2024 House Resolution 304

Whereas, Hate, intimidation, discrimination, and violence based on ethnicity or religion have no place in Michigan; and

Whereas, On October 7, 2023, in the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, Hamas terrorists invaded peaceful Israeli communities situated along the border of the Gaza Strip. The attack was appalling, with terrorists massacring approximately 1,200 individuals, including more than 800 civilians; brutally raping women; slaughtering babies and children and the elderly with indiscriminate terror; and taking hostage hundreds more, simply because they were citizens of the Jewish state; and

Whereas, Violence against Jews is not isolated to the Middle East; it has infected the United States, as well. October 27, 2024, marks six years since the horrific shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This event tragically took the lives of eleven worshippers and injured seven others, including five responding officers who bravely attempted to defend the victims. This is believed to be the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history; and

Whereas, Since the massacre of innocent Israeli citizens by the terrorist group Hamas on October 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault targeting Jews in the United States have risen dramatically. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 5,204 antisemitic incidents between October 7 and the end of 2023, which is more than the total number of incidents in all of 2022. The ADL identified 8,873 antisemitic incidents across the United States in 2023, a nearly 140 percent increase from the 3,697 reported in 2022. Three years in a row – in 2021, 2022, and 2023 – the ADL reported that a new record was set for the highest number of antisemitic incidents since the organization began tracking these incidents in 1979; and

Whereas, College and university campuses across Michigan and the United States have become hotspots for antisemitic incidents, threatening the physical safety and mental and emotional well-being of Jewish students. Students are facing hostile environments where antisemitic rhetoric, symbols, and actions are used to intimidate, harass, marginalize, and even physically assault them as they pursue a higher education. The degradation of free and open discourse into base intimidation, threats, slurs, and hate speech harms everyone in an academic community; and

Whereas, Antisemitism has unique characteristics, including the employment of conspiracy theories that blame the various evolving ills of society on Jews and the Jewish people, or attribute to individual Jews a variety of evil and harmful characteristics, including a portrayal of Jews as maliciously all-powerful or controlling and deserving of hatred and mistrust; and

Whereas, Antisemitism also exists when Jews are held responsible, individually or collectively, for policies pursued by the government of the State of Israel, or attacked, disparaged, or demonized based on their real or perceived connection to, affiliation with, or support for, the State of Israel as a Jewish state; and

Whereas, Holocaust denial and distortion continue to be prevalent in the United States and around the world. Holocaust denial and distortion include intentional efforts to deny, justify, excuse, or minimize the genocidal crimes of the Nazi regime and its many collaborators against the Jewish people, as well as attempts to downplay the impact of the Holocaust on the Jewish people, all of which dishonor Holocaust victims and survivors. The continued presence of these beliefs reinforces the need to advance accurate and comprehensive Holocaust education globally. Protecting the history of the Holocaust and recognizing and confronting Holocaust denial and distortion are critical to preventing antisemitism; and

Whereas, Antisemitism is present across the political spectrum in America. Antisemitic beliefs are found among right-wing extremists who wax poetic with conspiracies about Jewish control over the media, government, entertainment, and banking, as well as those who harbor a profound racial hatred of Jews, who are perceived to be an inferior and separate race. And they are found among left-wing extremists who increasingly do not bother to attempt to thinly veil their deep-seated antisemitism within biased arguments about Middle East politics or anti-capitalist critiques; and

Whereas, Michigan is home to a vibrant Jewish community nearly 120,000 strong. There is a particularly significant Jewish presence in the communities of West Bloomfield, Oak Park, Huntington Woods, Southfield, and Bloomfield Hills, though the community has grown and flourished across the state. Michiganders have long attempted to provide resources to ensure that our state’s residents understand the implications of targeted hate violence, including the Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills, and we have recognized the importance of our Jewish citizens to our state. Michigan’s Jewish community has had a profound impact on the development and character of the state of Michigan; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we condemn the recent rise in antisemitic incidents.