Americans, we dont talk enough about in my opinion, about the genocide that took place and the land thats been taken and of course the Natural Resources that were being sought in those cases as well, and to make it acceptable to be able to show them as less than human beings as well. One of the things that goes throughout all of this, of course, is the marginalization that goes with the characterization of each of these groups as being less than human beings, making it acceptable for the kind of horrific things done to them to be done to them, and nothing should be done about it, so indeed, this is important when we look at all these issues and think about them in that context and think about even those that promote the ideologies of the third reich, the White Supremacists and other along those lines and what they seek to gain and what those who actually fund them seek to gain as they continue along these lines. So it needs to be worked together. If i may. Thank you. I think its a very important question. Im an individual thats on the ground, looking at antisemitism, trying to keep a community safe. I think its very important for our community to report everything. However, i have spent a lifetime raising my right hand to protect the constitution of the United States. Firmly believing the First Amendment right to speech is important. However, what we see on the ground is hate speech, not a crime but it leads into a hate crime. We have to have a mechanism or a tool for our Law Enforcement officials when they see a swaus caw and it gets reported, not to say anything about it. We need to Work Together to come up with a way to assess what the truth is out there from the groups because its out there. A large amount of the community does not even know who patriots are, identity of ropa are. We seen those signs of hate all across the country. Theyre reported. However, most of the things out there are protected First Amendment speech. Unfortunately, in our community, the africanamerican community, the muslim community, affected communities, those signs of hate are important to understand, recognize, and report. And i think its very important for us to work with the government to come up with a method where we just dont dismiss it as protected First Amendment speech, because we truly do need to assess and mitigate those threats out there. Thank you for that important point. Your time has expired, but thank you. I now recognize the gentleman from ohio, mr. Bob gibbs, for questions. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you all for coming in today, and thank you for your work to make to insure that the horrific events that happened in the holocaust never happen again. And thank you to mr. Shaffir for coming in and giving us your testimony and hopefully nothing like that human beings ever do that to another human being ever again. Our hearts go out to you, and god bless you. I was also stunned by dr. Friedbergs testimony when she mentioned henry ford being antisemitic, i had no idea. I googled it, and in the early 20th century, things occurred that were stunning to me. I had no idea. So i guess i learn something every day, and that was just amazing to me that it was going on. I dont have a question, i just wanted to make that comment. But ambassador gold, recently, Prime Minister netanyahu called President Trump the best friend israel has ever had in the white house. And his first term, hes done numerous things to insure israel is safe and secure. If you disagree, interrupt me, but relocated the u. S. Embassy to jerusalem. Recognized Golan Heights as part of israel. He recently issued an executive order condemning antisemitism at colleges. He withdrew from the failed iran nuclear deal. Hes a strong proponent of the sanction movement, bds, and also he just did, as you saw this weekend, i know you were there yesterday, the historic peace plan, and these are unprecedented accomplishments, would you agree, mr. Gold . Again, i do not want to get drawn into your american domestic pingpong. Okay. However, when somebody does something for you, which is exceptional, which stands out, its rude not to say thank you. And i am particularly grateful for what President Trump has done. I think that these are ideas that have been out there in the american discussion for a long time. In 1995, you had the Jerusalem Embassy act, supported by tom daschle and bob dole. Why is that important . Because there was a bipartisan spirit supporting these kind of moves. It just got stuck, and no one did anything. And the first one who did it was President Trump. Actually moved the embassy. So many of the actions that the president has taken are actions that have been suggested, thought about, legislated about, but no one did anything. He did it. And i think thats appreciated by the people of israel. I appreciate that. Last year, in the house, we voted to condemn the bds movement with 398 votes, including 209 democrats. Very bipartisan, but theres some of my colleagues here in congress that support the bds movement. Do you think what signal does that send to israel . We had a strong bipartisan vote, but some come out strongly against supporting the bds movement . Im just going to put it this way, bds from my standpoint is evil. And you know why its so painful . Because for us to build a new future in the middle east with our arab neighbors, we cant have boycotts. We cant have divestment. We cant have sanctions on each other. And what is happening now in parts of the west bank, for example, is that were building new malls, new factories, in which jews and palestinians are shopping together, working together, living together. Ought to be inspired, want to make peace . Go to hadasa hospital. You know what youll see in hadasa hospital . Jewish doctors, palestinian doctors, jewish patients, palestinian patients, all together trying to build an Effective Health system for the city of jerusalem. Thats what we need. And we dont need people to come with ideologies from south africa or from other places telling us that we should be boycotting each other. That isnt going to make peace. Thats going to make the hatred worse. I totally agree. I think the more we interact and have commerce and trade, we build those relationships, and the region and the world is a safer place, and we have more respect for each other. I totally agree with you. I hope that peace plan moving forward that the president put out this week moves forward and we get it done. I yield back. Thank you. Thank you. I recognize the gentleman from california, mr. Harley rouda, for questions. Thank you, chairwoman, and thank you for convening this very important hearing. Im anxious to bring it back to the bipartisan purposes were all here for, and thank you for all of the witnesses for your testimony as well. I know some of the previous testimony talked about how we have seen with recent surveys in polling that many of our teenagers dont fully understand what occurred in world war ii, what occurred in the holocaust, what occurred with the rise of hitler. In my district, we have seen firsthand the consequences of this ignorance. In my district, a Young College student was murdered by a high school acquaintance who had joined a farright neonazi group. In my district, teens plays a drinking game from cups arranged in a swastika. In my district, members of a Water Polo Team held their hands up in a nazi salute while singing a german nazi propaganda song. In my district, synagogues have been desecrated while neonazi recruitment flyers appear again and again on the campuses of high schools and colleges. In my district, watermelons have b been thrown on the front steps of africanamerican students. In my district, it is not uncommon to see White Supremacy flags flying behind cars and trucks as they travel across the roads and highways in our district. In the aftermath of many of these incidents, what we have seen is encouraging. The Southern CaliforniaJewish Community did something incredible. They embraced the teens that have been involved in some of these incidents and educated them. They sat down with kids with the stepsister of anne frank, invited them into their synagogues and helped them understand what had transpired. Showing very clearly how important education and elimination of ignorance is. I want to turn to dr. Friedberg, who serves as a historian at the United StatesHolocaust Memorial museum. Can you tell us why this education is so important . Not just for teenagers here in the United States, but for all of us in the United States and across the globe . Thank you, congressman. I wish you didnt have such a long list to give. Its about more than just Holocaust Education. As a historian, i can say im very disturbed by the general decline in the teaching of history around this nation. And i know that when our partners from europe and other places abroad come, theyre surprised because the United States does not have a National Curriculum or National Education standards, and there are benefits and negatives to that, but just in most other countries, there are standards. We leave things to state and local levels. So its not a uniform thing. One of our goals at the museum is to lift the level of quality Holocaust Education across the country by training teachers, by facilitating regional cores so local teachers who are experienced, and they dont have to just be in history. They could be in a literature class, they could be in what we used to call civics, to enable them to work with the direct evidence of the holocaust and teach and facilitate in a responsible and meticulous way. One of the points i would most like to make is even people who think they know about the holocaust often talk about it in such a simplistic way as though its some kind of morality tale where theres just pure evil and pure good. And obviously, there is pure evil and good in the story of the holocaust, but the vast majority of people who lived in europe during the time were a mixture, either were onlookers or complussed icit in some ways helpful in others. We had a special exhibit a few years ago on this topic called some are neighbors. I encourage you to look at our online version of it, which describes the way everyday people, ordinary people had choices i s about whether to ge involved, whether to stand by, or whether to facilitate. Its about more than numbers and statistics and dates. Its really about social cohesion and psychology. Thank you. And thank you for your leadership in this area. Currently, only 12 states across the country require Holocaust Education. On monday, im very proud that chairwoman maloney introduced legislation to insure that teachers across the country have access to the resources they need to teach about the holocaust. I do want to point out, we can legislate all we want to fight hate, fight antisemitism, but the reality is, it has to start in our hearts, in our head. It requires leaders across our country, leaders in the white house, the administration, in this body, in academia, and elsewhere, to make sure were all fighting hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, to fight this. And mr. Greenblatt, i would like to turn to you for closing commentsonts my time here. Can you talk about some of your education initiatives and how important they are as well . Thank you for the question. Were one of the leading providers in the United States of antibias, antihate content in schools. We reach over 1. 5 Million Students including many in Orange County and across Southern California. We think indeed education is the best antidote to intolerance. Teaching about the holocaust, we have seen the studies. When students understand what happened, it leads to a greater awareness of antisemitism and a greater tolerance. We know it works. We need more of it. Lets hope the Senate Passes the never again education act. I yield back. Thank you. I recognize the gentleman from texas, mr. Chip roy for questions. I thank the chair. I thank each of you for taking time to visit with us here today. Good to see you. Mr. Shaffir, i want to say thank you for being here. Thank you for your testimony, and by that, i dont mean your testimony here, but your testimony of faith, triumphant, and what you represent. And rest assured there are many of us committed to insuring that the history of the horrors of the holocaust are known, and that what i believe is the hope for humanity that now emerges from that and the hope that we see in the jewish people is something that well be able to Carry Forward together. So thank you for being here. It means a great deal. I have had the fortune to visit israel twice. I hope to go again soon. I always get great joy going there. My most reese nlcent visit, my and i were struck by two things in particular. One, we went there on a bipartisan basis for a few days, democrats for a week, republicans overlapped. And we were there, and we had many of my colleagues remember, we joined together for shabbat dinner, and broke bread, drank wine, were visiting and talking about most things, you know, nonpolitical. A few things political, but for the most part, just life. We were struck by the happiness of the jewish people. We were struck by the fact that they often poll happiness worldwide, i dont know who does the polls, but the israelis tend to poll in the top ten of happiness worldwide, this despite having 150,000 missiles pointed at tel aviv on any given day. Despite being under constant siege in a nation that is a fraction of the size of new jersey. It struck us about how happy the jewish people are. And as a result, my wife and i, we came back and joined with some friends of ours in austin, texas, where i live outside of, and now we have shut down on sundays and we put our telephones and our ipads down, and have started joining in sunday suppers and trying to restore a sense of community. And have been doing that religiously, so to speak, ever since last august on our return from israel. And it was a response to our great affection for our experience and our time in israel. So again, thank you. I tell you, the second thing that struck us was yad veshem. I had not had a chance to go there the on my previous trip to israel, and i was struck by the hope you get, obviously, the horrors of the history of the holocaust, but you see sort of light at the end of the journey. And it is of course by design that the design of the museum is extraordinary, but you look through the old letters and you look through the hope of the jewish people. And it struck us in an extraordinary way. And so a couple questions, mr. Gold, for you. Can there be yes or no because im using a little time. Can there be any room for error for israel in defending herself from her enemies . Is there much room for error given the assault, constant siege on israel . Some of that comes down to a space in time. I mean, how long does it take to fly across the United States . Right. In a jet plane. Five, six hours. So to fly from the jordan river to the mediterranean, three minutes. Right. So the margin for error is pretty much reduced. And a couple other questions. Are there currently attacks coming in from gaza despite unilateral in 2005, like on a regular basis . Absolutely. In other words in fact, i can tell you we withdrew from gaza in 2005, and in the period right after the withdrawal, the amount of rocket fire on israel went up by 500 . Are there currently about 120,000, 150,000 rockets pointed directly at jerusalem and tel aviv to the best intelligence of israel . And other places. Would they be safe without iron domes and these technologies to knock down missiles . No, it would require israel to live on a hair trigger. Right. And you have already said that iran is ongoing threat to israel. Heres my question. How important is a strong and sovereign israel to the hope and future of the jewish people, and what role do efforts to deny the historical connection to the role of israel play in the rise of antisemitism . An excellent question. A Blind Squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. I would say this, that the historical connection of the jewish people with jerusalem is something which can be documented, which can be shown, which can be demonstrated in terms of archaeological finds we have and when countries get behind resolutions at unesco that try to deny that connection, 1st of afirst of al delays piece. It makes our adversaries think maybe we were right. And it is a vile lie. You know how you know that . Open the koran. See the arabic temple. The arabs knew it, the muslims knew it. Were connected with jerusalem and the land. Madam chair, i have a request. I would like i have two articles here i want to get in the record. I ran out of time. Two articles, while democratic mayor bill de blasio and andrew cuomo are letting antisemitic attackers go free without bail. Attorney general barr announced a vezero tolerance policy. Bail reform is setting suspects free after a string of antisemitic attacks, and one titled barr says the Justice Department will get more involved. Okay, so ordered. Give us a copy of it. Thank you. I now recognize Debbie Wasserman schultz from florida from questioning. Thank you, madam chair. I just want to stipulate at the outset of my questions that it would be hard to feel more strongly about the absolute necessity that israel remain a jewish and Democratic State and also that this hearing has nothing to do with our support for and belief that israel should remain so. To return to the focus of this hearing, which is the ongoing battle against hate, with the backdrop of International HolocaustRemembrance Day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of auschwitz, i just, as was mentioned earlier, returned from poleant and israel to mark that anniversary, and when you walk down the platform, the train platform at burke anow, and i have been to auschwitz before, but the enormity of the evil and the Human Capacity for evil that exists today very clearly, really overwhelms you. So the importance of this hearing and shining a spotlight continuously, never forgetting that that Human Capacity for hatred and evil has not diminished, is absolutely critical. The statistics have been documented by adl, in 2018, they tracked a staggering 1800 antisemitic incidents in the United States, finding 105 increase in antisemitic assaults and a 5 increase in harassment in the last year. Im glad mr. Rouda read through the litany of antisemitic attacks in his own district. When i landed at the airport in my district at the end of this trip last week, i landed to a text from one of my mayors with a flier that was being distributed throughout the city that says as follows a red flier with a nazi ss a picture of a nazi ss hinchman on it says our patience has its limits. One day well shut their dirty lying jewish mouths i wont promote the website that was on the flier. Hatred knows no boundaries. And it has existed through thousands of years. Mr. Greenblatt, i appreciate the efforts of adl. I would like to ask you, given that we appear to be living in an age where we have had a resurgence of conspiracy theories that are festering and growing and being promoted by the highest levels of power in our country, and condoned and peddled in some cases by the highest level of power in our country, do you see a connection between the growth of conspiratorial thinking and the rise of antisemitism and bigotry . Thank you for the question. We should talk offline about that flier and that mayor so i can make sure my staff in florida is following up. Thank you. Theres no doubt that the penchant for conspiracy theories are contributing to the rise in prejudice generally and specifically to the spike in antisemitism. Antisemitism is at its very root a Conspiracy Theory that the jews somehow have too much power yet are weak. That we are uber human and subhuman. That were responsible for all the worlds ills and it goes on and on. Indeed, when people in power promote prejudice, it endangers all of us. The jews are typically the first to be harmed, but it neverens with jews. It consumes everyone. Whether youre the president of the United States or the president of a university or a school board, we need everyone to speak out firmly and forcefully against antisemitism and conspiracy theories that achb are associated with it. Thank you, and i did not speak out, and there was no one left to speak for me. Mr. Shelton, thank you so much for the work of the naacp in combatting bigotry in all its forms, in being relentless, and always being in the forefront of our nations leadership on combatting hatred. The jewish and africanamerican communities have walked in lockstep for generations. And that is the purpose of our forming a bipartisan coalition, black jewish caucus in the congress. Can you, given that we are now dealing with the 21st century version of age old bigotry and antisemitism and hatred in all its forms, can you talk about what we can do through both of our communities to Work Together to renew our fight against hatred directed at both of our communities . First, thank you so much for the comments. Its extremely important we focus on the challenges of all continues to recognize what we call a convergence of interest. That is, we think about what our communities want is so