveys show that negative attitudes towards Jews among Europe's population remain widespread. Third, these surveys confirm that some of this bias reveals itself through certain criticisms of the state of Israel: while no country is beyond reproach, when criticism includes language intended to delegitimize Israel, demonize its people, and apply to it standards to which no other state is held, we must call it antisemitism.
Finally, as USCIRF has documented , a number of European governments and political parties have added fuel to the fire by backing restrictions on vital religious practices. At least four countries - Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland - ban kosher slaughter. Authorities and political forces in Norway and Germany also have tried to ban infant male circumcision. These restrictions affect Muslims, as well.
What helps drive them is a monolithic secular ideology, which, like the monolithic state religion it replaced, views serious practitioners of Judaism, Islam, and other belief systems as outsiders. It also suggests a striking indifference to Europe's past persecution of Judaism.
Fortunately, over the past decade, Europe's largest human rights body, the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) , has taken firm stands against religious bigotry, including antisemitism. Humanitarian concerns demand nothing less.
Yet, there are other reasons to care. When Jews face trouble, so often do other minorities. And as the second world war taught a whole generation of Americans, the same forces targeting Jews often oppose freedom for all. The fight against antisemitism is a key element in freedom's battle against tyranny. It is a fight to preserve civilization and further human progress.
To paraphrase Eric Hoffer, an American author writing half a century ago , as it goes with the Jews, so will it go with all of us. We are all in this together. As we recall Europe's darkest days, let this be our response to antisemitism. The stakes are too high not to stand for tolerance and decency.
To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCRIF at (202) 523-3258 or media@uscirf.gov
January 27, 2016
Jan 27, 2016
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
January 27, 2016 | M. Zuhdi Jasser and Thomas J. Reese
The following op-ed appeared in USA Today on January 27, 2016
As the United States and the world today mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the day of liberation in 1945 for Auschwitz, the largest Nazi killing factory in the death of six million Jews, we solemnly recall a troubled past but sadly face a challenging present. Anti-Semitism is surging, including in Europe, with threats, violence and vandalism against Jews.
Last January, four Jewish men in Paris’ Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket were murdered, and an Israeli in Berlin was beaten. In February, a shooter attacked Copenhagen’s great synagogue. In March, a drunken mob assaulted a London synagogue. In November, anti-immigration demonstrators in the Polish city of Wroclaw burned effigies of orthodox Jews. In December, a Jewish cemetery in Sochaczew, Poland, was desecrated with Holocaust-denying graffiti and pro-Islamic State messages.
Today, the hatred fueling the Shoah is back and must be countered. In 2015, incidents led nearly 10,000 Jews, an all-time high, to leave Western Europe for Israel, with nearly 8,000 coming from France. From the Hyper Cacher shooting to the stabbing of a rabbi and two of his congregants in Marseilles to the wounding of 14 worshipers through a liquid poison attack at a Bonneuil-sur-Marn synagogue, 2015 was another grim year for French Jews. Last week, violence struck Marseilles’ Jews again, as a teenager attacked a Jewish teacher with a machete, prompting a Jewish leader to ask Jews not to wear skullcaps. In 2013, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights reported that one-third of European Jews polled said they had stopped wearing religious garb or symbols for fear of attack.
Meeting last week with European Jewish Congress officials, Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly, and perhaps cynically, invited European Jews to resettle in Russia.
But Russia hardly is immune from this virus. In 2014, the Russian Jewish Congress reported a spike in anti-Semitism. Despite a decline last year, disturbing incidents occurred. In June, a previously vandalized Jewish kindergarten in Volgograd again was targeted. In July, a gunman shot Sergei Ustinov, the founder of a Moscow Jewish museum, and fled, with police deeming anti-Semitism a possible motive. In September, Semyon Tykman, a teacher in a Chassidic high school, went on trial in the city of Ekaterinburg. He faces a possible four-year sentence in a labor colony for “incitement of hatred” for discussing the Holocaust, the first trial of a religious Jew under Russia’s notorious extremism laws.
What is driving the violence and bigotry? A variety of toxic political ideologies and movements historically have scapegoated Jews for any number of social ills. Today, anti-Semitism largely combines two factors — extremists claiming to act in Islam’s name and a neo-Nazi movement targeting Muslims and Jews.
Several factors complicate efforts against the hatred. Some officials remain reticent to spotlight assailants’ religious or ideological motives. Studies show widespread negative feelings toward Jews. Some of this prejudice results in condemnations of Israel which, rather than highlighting specific policies, deem Israel’s existence evil — the new anti-Semitism. Finally, as documented by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, on which we serve, some nations and political parties support religious restrictions against Jews as well as Muslims and other minorities. At least four countries — Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland — ban kosher slaughter. Norway and Germany have seen attempts to ban infant male circumcision.
There are even political parties in Greece, Hungary, Ukraine and elsewhere with platforms denying the Holocaust.
It is time to root out the haters’ motives, which means owning up fully to radicalization problems, religious or political. It is time to confront again anti-Semitism’s ancient legacy. It is time to reaffirm religious freedom by relaxing restrictions on both Jewish and Muslim religious practices.
To its credit, Europe’s largest human rights body, the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe, has stood strongly against anti-Semitism. Last month, the European Commission appointed Katharina von Schnurbein as the continent’s first coordinator in combating anti-Semitism. France and other countries have increased security in Jewish neighborhoods and religious sites.
No one initiative can defeat anti-Semitism. But these and other actions together can make a difference. As we commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we hope that Europe and its people, as well as nations around the world, will redouble their efforts against this scourge.
M. Zuhdi Jasser is a Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Thomas J. Reese, S.J., is a USCIRF Commissioner.
To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at media@uscirf.gov or 202-786-0615.
October 07, 2020
Click here for the Ritual Slaughter Restrictions in Europe Factsheet.
This factsheet shows the spectrum of restrictions on ritual slaughter in Europe, and provides information on the impact that such regulations have on religious freedom in select countries. Pursuant to international human rights law, religious freedom extends to the observance and practice of religion or beliefs, including dietary regulations. European Union laws and regulations require stunning before slaughter to protect this right, but countries are authorized to make their own regulations concerning “slaughtering in accordance with religious rituals.” While a majority of European countries either have no restrictions on ritual slaughter or offer exemptions to religious groups whose dietary laws mandate that animals are uninjured (unstunned) prior to killing, nearly a third of European countries limit the practice, causing individuals to abandon deeply held religious practices and imply a message of exclusion to all those who seek to follow their religion’s dietary laws.
August 29, 2019
Jan 08
WHEN:
Jan 8th 1:30pm
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Hearing
Global Efforts to Counter Anti-Semitism
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
1:30 – 3:00 PM
325 Russell Senate Office Building
Hearing Summary
Hearing Transcript
Please join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for a hearing about how U.S. foreign policy and the international community can counter the growing threat of anti-Semitism around the world.
The global Jewish community is facing a rising tide of anti-Semitic hatred characterized by vandalism, Holocaust denial, violent attacks, hate speech, and the perpetuation of vicious stereotypes. Devastating attacks on synagogues, like the one in October in Halle, Germany on Yom Kippur, illustrate the risks Jews take by seeking to worship and live out their religious identity. Jews in some regions are even refraining from wearing kippahs, Star of David necklaces, and other identifying clothing in order to prevent targeted attacks against them.
Nations around the world have sought to respond to the threat by increasing security at synagogues and schools, strengthening education aimed at countering prejudice and Holocaust denial, and by supporting interfaith dialogue and understanding. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief recently released a comprehensive report on anti-Semitic trends globally and offered policy recommendations to governments, and the European Union recently held a summit to develop strategies to address anti-Semitism. In the United States, Congress continues to work on these issues, most recently through bipartisan taskforces aimed at combatting anti-Semitism.
Witnesses will highlight recommendations to counter anti-Semitism and discuss how the international community can more effectively ensure that the global Jewish community can worship freely and without fear.
Opening Remarks
- Senator Jacky Rosen, D-NV, Co-Chair, Senate Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism
- Tony Perkins, Chair, USCIRF
- Gayle Manchin, Vice Chair, USCIRF Written remarks
- Gary Bauer, Commissioner, USCIRF Written remarks
- Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Written testimony
- Elan Carr, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, U.S. Department of State Written testimony
- Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, Tam Institute for Jewish Studies and the Department of Religion, Emory University Written testimony
- Sharon Nazarian, Senior Vice President of International Affairs, Anti-Defamation League Written testimony
- Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and Professor of International Relations, American University Written testimony
- Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean and Director of the Global Social Action Agenda, Simon Wiesenthal Center Written testimony
August 28, 2019
Jul 24
WHEN:
Jul 24th 1:00pm
-
Jul 24th 1:00pm
Summer Seminar #2 — Anti-Semitism: The World's Oldest Hatred — New Again?
Wednesday, July 24
2168 Rayburn House Office Building
Speakers:
The Honorable Elan Carr, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism
The Honorable Nita Lowey, Chair, Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism, and Member, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Lee Zeldin, Member, U.S. House of Representatives
Rabbi David Saperstein, former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom
Gary Bauer, Commissioner, USCIRF
Tad Stahnke, William and Sheila Konar Director of International Outreach, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Anti-Semitism Factsheet Anti-Semitism Around the World
April 21, 2021
Apr 21, 2021
USCIRF Releases 2021 Annual Report with Recommendations for U.S. Policy
No Longer Recommends Three Countries for Special Watch List
Washington, D.C. – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released its 2021 Annual Report documenting developments during 2020, including significant progress in countries such as Sudan. Meanwhile, other nations implemented laws and policies that further target religious communities, and in some cases amount to genocide and crimes against humanity. USCIRF’s 2021 Annual Report provides recommendations to enhance the U.S. government’s promotion of freedom of religion or belief abroad.
In its report, USCIRF also monitored public health measures put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and their impact on freedom of religion or belief. In many cases, these measures complied with international human rights standards, but in some countries, already marginalized religious communities faced official and societal stigmatization, harassment, and discrimination for allegedly causing or spreading the virus.
“This past year was challenging for most nations trying to balance public health concerns alongside the fundamental right to freedom of religion or belief. Though some governments took advantage of the restrictions to target specific religious communities, we were encouraged by the positive steps various countries took. For example, as a result of COVID-19 outbreaks, many prisoners of conscience were furloughed or released, such as in Eritrea,” USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin said. “USCIRF will continue to monitor how countries respond to and recover from COVID-19, and whether the loosening of restrictions is fair to people of all faiths and nonbelievers.”
USCIRF’s independence and bipartisanship enables it to unflinchingly identify threats to religious freedom around the world. In the 2021 Annual Report, USCIRF recommends 14 countries to the State Department for designation as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) because their governments engage in or tolerate “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations.” These include 10 that the State Department designated as CPCs in December 2020—Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan—as well as four others—India, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam. For the first time ever, the State Department designated Nigeria as a CPC in 2020, which USCIRF had been recommending since 2009.
The 2021 Annual Report also recommends 12 countries for placement on the State Department’s Special Watch List (SWL) based on their governments’ perpetration or toleration of severe violations. These include two that the State Department placed on that list in December 2020—Cuba and Nicaragua—as well as 10 others—Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. In 2021, USCIRF is not recommending SWL placement for Bahrain, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Sudan, which were among its SWL recommendations in its 2020 Annual Report. USCIRF has concluded that, although religious freedom concerns remain in all three countries, conditions last year did not meet the high threshold required to recommend SWL status.
The 2021 Annual Report further recommends to the State Department seven non-state actors for redesignation as “entities of particular concern” (EPCs) for systematic, ongoing, egregious violations. The State Department designated all seven of these groups as EPCs in December 2020—al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, the Houthis, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), and the Taliban.
“In 2020, the Trump administration continued to prioritize international religious freedom. Much progress was made, and our 2021 Annual Report makes recommendations about how Congress and the Executive Branch, now under President Biden, can further advance the U.S. commitment to freedom of religion abroad,” USCIRF Vice Chair Tony Perkins stated. “In order to maintain the crucial momentum of international religious freedom as a U.S. foreign policy priority, USCIRF strongly urges the Biden administration to take a unique action for each country designated as a CPC to provide accountability for religious freedom abuses and to implement the other recommendations contained in our report.”
In addition to chapters with key findings and U.S. policy recommendations for these 26 countries, the annual report describes and assesses U.S. international religious freedom policy overall. The report also highlights important global developments and trends related to religious freedom during 2020, including in countries that do not meet the criteria for CPC or SWL recommendations. These include: COVID-19 and religious freedom; attacks on houses of worship; political unrest leading to religious freedom violations; blasphemy laws; global antisemitism; and China’s international influence on religious freedom and human rights.
“USCIRF’s 2021 Annual Report documents both the deepening of religious divides, and intensified religious persecution and violence during the global pandemics; and the swift and significant progress that can and has been made, as in Sudan, to support and strengthen religious communities of all faiths,” USCIRF Vice Chair Anurima Bhargava added. “We urge the Biden administration and Congress to champion religious freedom and to center the safety and dignity of religious communities as foreign policy priorities. USCIRF recommends that the administration should immediately increase the annual ceiling for refugees; and definitively and publicly conclude that the atrocities committed against the Rohingya people by the Burmese military constitute genocide and take action accordingly; as the State Department recently determined regarding China’s genocide against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims.”
The report includes two new sections, one highlighting key USCIRF recommendations that the U.S. government has implemented from USCIRF 2020 annual report, and the other addressing human rights violations perpetrated based on the coercive enforcement of interpretations of religion.
###
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at Media@USCIRF.gov or Danielle Ashbahian at dashbahian@uscirf.gov or +1-202-702-2778.