September 10, 2004
Hon. Colin Powell
United States Department of State
2201 C St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20520
Dear Secretary Powell:
We are deeply disappointed to learn of the State Department’s opposition to the Global Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (H.R.4230), which has been proposed by Rep. Tom Lantos.
This legislation would require the State Department to compile an annual report on anti-Semitism around the world, and would make it the responsibility of a specific office within the department to focus on this serious and growing problem.
The State Department opposes the legislation on the grounds that it would show “favoritism” to Jews by “extending exclusive status to one religious or ethnic group.”
The State Department is wrong. It is the anti-Semites who are singling out Jews, and that is why the fight against anti-Semitism deserves specific, focused attention. The Lantos bill is a timely and appropriate response to the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere.
Moreover, we note that the State Department does already have a number of offices that extend “exclusive status” to groups or issues of concern, among them offices on Tibet, Human Trafficking, and women’s rights.
The State Department’s position on the Lantos legislation carries troubling echoes of the past. The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies has documented how, during the Holocaust, the State Department did its best to downplay the Jewish identity of Hitler’s victims--even though the Nazi regime had clearly singled out Jews for annihilation. Statements by U.S. officials about Nazi atrocities seldom mentioned the Jews. This made it harder for the American public to understand what was happening and hindered efforts to rally public support for rescue of Jews from Hitler.
Mr. Secretary, your strong statements at the Berlin conference on anti-Semitism earlier this year gave us hope that our government has learned from the terrible silence of the State Department regarding anti-Semitism in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. The Global Anti-Semitism Awareness Act offers an opportunity for your strong words to be translated into policy.
Sincerely,
Stephen J. Solarz
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1975-1993
Prof. David S. Wyman
Author, The Abandonment of the Jews:
America and the Holocaust 1941-1945
Jack F. Kemp
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 1989-1993
Republican Nominee for Vice President, 1996
Founder and Director, Empower America
Dr. Jeane J. Kirkpatrick
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, 1981-1985;
Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Stuart E. Eizenstat
Special U.S. Envoy for Holocaust Issues, 1996-2002;
Deputy Treasury Secretary, U.S. Ambassador to the
European Union, Undersecretary of State for Economic
Affairs, Undersecretary of Commerce, 1993-2001
R. James Woolsey
Director, Central Intelligence Agency, 1993-1995
Anthony Lake
Professor, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service;
National Security Adviser to the President, 1993-1997;
Director of Policy Planning, State Department, 1977-1981
Richard Schifter
Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights
and Humanitarian Affairs, 1985-1992
Rev. Dr. Joseph C. Hough, Jr.
President
Union Theological Seminary
Rev. Dr. Ted Peters
Interim President
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
and Professor of Systematic Theology
Dr. Harold W. Attridge
Dean, Yale University Divinity School
and Professor of New Testament
Rev. David L. Bartlett
Dean of Academic Affairs and
Professor of Preaching and Communication
Yale University Divinity School
Maxine Clarke Beach, Ph.D.
Vice President and Dean
Drew University Theological School
Sister Rose Thering O.P., Ph.D.
Professor Emerita, Seton Hall College
Father Richard John Neuhaus
Editor-in-Chief, First Things
Marvin Kalb
Veteran news correspondent and Founding Director of
the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics
and Public Policy, at Harvard University
Janis Ian
Singer-Songwriter
Rudy Boschwitz
United States Senator, 1978-1991
Miles Lerman
Chairman, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1994-2000
Sister Dorothy Peterson, FCJ
Director of Local Church Outreach
Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley
Sister Ruth Lautt, O.P., Esq.
Partner, Vollmer & Tanck, LLP
Cynthia Ozick
Writer
Abraham D. Sofaer
George P. Shultz Distinguished Scholar and
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Legal Adviser to the U.S. Department of State, 1985 -1990
David Brenner
Comedian-Actor-Author
Prof. Robert A. Krieg
Author of Catholic Theologians in Nazi Germany
Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame
Clifford D. May
President, The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Former New York Times correspondent and editor
Rev. Daniel Groody, csc, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor of Theology
Director, Center for Latino Spirituality and Culture
Institute for Latino Studies
University of Notre Dame
Sister Dr. Lorelei F. Fuchs, SA
Associate Director
Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute
Prof. Arthur Hertzberg
New York University
Prof. Susannah Heschel
Chair, Jewish Studies Program, Dartmouth College
Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Streets
Chaplain, Yale University
Rev. Dr. Kathleen J. Rusnak, M. Div., Ph.D.
Pastor, Our Saviour Lutheran Church
Benjamin Brafman, Esq.
Brafman & Ross, PC
James Carroll
Author, Constantine’s Sword
Michael Novak
Theologian, author, former U.S. Ambassador and White House adviser;
Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
Dr. Garry Wills
Professor of History, Northwestern University;
Winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction
Rev. Mitties M. DeChamplain, Ph.D.
Trinity Church Professor of Preaching
The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church
Ben Wattenberg
Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Moderator, ‘Think Tank’ (PBS), 1994 to present
Rev. Vincent A. Lapomarda, S.J.
Coordinator, Holocaust Collection
College of the Holy Cross
Michael J. Horowitz
Director, Hudson Institute Project for Civil Justice Reform
General Counsel, Office of Management and Budget, 1981-85
Gabriella Lettini, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture
Union Theological Seminary
Dr. Mark Falcoff
Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Member, U.S. Delegation to the U.N.Human Rights Commission
Jon D. Fox
Member, U.S. House of Representatives, l995-98
Member, Board of Directors, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council
Sister Dianne Bergant, CSA
Professor of Biblical Studies
Catholic Theological Union, Chicago
Rev. Prof. John A. McGuckin
Priest of the Romanian Orthodox Church
Professor of Early Church History, Union Theological Seminary
Professor of Byzantine Christian Studies, Columbia University
Nina Shea
Director, Center for Religious Freedom
Freedom House
Harvey J. Feldman
U.S. Ambassador, retired
Senior Fellow, The Heritage Foundation
Editor, The Journal of International Security Affairs
Richard Perle
Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Assistant Secretary of Defense, 1981-1987
Peter Himmelman
Singer-Songwriter
Rev. Richard P. McBrien
Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology
University of Notre Dame
Dr. Phyllis Chesler
Emerita Professor and author of The New Anti-Semitism:
The Current Crisis and What We Must Do About It
Sister Carol Rittner RSM, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Holocaust & Genocide Studies,
The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
Rev. Dr. Eugene Gorski, C.S.C.
Theology Faculty
University of Notre Dame
Jeremy Ben-Ami
former Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor to President Clinton
Prof. Randall C. Zachman
Associate Professor of Reformation Studies
University of Notre Dame
Rev. John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, Ph.D
President, International Council of Christians & Jews
Marc Weiner
Comedian
Rev. Msgr. Guy Massie
Pastor, St. Andrew's R.C. Church
Brooklyn, New York
Mary C. Doak, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Theology
University of Notre Dame
Peter R. Rosenblatt
former U.S. Ambassador;
Heller and Rosenblatt, Washington D.C.
Harrison J. Goldin
New York City Comptroller, 1974-1989
New York State Senator, 1966-1973
Rev. Ivan A. Rogers
Member emeritus, National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel
Frank Sullivan
former Spokesman for the Mayor of Chicago
Thane Rosenbaum
Novelist and law professor
Ted Solotaroff
Author, retired editor, Contributing Editor of The Nation
Dr. John Eibner
Assistant to the International President
Christian Solidarity International
Rev. Dr. Keith Roderick
Secretary General
Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights
Dr. Walter Reich
Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Professor of International Affairs,
Ethics and Human Behavior, George Washington University;
Former Director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
John Loftus
former Justice Department prosecutor;
President, Florida Holocaust Museum
Jules Polonetsky
former New York City Commissioner of Consumer Affairs
Prof. Robert S. Wistrich
Director, The Vidal Sassoon International Center
for the Study of Antisemitism
Hebrew University
Prof. Michael Berenbaum
University of Judaism
Mark Podwal
Artist and Clinical Associate Professor of Dermatology
Prof. Padriac O’Hare
Professor of Religious Studies and
Director, Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations,
Merrimack College
Nathan Lewin, Esq.
Hon. President, American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
Prof. Kevin Madigan
Associate Prof. of the History of Christianity
Harvard Divinity School
Prof. Jacob Neusner
Bard College
Dr. Racelle R. Weiman
Director, Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education,
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Prof. Gary Anderson
Professor of Theology
University of Notre Dame
Prof. Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM
Professor of New Testament and Spirituality
Jesuit School of Theology
Archie Rand
Artist and Presidential Professor of Visual Arts, Brooklyn College
Prof. Euan K. Cameron
Academic Dean
Henry Luce III Professor of Reformation Church History
Union Theological Seminary
William J. Kilberg, P.C.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP;
former Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor
Will Eisner
Artist and author of Fagin the Jew and The Plot
Rev. Emilie M. Townes
Carolyn Williams Beaird Professor of Christian Ethics
Union Theological Seminary
Joe Kubert
Artist, editor, and author of Yossel: April 19, 1943
John J. Michalczyk
Chair, Fine Arts Dept., Boston College
Producer, “The Cross and the Star: Jews, Christians and the Holocaust”
Gary E. Erlbaum
Chairman, Greentree Properties
Dr. Carl E. Savage
Associate Director Doctor of Ministry Program
Drew University Theological School
Rivka Haut
Author
Sister Mary C. Boys, S.N.J.M.
Skinner and McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology
Union Theological Seminary
Lance A. Kawesch, Esq.
Partner, Duane Morris LLP
Prof. Lawrence S. Cunningham
John A. O'Brien Professor of Theology
University of Notre Dame
Prof. Stephen Moore
Professor of New Testament
Drew University Theological School
Ron Rosenbaum
Editor, Those Who Forget the Past: The Question of Anti-Semitism
Neshama Carlebach
Singer-Songwriter
Prof. Christopher Morse
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of Theology and Ethics
Union Theological Seminary
Dr. Mark A. Miller
Instructor of Church Music and Director of Music
Drew Theological School
Prof. Alan Cooper
Professor of Bible
Union Theological Seminary
Jewish Theological Seminary
Prof. Janet R. Walton
Professor of Worship
Union Theological Seminary
Prof. Edwina Wright
Assistant Professor of Old Testament
Union Theological Seminary
Prof. Richard Landes
Professor of History, Boston University
Director, Center for Millennial Studies
Adam Kubert
Artist, Marvel Comics
Pierre Sauvage
President, Chambon Foundation
Prof. Michael A. Signer
Abrams Professor of Jewish Thought and Culture
Department of Theology
University of Notre Dame
Sister Barbara E. Reid, O.P., Ph.D.
Professor of New Testament Studies
Catholic Theological Union
Dr. Rafael Medoff
Director, The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies |
