On The New National Strategy To Combat The Surge In Antisemitism

the right to exist, to be seen, and to be represented.

“It is an important priority of our administrations to ensure that any educational materials censored to appeal to political pressure do not negatively impact our educational goals and values in our states. As such, please know that we will be working closely with all of our school districts to ensure they are fully informed of which texts include comprehensive and accurate educational information – and which have been inappropriately censored – when they consider procurement of instructional materials for the nearly nine million students our states serve.”

In addition to Murphy, the governors who signed onto the letter are: Delaware’s John Carney, Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker, Maryland’s Wes Moore,

Massachusetts’ Maura Healey, New Mexico’s Michelle Lujan Grisham, New York’s Kathy Hochul, Rhode Island’s Dan McKee, Washington’s Jay Inslee and Albert Bryan, governor of the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The letter was sent to nine publishers who sell K-12 textbooks and educational materials, as well as the Association of American Publishers, which represents the leading book, journal, and education publishers in the United States.

The publishing companies that received the letter are: Cengage Learning, Goodheart-Willcox, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw Hill Education, Pearson, Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, Savvas Learning Co., Scholastic, and the Teachers Curriculum Institute.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the House Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, issued the following statement on the new national strategy released by the Biden Administration aimed at addressing the surge in antisemitic hate across the United States:

“There are many good things about the plan - above all I welcome the attention it pays to community/physical security, to the problems of getting better reporting and law enforcement responses to antisemitic violence and harassment, and to Holocaust education.

“Some of the most vicious and harmful antisemitism is incitement to violence and hatred of Israel. In 2004, Natan Sharansky testified at a hearing I chaired that while Israel should not be above criticism, that anti-Semitism tries to ‘hide behind the veneer of legitimate criticism of Israel.’ Sharansky said that employing the 3D test - demonization, double standards and delegitimization - is useful in exposing antisemitism.

“When antisemites spew their hatred, one of the principal duties of an elected official is to stand publicly and emphatically with the intended victim.”

Rep. Smith is the author of the law that created the Office to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism in the US State Department, as well as the law that established ambassadorial-level leadership of the fight against antisemitism abroad.

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