Commemorating Yom Hashoah

COMMEMORATING YOM HASHOAH -- (Extensions of Remarks - April 22, 2004)

SPEECH OF HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2004

Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, which memorializes the six million Jews murdered during World War II.

I join my colleagues in mourning the innocent lives and vibrant communities destroyed by Nazis while the world shamefully stood by, and call upon all of us to redouble our efforts to combat resurgent anti-Semitism and intolerance around the world.

As we observe the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, when a brave cadre of fighters battled a Nazi siege to liquidate the community's last remaining Jews, we must also pay tribute to survivors who continue today to battle the traumatic horrors of their past.

I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Café Europa, a social service and Holocaust survivors advocacy group of Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles, which marked its 16th anniversary this week in a Yom HaShoah ceremony at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills.

Café Europa, like other groups across the country, has played a key role in making sure that Holocaust survivors have the social support and resources they need to overcome their haunting suffering and live out their years in peace.
We all have a responsibility to make sure the atrocities they witnessed are not forgotten and never again repeated. While we have come very far in combating Holocaust denial and racial hatred against Jews, new and difficult challenges unfortunately remain ahead.

There is a terrible climate of anti-Semitism growing worldwide. In European and Arab countries, there has been a dramatic rise of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial fomenting violent attacks against Jews and exacerbating tensions in the Middle East. It is incumbent upon the United States to speak out, raise awareness, and call for action.

While the State Department annual country reports on human rights and religious freedom have attempted to track anti-Semitism the results have been woefully inadequate. For example, the 2003 State Department Country Report on the United Arab Emirates mistakenly characterizes the closure of the Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-up as a form of censorship instead of commending the UAE government for taking action to shut down an institution widely criticized for promoting vehemently anti-Semitic symposia, speakers, and materials.

At a time when blood libels, canards like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and other anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are being broadcast on Arabic television channels, the United States must be more vigilant in its stance on this issue. We cannot allow governments afraid or unwilling to confront the blight of anti-Semitism to turn a blind eye and permit defamation to be accepted as freedom of speech.

Today, we must resound the words "never again" to the community of nations whose failure to take action against hatred and incitement against Jews quickly turned to devastation and murder a mere half century ago.

END