Officials talk about efforts to prosecute hate crimes. This is one hour 15 minutes. [inaudible conversations] ladies and gentlemen, a monarch introduce our next speaker, United States special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, elan carr. Special envoy car advises the secretary of state and is responsible for directing u. S. Policies and programs aimed at countering antisemitism all across the world. Special envoy car has served as a special District Attorney in los angeles as an offers in the u. S. Reserve, as an International President of the jewish vote early alpha epsilon phi, and on the National Council of the american israel of luck affairs committee. Special envoy carr is also the proud son of iraqis jewish parents who fled persecution in iraq. Please join in extending a warm welcome to special envoy carr. [applause] welcome thank you so much. What a pleasure it is to see not only great friends in the room but to partners in our mutual and most urgent struggle. I want to begin by thanking our great attorney general bill barr. How amazing is he and how amazing is this . I got to tell you [applause] this is an extraordinary conference. When you had the attorney general of the United States opens this conference calling antisemitism a cancer. When you have secretary of education who concert is a bds is antisemitism, and when youre the secretary of the treasury come shortly whose words will certainly be no less strong, and then of course im here to represent my boss great secretary of state mike pompeo who could not be more of a leader on the subject of fighting antisemitism and promoting religious freedom. This kind of conflict, extraordinary as it is, could not, at a better time. We meet here today at a time of strikingly rising antisemitism across the globe. As Jonathan Tobin said before lunch in the last panel, this is a global problem. Antisemitism is up in europe where jews are attacked on the streets of capitals. Antisemitism is up in the United States where vandalism in new york, in los angeles occurs on a fairly regular basis. And when they campuses as we heard during our last panel have become hostile places for jewish and pro is your students. In the middle east antisemitic venom continues unabated. Textbooks continue to inculcate children, children in violent antisemitic hatred. And, of course, social media boils over with antisemitism. This is a global problem, and just as in europe and in the middle east, antisemitism has resources. This country is no different. Weve talked about it before and you all know what though sources are. The ethnic supremacy superbus e antisigns far left, and radical islam. Three groups that should hate each other more than hate anything else on earth, and yet mysteriously are united by their hatred of the jewish people and i would argue by one of the thing as well. And that is why the fundamental incompatibility of the ideology with everything on which this country was built. Whether its the ethnic supremacist right, hostile antiwestern left or radical islam, each of those ideologies threatens the United States, no less than threatens the jewish people. But if antisemitism is a cancer as attorney general barr so correctly called it, what i want to spend a few moments talking about is the metastatic part of that cancer, the kind of antisemitism that is sweeping the globe like a wildfire, including here in the United States. That is the socalled new antisemitism, the antisemitism that attempts to disguise jew hatred as hatred for the state of israel and for the zionist endeavor. And thats what it want to speak with you about because, my friends, there is little disagreement that neonazis in their ilk represent true antisemitism. And theres little disagreement that terrorist who blow up jews in buses and cafes reflect antisemitism. But it is critical that we confront the socalled new antisemitism with no less vigor and no less resolve and we confront any other. In fact, the whole nomenclature of new antisemitism i would argue is missed place. There is nothing new about the new antisemitism. When one looks down the list of manifestations of traditional antisemitism, every manifestation then appears as a manifestation in the socalled new antisemitism. Lets begin with the blood libel. The medieval slanders that jews baked messiah with the blood of children. No different than the socalled new antisemitism when the jew among the countries is accused of perpetrating genocide, of being an apartheid regime, of infecting palestinian children with virus. Blood libels and then, blood libels now, nothing new. How about isolation . Classic age old antisemitism isolates the Jewish Community as the outsider, the ominous outsider that undermines the purity of the policy or of the ethnic race. No different. Israel isolated as the other, the ominous outsider at once different and once universally controlling. Rhetoric, the same rhetoric then, the same rhetoric now. Jewish leader in europe was recently called a dirty zionist, as though the substitution of a word my confuses as to what is actually met. Kill all the zionists, we heard quoted on the last panel as being a rallying cry of the socalled new antisemitism. My own grandfather, a jewish leader in iraq, was arrested in 1948. 1948. My mother was a young girl when the knock came at the door. He had shaving cream on his face. Face. He was dragged off and parade through the streets in leg iron before being thrown in prison. But before prison he was tried, not the kind of trials this place stands for. He was tried for being a zionist acus he was handed out allegedly zionist material at a rally. The only problem with that is, well, lets put aside the problem of whether that should be a a crime anyway, put that aside. The only other problem with it is that he wasnt there. He was in basra. When his case was called he said to the judge, your honor, i can bring witnesses to prove that i was in basra that day. I was nowhere near this rally that supposedly happen. Happened. I was working with british officers in the ports. The judge said youre challenging the accusation against you . For you, two years about what youre going to receive already. So it wasnt about him handing out material at a rally. It wasnt about a scientist rally or the content of that rally. It was about him being a jew. Same rhetoric then, same rhetoric now. Also similar is the pathological obsession of the hatred of the jewish people. In the socalled new antisemitism it is no less obsessive, no less foaming at the mouth, a student at a premier university gave me a math answer sheet. I still have it. It says the derivative of soandso is such and such, the integral of such and such is soandso. And then it says another day in the occupied palestinian territory zionist forces murdering children. And then it returned to math. The kid who gave it to me said to me in a voice reflecting utter exhaustion, in math class i cant even escape this . Even in math . Thats right, even in math. Because a new antisemitism is no less obsessive, no less topological, no less insane man the antisemitism of old. Also similar is the tendency to blame the jew for the antisomatic response. That was the case all through history, every orgy of violence blamed against something jews supposedly did, or maybe actually did. By the way, even that apex, that crescendo of antisemitic hatred before the actual extermination was blamed on an action by a jew. No blood but a real event, the assassination of a german diplomat by herschel greenspan but just because the nazis claimed that kristallnacht was response is something a jew did doesnt mean were so gullible as to believe it. We understand that kristallnacht was a response to anything but rather furthered the overarching strategy of the nazis to destroy the jewish people. We understand that very clearly. So to the new antisemitism blamed always for something the state of israel does, either fictionally or actually, a building project here, a military operation there. But just like with kristallnacht, just because those who wait israel claim that the antisemitic response is based on something israel does, doesnt mean we are so gullible as to believe it. And we understand that the actions are part of their overall strategy of destroying the jewish state. And finally, economic suffocation. Weve seen those pictures of brownshirts in front of shops throughout germany, and while bds is no different today, dont buy from the jew among the country. Thereby attempting to achieve through economic suffocation what the army has been able to achieve, the destruction of israel. And so there is nothing new about this socalled new antisemitism here it is jew hatred plain and simple, and must be treated as such. And the bad news i have for you today is that it is working. You see, these bds votes are not really about universities divesting from israel. No university will listen to what a group of students vote. But what bds is really about is poisoning the well of proisrael support in this country and in europe. I recent survey done, and rigorous poll done of jewish students in the United States shows that jewish students on College Campuses today unless supportive of israel than ever before, more inclined to give israel as a problem than ever before, even more sympathetic towards terrorism than ever before. And evangelical christians, well, the top issue at every conference of evangelical christians is how were losing the young people, and how do we keep young people per israel. I spoke to one kid at a rally in los angeles. He ran up to me and said im here as a volunteer. I was israel. And i said to them, tell me something of matthew, is true young evangelical christians are less support of the visual . He said to me, my goodness, its absolutely true. Its everywhere around us. I said why do you think that is . Do you know what he said to me . He said because we also go to college. We also hear it all the time from every angle, relentlessly. Jews and evangelical christians, those are not just any two communities. Thats the base. If those two groups are being turned come just imagine anyone else. Thats here. Let me tell you about the United Kingdom in which i just returned two days ago. You know whats happening in the United Kingdom, and thankfully, i can report that the civil war within the labour party is intensifying, bought by good people who are determined to rid themselves of antisemitism. But let me tell you about the most disturbing meeting ive had in the last five months that ive been on this job. Let me tell you, my business, i have many disturbing meetings that this one stands out. It was with the labour party mp who walked out of the labour party, not jewish, walked out of the labour party because she said i will not sit at the same table as antisemites. I met with her and she said to me this disaster that we have in england all started on the campuses, and we did nothing because they were only students. And then him up into the labour party and we did nothing because it was just the far left fringe. And today they have one and we have lost. And i no longer have a party anymore. My friends, the warning to our country could that be any clearer, and the urgency of this type in which we meet could that be anymore apparent. Now is the time, not tomorrow, not next week, now is the time to save our future from what is impinging on the horizon. And thats why this is so important. Ill leave you with good news. One of the great assets we have in this fight is the u. S. Administration committed in unprecedented fashion to this fight. Think about it. State, justice, treasury and education. Every player that can apply real force to this problem is here today, and it didnt just start today. Last week we were at a pcc at the white house where this issue was the topic of conversation, a coordinated meeting at the widest width white house staff to say how can we make this and administrative white fight . And so now we get it. We are going to fight this fight together and we are going to apply every legal force that we can, not only to protect and save the jewish people, althoh that would be cause enough, i goodness, that would be cause enough, but were going to fight this fight because what is at stake here is a is the future r country, nothing less than that. The kind of free, decent, Democratic Society we want our kids to inherit. Our children who deserve the very best, who deserve for us to bequeath to them a future better than ours, a society more just than ours. If we dont win, god help us. God help us, and god help them and their future. So my friends, i stand before you today as part of an administration white fight that is determined wide not to detain the scourge but to roll it back, to excise it and to really build a a better future, the kind of future that our children and that our grandchildren so richly deserve. Thank you so much and thank you for being here and all that you do. [applause] thank you, special envoy carr, for the stirring remarks, reminder of the global scope of this problem where addressing today. Our next panel is entitled prosecuting hate crimes. We are honored today to have introductory remarks from a true and trusted friend of the department of justice. Rabbi abba coitus cohen is Vice President for federal affairs, washington director and counsel for agudath israel of america picky so long career in d. C. As well not an effective advocate religious liberty and other issues of great import to the Jewish Community. As i said were proud to have him among our closest and trusted friends at the department. Hes joining welcoming rabbi abba cohen. [applause] thank you to the departments and to attorney general barr for convening this important summit on the compelling and critical issue of antisemitism. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to share some introductory observations, not on the technicalities of hate crimes, laws and policy, i believe that to the panelists, but on how i see the issue from the inside on a personal and community level. We all know the statistics. Weve heard them today. Antisemitic hate crimes have been spiking, comprising 60 of all religionbased hate crimes. Indeed, statistics continue to indicate while all hate and all hate crimes are abhorrent, antisemitism maintains its dubious distinction as the mother of all religionbased hatreds. In my position i am often asked, why has antisemitism increased . Why base on the hate Crime Statistics is antisemitism stronger today than in the past . And my answer is that i dont believe that the reality and the attitudes of the antisemitism have per se changed much, but i do believe that the readiness to openly express antisemitism has, as manifest in the increase in hate crimes. In the postholocaust era we sensed an inhibition, selfconsciousness, perhaps even a feeling of shame to openly express antisemitism. More recently, however, at home and abroad, antisemites have come out from behind their rocks and are more comfortable and confident to express blatant antisemitism. They are emboldened by the hateful words that one can hear now in respectable quarters, and in intellectual conversations, in academic circles, the political arena and social media, in mass debates on issue and the middle east, and in human rights advocacy. Antisemitism seems to have moved from grotesque bigotry to just another acceptable opinion. And it is this societal acceptability that is frightening and dangerous, and it is this accessibility that inevitably transforms it from words to Violent Crime. As a community representative, i am naturally asked questions about antisemitism and jewish security, and i tried to give my best policy wonkish analysis and response. Longterm consequence, shortterm consequences, what is real, what is not, what might be an aberration. But im also a father and grandfather, and today im also representing my children and grandchildren. My kids read news stories and are alarmed. They ask, is it safe for us here . Should we move . Our neighborhood has had a number of incidents. Can i let the children take the bus, go to the park, walk the streets . And for me its chilling. It was around 55 years ago when i was around eight, going up in washington, d. C. Just a few miles away from here, i took the bus home everyday from Hebrew Academy and wearing my yarmulke had to walk serval blocks from the stop to our house. On more than a few occasions over the years i was taunted, called ugly names and roughed up. I was frightened to make that walk each day. Now, over half a century later, im hearing a similar fear coming from my own children and grandchildren. With all my policy wonkish in us, i never feel good after talking to my kids about these things. I always end the conversation a little unsettled. Because deep down inside they are afraid and there is nothing worse than living in fear, and there is nothing more difficult to overcome. And sometimes their questions are better than my answers. This is the reality in which we live. Our synagogues, schools, or dissenters, camps, charities and other jewish organizations and institutions and the people that occupy the space is are a vulnerable target and face risks that are real. We are reminded of this reality every day when we need to know the codes to get through the doors for morning and evening prayers, and when our children pass through School Entrances manned by armed guards. And we are beginning to engage in some real and get ranging discussions, should rabbis, cartridges, teachers come to synagogues to schools armed . Are our lock down mechanisms in place . Are our active shooter planes ready to be unfermented . Should we take the signage off of our buildings . We are vulnerable in urban areas like pittsburgh, my wifes hometown. We often visit. With a large Jewish Population and a rich jewish history. And we are vulnerable in newer, smaller, more suburban and remote settings like paoli california, two critical places that stunned us further wanton brutality and inspired us by the selflessness and heroism of the victims and police. And it is ironic at least to me that even after witnessing the horror of mass shootings, it is still shocking to view the videos in recent months of identifiably jewish men simply walking down their neighborhood streets, and suddenly without provocation being pushed or punched or pummeled. And there is a new hate crime that a growing number of orthodox communities are experiencing. The use of zoning and land use ordinances by those who unabashedly admit their intentions to keep t