WASHINGTON (JTA) – Sen. Ben Cardin, the special representative on anti-Semitism for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, visited the sites of recent deadly anti-Semitic attacks in Europe.
Cardin, a Maryland Democrat and the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met over the weekend with local leaders and government officials in Paris and Copenhagen to discuss Jewish security as well as ways to combat prejudice and decimation.
In Paris, he visited the Hyper Cacher kosher market, where four hostages were killed in January. In Copenhagen, he talked to officials about February’s fatal shooting of a volunteer security guard at the Dutch capital’s central synagogue.
Cardin, who is Jewish, met in France with Prefect Gilles Clavreul, head of the Inter-Ministerial Delegation against Racism and Anti-Semitism, who outlined his country’s new 40-measure action plan on “Mobilizing France against Racism and Anti-Semitism.”
Cardin also participated in the annual bureau meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Copenhagen. The OSCE is an umbrella group comprising most European nations, Canada, the United States and a number of central Asian nations.
“As I stood at the sites of these heinous attacks on people simply going about their daily routines, in addition to the emotion of the moments, I was struck by the enormous responsibility we have to use all means necessary to combat the growing anti-Semitism and racism in our communities,” he said. “We must stop this latest rise in intolerance before it takes root in the next generation.”
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