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January 24, 2020
Jan 24, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 24, 2020
USCIRF Honors International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Cautions Against Rising Anti-Semitism
WASHINGTON, DC – On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27th, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) honors the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and the millions of other victims of Nazism, and calls on the international community to make greater strides in combatting rising anti-Semitism. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the notorious Nazi death camp.
“This anniversary serves as a reminder of how unchecked anti-Semitism has led to atrocities,” said USCIRF Chair Tony Perkins. “Jewish people around the world still experience discrimination, name calling, vandalism of synagogues and cemeteries, hate speech on the Internet, and violent attacks. The Holocaust did not happen overnight; we must heed these early warning signs of increasing intolerance. All who value religious freedom must stand firmly against anti-Semitism and other forms of religious hatred to prevent the horrors of the Holocaust from being repeated.”
USCIRF’s recent activities to highlight this troubling trend include a seminar on Capitol Hill in July and a hearing earlier this month that featured the testimonies of several prominent scholars and activists, including Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, whose book about her legal battle against a leading Holocaust denier was made into the 2016 movie, “Denial.” (Hearing summary here.)
“We can no more deny the rise in anti-Semitism around the world than we can deny the facts of the Holocaust,” said USCIRF Vice Chair Gayle Manchin. “But with the benefit of both hindsight and foresight, we can identify anti-Semitism, we can trace its insidious sources, and we can craft strong foreign policy responses so that ‘never again’ holds true.”
In order to more vigorously confront the scourge of anti-Semitism, USCIRF recommends that the U.S. government should:
- Ensure that combatting anti-Semitism is a key priority of the International Religious Freedom Alliance once it is launched;
- Encourage foreign governments to create positions similar to the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism;
- Urge the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General to create a position in his office to engage with Jewish communities worldwide and to monitor and report on anti-Semitism globally; and
- Provide technical support to foreign law enforcement officials to update and standardize hate crime reporting procedures to ensure the accurate collection and dissemination of data on anti-Semitic and other hate crimes.
October 09, 2019
Oct 9, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 9, 2019
USCIRF Responds to Yom Kippur Attack in Germany
Washington, DC (Oct. 9, 2019) – Based on emerging reports of the killing of at least two people near a synagogue and Jewish cemetery in Halle, Germany today on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Chair Tony Perkins, Vice Chair Gayle Manchin, and Commissioner Johnnie Moore issued the following statements:
“We are appalled by reports of an attack near a Jewish religious site on one of the Jewish high holy days. While USCIRF primarily focuses its work on other parts of the world where egregious religious violations routinely occur, we have become increasingly concerned about the rise in anti-Semitic activity across Europe,” said Chair Perkins.
“Today’s brazen attack on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar right outside of a synagogue in Halle is yet another terrible wake-up call to all of those in Europe and around the world who continue to be in denial about the resurgence of this age-old hatred against the Jewish people,” said Vice Chair Manchin, noting that USCIRF will be holding a hearing on protecting houses of worship on October 23rd at 3pm in Room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC.
“These incidents must stop and European leaders must become more vigilant in protecting Europe’s Jewish minorities, and we – at USCIRF – are putting the European Union on notice: you must do more to ensure your Jewish communities are safe and that the anti-Semitism festering within your borders is addressed,” said Commissioner Moore.
USCIRF Commissioner Gary L. Bauer hosted a summer seminar on anti-Semitism. To view remarks and factsheets, click here.
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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 threats to 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 Dwight Bashir at dbashir@uscirf.gov or +1-703-898-6554.
January 27, 2017
Jan 27, 2017
The following op-ed appeared in Deseret News on January 27, 2017
By former USCIRF Commissioners Clifford D. May and Tenzin Dorjee
As the world commemorates International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp 71 years ago, European Jews no longer face a single, continent-wide regime seeking their destruction.
Nonetheless, today, 71 years after liberation from Hitler, they face a rising anti-Semitism across European societies. From denying the Holocaust to threatening another Shoah, from painting Nazi swastikas and scrawling death threats on synagogues and graves, to taunting, accosting and assaulting Jews in religious garb, Jew haters are revealing themselves through word and deed.
This rise has diverse sources, including jihadists, neo-Nazis and members of political organizations. All of them share a propensity to use bigoted words, imagery and stereotypes drawn from Europe’s ancient legacy of hatred of Jews.
The problem is clear. The question is what governments, officials and others are doing about it.
Unfortunately, in Eastern Europe, some governments and political parties are doing worse than nothing. While some are denying or downplaying the rise in anti-Semitism, others are fueling it by displaying pro-Nazi sympathies and tolerating Holocaust revisionism among their members and supporters.
Fortunately, in Western Europe, governments and officials largely admit that anti-Semitism is real and is growing.
They acknowledge that since the turn of the century, anti-Jewish graffiti increasingly has appeared in Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Malmo, London, Rome and other cities. They admit that there have been repeated threats and acts of violence. They agree that since World War II, Jewish citizens have never been more afraid to wear or display religious articles — from skullcaps (yarmulkes) on their heads to mezuzahs on their doorposts — revealing themselves to be Jews.
But in practice, the governments or political parties of some of these same leaders still fall short in at least two ways.
First, in an ironic twist, rather than allaying the fears of some Jews to don religious garb or engage in familiar religious practices, some are adding to these fears by supporting legal bans or restrictions. France and Belgium bar some students and government workers from wearing “conspicuous” religious symbols, including yarmulkes. At least four countries — Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland — ban kosher slaughter. In Norway and Germany, efforts have been advanced to ban infant male circumcision.
These restrictions and bans also affect members of other religious groups. For instance, Christians confront limitations on wearing crosses, and Muslims face restrictions on donning head scarves and bans on halal slaughter. Behind these infringements on religious freedom is an ideological impetus to sweep the public square clean of religious expression or practice, confining such expressions and practices to homes and places of worship.
Second, when haters attack Jews, criminal justice systems in Europe often fail to deem the perpetrators anti-Semitic.
Earlier this month, a court in Wuppertal, Germany, upheld a lower court’s ruling in the 2015 sentencing of three Germans of Palestinian descent to probation for setting fire to a synagogue in July 2014, the same synagogue the Nazis had burned in 1938 during the Kristallnacht pogroms. The court concurred that since they were incensed about Israel’s actions in the Middle East, their act of arson did not constitute anti-Semitism.
Similarly, in a speech titled, “Combating Global Anti-Semitism in 2016,” Ira Forman, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, noted that, according to Jewish leaders in Sweden, police in Stockholm classified recent graffiti with swastikas as “actions against Israel,” not anti-Semitism. He quoted a leader as saying, “If you are hurt wearing a kippa [yarmulke], it is classified as anti-Zionism. …”
In these instances, criminal justice systems were confronting two phenomena — anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. While rightly affirming one can oppose Israeli policies without automatically being anti-Semitic, they wrongly denied the obvious:
Deliberately targeting Jewish property, or demonizing or attacking people simply for being Jewish inescapably is anti-Semitic. These actions should neither be excused nor minimized, rationalized nor redefined, but called out and condemned.
It is time for nations to deal forthrightly with the problem. Holocaust denial must be confronted and refuted. Religious freedom must be honored by protecting Jews from violence and removing restrictions on peaceful religious practices. Jews should be free to live as Jews and as citizens of their respective countries, and to speak, write, assemble and associate without fear or intimidation.
And as Europeans confront anti-Semitism, so must people everywhere reject hatred and embrace dignity and humanity. There is no greater lesson from the Holocaust. While the attempt to eradicate the entire Jewish people was horrifyingly unique in planning, effort and intent, the mindset of hatred extended to others. From the Roma to the mentally and physically disabled, it degraded, dehumanized and destroyed the lives of millions more.
And so, as we mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and its U.N. theme this year, “Educating for a Better Future,” let us stand against all forms of hatred and bigotry.
September 29, 2020
Sep 23
WHEN:
Sep 23rd 10:00am
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Sep 23rd 11:00am
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Conversation
Rising Antisemitism in Europe Amid the Pandemic
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM ET
Virtual Event
In recent years, Europe has experienced alarming levels of antisemitism and outright violence against Jewish communities. Please join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for a virtual event that will provide a timely overview of current antisemitic attitudes and incidents in Europe, including new trends since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion will also focus on recommendations for U.S. policy to counter antisemitism.
USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin and Commissioner Gary Bauer will be joined by U.S. Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism David Peyman and Director of European Affairs at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Andrew Srulevitch for this discussion. This event will be moderated by USCIRF Director of Outreach and Policy Dwight Bashir and will include a Q&A for attendees.
Panelists
- Gayle Manchin, Chair, USCIRF
- Gary Bauer, Commissioner, USCIRF
- David Peyman, U.S. Deputy Special Envoy, Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism
- Andrew Srulevitch, Director of European Affairs, ADL
- Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF
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.
December 15, 2020
Dec 15, 2020
Several religious groups, including followers of Judaism and Islam, mandate that animals are uninjured (unstunned) prior to killing. However, nearly a third of European countries limit this practice through ritual slaughter laws.
Ritual slaughter is required for meat to be classified as kosher or halal. Therefore, laws preventing ritual slaughter cause 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.
During the Hanukkah season, USCIRF highlights the impact that ritual slaughter laws have on religious communities in select countries, such as those where it is necessary to import kosher meat.
Featuring:
Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF
Zachary Udin, Researcher, USCIRF
June 15, 2020
Published Op-ed
Jun 15, 2020
This op-ed was originally published by Forward, on June 15, 2020
By USCIRF Vice Chair Gayle Manchin, USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer, and Senator James Lankford
While the United States was celebrating American Jewish Heritage Month in May, the global Jewish community was experiencing a further increase in anti-Semitic incidents, which cannot continue.
As the world reeled from the COVID-19 global pandemic in March, the Iranian Ministry of Health decided to hold a cartoon contest entitled “We Defeat Coronavirus,” garnering more than 2,000 submissions. Coming from Iran—a government that Elan Carr, the US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, called the world’s chief trafficker in anti-Semitism—contestants unsurprisingly submitted grotesque anti-Semitic images. One drawing was of three, hook-nosed Israeli doctors holding a beaker of COVID-19, insinuating that Israel invented the novel coronavirus. Sticking to that absurd accusation, the state-aligned Press TV claimed that “Zionist elements” created the deadly disease to use against Iran. Indeed Iran has a history of anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist propaganda, especially involving the Holocaust.
And Iran is not the only country disseminating this preposterous misinformation and spreading anti-Semitic messages.
From the Middle East to Europe, to Australia, to the Americas, Jews are blamed for starting the COVID-19 crisis and perpetuating its spread as a means of achieving a number of alleged goals. Germany’s top minister for combatting anti-Semitism says that Jews and Israel are the main targets for Internet hate speech related to COVID-19. The Anti-Defamation Commission in Australia detailed the rise of conspiracy theories on Australian sites and social media pages. Public figures in Turkey have asserted that Jews engineered the novel coronavirus to acquire world domination. A Jordanian journalist said the virus is a consequence of Jews’ hatred for the entire world. A cartoon circulating on French social media shows Agnes Buzyn, France’s Jewish former health minister, pouring a vial of coronavirus in a well.
Anti-Semitism has steadily grown in severity over the past few years, and the ever increasing challenge of confronting anti-Semitism is why our respective bodies—the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combatting Anti-Semitism—both work to move the issue of combatting anti-Semitism to the forefront of our country’s foreign policy.
USCIRF’s 2020 Annual Report and January 2020 hearing document increases in anti-Semitic incidents throughout 2019, including discrimination, defamation, Holocaust denial, hate speech on the Internet, and vandalism of synagogues, cemeteries, and other community institutions. As highlighted in the Annual Report, these attacks are worldwide, not just isolated to nations that USCIRF recommends for “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) designation or placement on Special Watch List (SWL), such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. Anti-Semitism is a growing trend that must be stopped in countries including Argentina, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Sweden.
The US Senate Task Force is committed to engaging with stakeholders to educate and empower communities in the US by calling out hate with one voice, supporting legislation that tackles the issue head-on, and promoting Holocaust education. To advance the Commission’s similar goals, USCIRF has provided recommendations on ways the US government can work to combat anti-Semitism, including: (1) insisting that fighting anti-Semitism be a top priority of the International Religious Freedom Alliance; (2) recommending the creation of positions similar to the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism in governments around the world and at the United Nations; and (3) providing technical support to foreign law enforcement officials to update and standardize hate-crime reporting procedures.
Our bipartisan entities are committed to this issue because fighting hate is a non-partisan priority. Ideological differences do not preclude us from working together to fight for universal values and basic human dignity. When we see anti-Semitism or hate anywhere, every one must call it out and do their part to combat the scourge of anti-Semitism.
As we paid tribute throughout the month of May to the generations of Jewish Americans who have made remarkable and invaluable contributions to American society, we must also turn to our diplomatic allies and other governments to actively improve the situation for their Jewish communities who live in fear for their own safety.
March 19, 2021
Apr 14
WHEN:
Apr 14th 10:30am
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Apr 14th 11:30am
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
USCIRF Conversation: New Report on Antisemitism in the OSCE Region and U.S. Policy Responses
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM ET
Virtual Event
Following the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) hearing on global efforts to combat antisemitism, the need grew for a comprehensive study of how Jewish and non-Jewish citizens understand and respond to antisemitism within member states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Please join us for a virtual event describing findings from USCIRF’s new report on antisemitism in the OSCE region and ideas for how the U.S. government can further encourage member states to fulfill their obligations to the Jewish community.
USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin and Commissioner Gary Bauer will be joined by the authors of the report, Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Director of European Affairs Andrew Srulevitch and Washington Director for International Affairs David Weinberg for this discussion. This event will be moderated by USCIRF Director of Outreach and Policy Dwight Bashir and will include a Q&A for attendees.
Panelists
- Gayle Manchin, Chair, USCIRF
- Gary Bauer, Commissioner, USCIRF
- Andrew Srulevitch, Director of European Affairs, ADL
- David Weinberg, Washington Director for International Affairs, ADL
- Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF
April 14, 2021
View PDF
Jews around the world face government and societal obstacles, which can often contribute to feelings of insecurity and ostracization. This report focuses on levels of antisemitism in 11 countries in Europe based on three factors: the prevalence of antisemitic attitudes among the public; the number and nature of antisemitic incidents; and the tolerance for antisemitic rhetoric in public. It also examines U.S. foreign policy as it relates to combating antisemitism in Europe. Through interviews with current and former policymakers, the report provides actionable recommendations for Executive and Legislative branch agencies that play significant roles in foreign policy aimed at supporting the global Jewish community.
June 25, 2020
Jun 25, 2020
This op-ed was originally published by Newsweek, on June 25, 2020.
By USCIRF Commissioners Nury Turkel and Johnnie Moore
Human rights activists don’t often think first of countries like France, Germany, Belgium, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and the Netherlands when they worry about religious freedom violations.
This is a mistake.
Conditions across the European continent are getting worse for believers of many types. So, it’s time for advocates to stop giving Europe a “free pass” on human rights.
Last year, four in ten European Jews reported that they considered emigrating from their home country because they are concerned for their safety. The same survey indicated that nearly half of those interviewed had been a victim of at least one anti-Semitic incident in the past twelve months. The incidents are not isolated.
As noted in our 2020 Annual Report of the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom, anti-Semitism is on an alarming rise in Europe in virtually every country with a sizable Jewish population. France, with the largest Jewish population on the continent, had a 27 percent increase. There was a seven percent increase in Anti-Semitic sentiments in the United Kingdom while the Labour Party also experienced a historic reckoning on growing anti-Semitic attitudes within its ranks. Germany saw an increase of about 12 percent. And the Netherlands, the home country of Anne Frank, saw a 35 percent increase compared to 2018.
But statistics can obscure the life-or-death nature of this problem. Physical assaults on Jews occurred in many European countries. In perhaps the most brazen anti-Semitic attack of last year, a gunman in Halle, Germany sought to break into a local synagogue during a Yom Kippur service — this after German authorities turned down a request for police protection. Only a special security door which the murderer could not blast his way past, saved fifty plus Jews at prayer from being massacred.
Many European Jews also feel that their religious practices are under legal attack. Just this week, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt issued a statement warning about a bill proposed by Belgian lawmakers that would ban shechita, the “Jewish method of slaughtering animals for human consumption.” Some European countries have also sought to ban the slaughter of animals according to Muslim traditions. The U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Elan Carr called these laws “disgraceful.”
All of this is happening within living memory of the Holocaust. Declining religious freedom conditions in Europe also extend beyond anti-Semitism.
Pew Research reported that Europe saw one of the largest increases in government restrictions on religious activities from 2007-2017 much of which reflects an increase in violent attacks and discrimination directed at Muslims across the continent, as well. Like in France where full facial coverings were banned in 2011 and in Moldova where public Muslim worship was banned in 2012.
The discriminatory actions of governments aren’t just for Europe’s Jews and Muslims, either.
In Montenegro it’s the Christians who are under attack. Since December, there have been ongoing protests following the passage of a law on religion that many believe will allow the government to confiscate religious properties. The Serbian Orthodox Church rightfully fears that the law is a pretext to seize their property. These concerns have led to large and sustained protests across the country. With restrictions on religious gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbating tensions, these protests have led to clashes and the repeated detention of some of the country’s most well-known Orthodox leaders, including by interrogating Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro this week (the second time the Archbishop has been interrogated this year).
Instead of being a champion for religious freedom Europe’s commitment to this fundamental human right abroad is also being neglected. The European Commission recently decided not to extend the position of the European Union’s (EU) Special Envoy whose mandate has been the promotion of the Freedom of Religion and Belief.
Then there is European foreign policy, especially as it relates to China. As China continues to escalate its anti-Muslim and anti-Christian policies it is granted a license by certain European leaders, as best illustrated by the truly absurd and cowardice words of EU’s senior official for foreign affairs, Josef Burrel, “I don’t think that China is playing a role that can threaten the world peace.”
Of course, some European leaders have issued statements at the UN condemning China's assault on religious freedom, the sad truth is the actions of other European governments have rarely matched those words.
Take Bulgaria, for example, which was willing to repatriate five Uyghurs back to China, where the government has detained millions of Uyghur and other Muslims in concentration camps, until the European Court of Human Rights blocked the move in February.
The human rights situation in Europe is deteriorating rapidly.
History reminds us that religious persecution is a precursor to cultural annihilation and ethnic cleansing, and yes, genocide. Europe - because of its history - ought to know better. As Commissioners at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and knowing full well America’s own struggles and shortcomings, we are obligated to put Europe on notice: you are not exempt from the obligations you call the world to embrace.