Bonnie Watson Coleman: “I want to thank Mr. Engel for giving me this opportunity to speak, and I want to thank my colleague and neighbor…”

“I want to thank Mr. Engel for giving me this opportunity to speak, and I want to thank my colleague and neighbor, Congressman Chris Smith, for introducing this resolution. I stand in proud support of the resolution, and I urge its passage. Mr. Speaker, more than 70 years removed from the Holocaust, Jewish residents in Europe face renewed waves of anti-Semitic violence. The Pew Research Center reported that global harassment of Jews has reached a 7-year high. This violence is pronounced in Europe, where the desecration of synagogues, cemeteries, schools, and other violent incidents have spiked over the past few years. The Jewish Community Security Trust reported more than 1,100 anti- Jewish incidents in the United Kingdom in 2014, including 81 violent assaults. That same year, according to the French Jewish advocacy group CRIF, anti-Semitic incidents doubled in that nation. Troubling, violent, and even deadly anti-Semitic attacks have also occurred in countries such as Denmark, Belgium, and Germany. As the leader in the international community, the United States plays a very vital role in denouncing anti-Semitism and hate. The national director of the Anti-Defamation League has attributed U.S. public figures speaking out against hate as contributing to steady decreases in anti-Semitic attitudes domestically.…”