(JTA) — Jewish groups can at least unite on the effort to stop anti-Semitism.
Seventy-two of them, including from all the major religious streams, have urged Congress to pass two bills with that goal.
The organizations sent a letter Tuesday to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in their push for the measures.
The Anti-Defamation League organized the letter, which was signed by organizations representing the Reconstructionist, Reform, Conservative and Orthodox streams as well as the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Federations of North America.
The bills are the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act, which would upgrade the role of the State Department’s global anti-Semitism envoy, and the Combating European Anti-Semitism Act, which urges the United States to ensure the safety of European Jewish communities.
The House of Representatives passed the special envoy bill in September, but it is still being reviewed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Though the envoy role is mandated by law, the Trump administration has yet to fill it.
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