Nevadans stand against hate crimes, anti-Semitism

By Jacky Rosen

Sunday, March 5, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Before I was elected to Congress, I had the honor of serving as the president of the Congregation Ner Tamid in Henderson, the largest Reform Synagogue in Southern Nevada. During my tenure, I witnessed firsthand the beauty in our country’s religious diversity and how community engagement strengthens America.

However, in the months following the election, I have been shocked and alarmed by the escalation of the anti-Semitic hate crimes that have been sweeping our country. Since the start of the year, prominent Jewish cemeteries in Missouri and Philadelphia have seen hundreds of gravestones defaced and toppled. Swastika graffiti has appeared everywhere from college campuses to the New York subway system. Most disturbing of all, the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America has reported that 53 Jewish community centers across the country have received bomb threats with more than a dozen receiving multiple calls, with 16 threats and counting just this past Monday night. The recent etchings of swastikas at a Mexican consulate and onto a marble column of a Las Vegas synagogue just 30 minutes from my home only confirms this national trend is being felt at the heart of each local community across our country. These threats are real, and they cannot be and will not be ignored.

I’ve been disappointed in the lack of leadership displayed by the president in not only condemning but addressing these crimes. President Donald Trump was asked twice in the last month to condemn the rise in anti-Semitic activity around the country. Rather than stand with American Jews and champion religious tolerance, he used the opportunity to attack the media. And when the president finally came around to condemning these hate crimes and these alarming trends during the presidential address on Tuesday, he failed to lay out a plan to act.

Public and private citizens alike have to do their part to combat this rise in hate — no matter who is being targeted. Regardless of your religious belief, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity, there is no place in our communities for hate.

I am encouraged to see many great Americans taking the challenge to bring us together any way that they can. Tarek El-Messidi, an activist Muslim, helped raise over $130,000 online to help repair cemeteries and religious buildings across the country. Missouri’s Republican Gov. Eric Greitens joined community members to repair Jewish grave stones in St. Louis. I hope President Trump will look to Americans like Tarek and learn about how he can bring our country together. I will do my part every day to work with my colleagues in a bipartisan fashion to unite us, and not divide us.

That’s why I am proud to take action with my colleagues in Congress by joining the Bipartisan Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism and have signed a letter urging the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice to investigate and prosecute those who are behind these hateful anti-Semitic crimes.

Even in these challenging times, we must remember that it is vital that we come together as Americans and condemn these attacks on our Jewish brothers and sisters. Only if we stand together as one voice, can we ensure that the message is sent and that hate will not be tolerated no matter where it lives in our society.

Democrat Jacky Rosen represents Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District.