Hearing Transcript: The Agents of Antisemitism in Latin America

MARIA SALAZAR: Time to start. And thank you, Mrs. Lipstadt, for being here with us. And let me do it the proper way. The Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere will come to order. And the purpose of this hearing is to discuss the rise of antisemitism in Latin America and the responses of the governments in the region to the ongoing war in Israel and the impact of these responses on our US foreign policy objectives in the region.

And now I’m going to recognize myself for an opening statement. So, October 7th of 2023 is the day that we live in infamy in the history of the Jewish people. October 7th was the deadliest day for the Jews since the Holocaust in 1945 when it ended in 1945. Since that fateful day, Latin America, what — what’s happening in the continent, what we’re seeing is an explosion of antisemitism.

Specifically, three Latin American countries, Colombia, Honduras, and Chile, recalled their ambassadors to Israel shortly after Israel began defending itself. Bolivia cut off diplomatic relations with Israel completely accusing Israel of crimes against humanity. Colombia, President Gustavo Petro, compared Israel to the Nazis saying that they treated Gaza like the Warsaw Ghetto.

In addition, Mr. Petro said Colombia will stop buying weapons from Israel. Honduras, the shadow President of the country, Manuela Zelaya, [ph] the husband of the actual President said that you are not human and a criminal if you take the side of Israel. Brazil, President Gustavo Lula da Silva said that Israel is repeating the Holocaust, and that Israelis are the new Nazis of this era.

Chile, President Gabriel Boric just banned Israel from Latin America’s largest aerospace fair. Mexico, President Amlo Lopez Obrador recalled the Mexican ambassador to Israel, and it is supporting the persecution of Israel in an international court. It’s obvious that for what — what we have — it’s obvious that for what we have seen and what’s happening in the hemisphere, the fact that in Brazil alone, there has been a 1,000 percent increase in antisemitic attacks in the last few months.

This is not the first time that these leaders unfortunately have spoken or have shown their prejudice against the State of Israel. Let me just give you another couple of examples. In 2014, President Pedro from Colombia retweeted a comment calling someone, [inaudible]. That means in Spanish, a disgusting Jew. In 2019, Gabriel Borsch again the President of Chile, returned a jar of honey the Jewish community of that country had sent to him in a gesture of friendship.

And he said, why don’t you stop stealing the land of the Arabs instead? It is despicable, as I’m sure you agree, that the heads of state have these types of opinions, but it’s even more concerning to us that is — these leaders or these leaders that I just mentioned are the favorite partners of the Biden administration in the Western Hemisphere.

In the meantime, other countries like Paraguay, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic, they have condemned the Hamas attack in the most forceful terms and have stood with Israel at international forums around the world. But unfortunately, they have received little things from the Biden administration. Now what does that say?

What type of message does that send? That some of the enemies of Israel are the friends of the American White House. And that standing with Israel does not get you too much gratitude or too much friendship under the Biden administration. It is worrisome that under this administration being on board with the woke agenda seems a little bit more important than being on board with the right side of history.

We’re supposed to support Israel around the world. Let’s fix this starting right here in our own hemisphere with our own White House. I yield back.

JOAQUIN CASTRO: Thank you, Chairwoman. Good afternoon, everyone.

MARIA SALAZAR: Now I recognize the ranking member, the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Castro for any statements that he may have. Thank you.

JOAQUIN CASTRO: Thank you. Thank you, Chairwoman, for convening this very timely hearing to discuss the work of the Department of State in monitoring and countering antisemitism in Latin America and the Caribbean. And thank you to Ambassador Lipstadt for your important work and your service at the State Department. Thank you, Chairwoman.

Latin America, like the United States, has been a place of refuge for so many fleeing persecution across the world. And that shared history is reflected in the robust and deeply rooted Jewish communities across our Western Hemisphere, in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, and so many other countries, many of whom fled persecution and antisemitism in other parts of the world.

Too many of those Jewish communities continue to face persecution, discrimination, and antisemitism. And I appreciate the department’s work in monitoring and combating antisemitism in the region. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the AIMA bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina where Hezbollah killed 85 people and injured hundreds more.

This attack, at the time the deadliest attack against the Jewish community since the Holocaust, has left a deep and tragic legacy. These families and the larger Jewish community deserve justice for these acts of terror and the United States must continue to support efforts to hold perpetrators accountable.

And in the wake of the October 7th attacks by Hamas and Israel’s subsequent response, antisemitic rhetoric in Latin America has been used recently by a variety of government officials and social groups on both the right and the left of the ideological spectrum. It’s sadly a global trend that during times of domestic and international turmoil, the scapegoating of and hatred towards Jewish people is exploited for political gain.

Officials from both the United States and the Organization of American States have publicly raised the alarm on rising antisemitism in the region, calling it, “a tsunami.” In Peru, right-wing extremists have targeted a prominent Peruvian Jewish journalist by screaming antisemitic chants outside his home, including showing posters of rats holding bags of money.

Just a few years ago, a right-wing movement almost catapulted a far-right candidate, the son of a German Nazi Party member who fought in World War II and then fled to South America to the presidency — almost to the presidency of Chile. And just this December, Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei appointed Mr. Rodolfo Barra to be the country’s lead prosecutor.

Mr. Barra is a man with a neo-Nazi past who belonged to a right-wing group responsible for hundreds of antisemitic actions, including attacks against synagogues, a violent riot in a Jewish neighborhood, and the murder of a Jewish lawyer. He will now be responsible for prosecuting any individuals involved in antisemitism or violence against Argentina’s significant Jewish community.

We’ve also seen left-leaning leaders in the region make inflammatory statements as well. Last May, the Biden administration also announced the first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism — antisemitism, which includes collaboration with the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat antisemitism, which our witness now leads.

The strategy laid out two issues for the State Department, a report documenting promising overseas programs, policies, and actions that counter antisemitism and working with the Treasury Department to financial institutions to prevent hate groups from raising money through crowdfunding websites. During this hearing, I look forward to hearing how the State Department is working to implement the president’s interagency strategy.

In drafting an interagency strategy, the president also made an important decision to acknowledge that “there are several definitions of antisemitism, which serve as valuable tools to raise awareness and increase understanding of antisemitism.” The National Strategy to counter antisemitism recognizes that “in order to confront and counter antisemitism, Americans must recognize and understand it.” It noted that “there are several definitions which serve as valuable tools to raise awareness and increase understanding, but critically, the strategy focused on action to counter antisemitism rather than debate over definitions that sap energy from urgent action.” I understand that your office, which was established before President Biden’s interagency strategy was released solely uses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism and does not use other definitions such as the Nexus document that may be appropriate to the context of the countries that you’re working in. A core function of your office is helping other countries including in Latin America, establish mechanisms and law to counter — and effectively counter antisemitism.

I ask that in your and your office’s work to follow the president’s lead and focus on holding other governments accountable for concrete action to combat antisemitism instead of codifying definitions. Myself and several of my colleagues worry that countries can take advantage of — outsized focus on definitions to avoid taking concrete and practical action to protect Jewish people in Latin America.

In preparing for today’s hearing, I was reflecting on the diversity of cultures, races, religions, ethnicities, and ethnicities that exist in our hemisphere and how Jewish communities are important pillar of our society that deserve to live in peace and security. And I look forward to working with you on that effort.

I yield back, Chairwoman.

MARIA SALAZAR: Thank you, Mr. Castro. Now other members of the committee are reminded that opening statements may be submitted for the record. Today, we have a witness from the State Department who works on the issues of combating antisemitism globally, including Latin America. The Honorable Deborah Lipstadt is the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism for the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism at the State Department or at the Department of State.

Thank you very much for being here with us. Your full statements will be made part of the record. And I’ll ask each of you to keep your spoken remarks to five minutes, you and the rest of my colleagues, in order to allow time for member questions. I now recognize you, Madam Ambassador Lipstadt, for your opening statement.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Thank you very much. Chairwoman Salazar, Ranking Member Castro, and members of the subcommittee. I really welcome this opportunity to discuss the increase of antisemitism in the Western Hemisphere and the State Department’s active engagements in the reason — in the region. Antisemitism is more than solely a threat to Jews and Jewish communities.

But if it were just that, that would be enough. Governments have the responsibility to protect their citizens and protect particularly members of minority and vulnerable groups from discrimination and violence. But antisemitism is more than just a threat to Jews. It is a multi-level threat to well-being to national well-being, to democracy, national security, and stability.

Today, I want to talk specifically about our many efforts in the Western Hemisphere to monitor and combat antisemitism, which has become even more urgent as you mentioned in your opening statements since October 7th. The Jewish community organizations in Brazil recorded again, as you mentioned, a 961 percent increase and antisemitic incidents during October 23rd compared to the same period in 2022. In Argentina, there were more than 100 reported antisemitic incidents in January 2024 alone, representing a 600 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023. The ADL also reports that synagogues, grocery stores, streets, restaurants, and schools in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico — Mexico, and Peru, amongst others, were defaced, vandalized, received bomb threats, and targeted with gunfire.

This is the only — only the beginning of a long list of recorded antisemitic incidents in the region within the past few months. The Western Hemisphere has been — become a key focus of our efforts, my and my team’s efforts to combat rising global antisemitism for quite some time. My deputy, Aaron Kiak [ph], and I have visited numerous countries in the region since my swearing-in to convey the message that the United States government takes antisemitism seriously and urges governments, communities, law enforcement to do the same.

As part of my first international trip in office, I traveled to Argentina in July ’22, to be present for the 28th anniversary of the attacks against the Argentine Israel Mutual Association, AIMA, a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and injured hundreds. We also went to Chile to meet with Jewish community representatives, government officials and participate in interfaith dialog.

I might mention that until October 7th, the bombing of the AIMA building in Buenos Aires was the largest and most significant attack on any Jewish community since the Holocaust. Sadly, that’s been eclipsed. This past December, I traveled to Canada and my deputy finished an extensive trip to Argentina, Chile, and Brazil.

I plan on returning to the region later this year. In Canada, I met with my Canadian counterpart Special Envoy and Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism Deborah Lyons. I met with local law enforcement, university representatives, and the Jewish community. In short, Jews throughout the hemisphere are not only feeling unsafe but are now taking active measures to ensure their safety.

For example, a third-generation Jewish deli owner in Montreal shared that his partners implored him not to decorate the windows of the deli for Hanukkah because they feared the restaurant being vandalized. A Jewish student asked me should — what — what he should tell fellow students when they ask if it is safe to come — for them to come to campus.

We and our mission in Canada continue to work closely with our Canadian partners, but I also want to talk and stress our on-the-ground observations and efforts in Latin America. Although overall levels of violent incidents reported in Latin America are far lower than in Europe and the United States, the Jewish community in Latin America has faced a rise in antisemitism since the October 7th Hamas terrorist attacks.

We have seen and heard from leaders in the — from community members, Jewish community members in the region of their deep concern. We have seen leaders in the region perpetuate antisemitic tropes online and conflate criticism of Israeli policies — Israel’s policies with anti-Jewish hatred singling out local Jewish communities.

Now, I stress, of course, that criticism of the policies of the state of the government of the State of Israel are not, of course, necessarily antisemitic. However, holding all Jews responsible globally for policy disagreements with the Jerusalem is antisemitic. In October 2023, we publicly called out Colombian President Pedro’s offensive and inflammatory remarks, comparing the Israeli government’s actions to the Hitler regime.

Recently, my deputy met with the top Venezuelan opposition leader who has faced decades of antisemitism by Maduro supporters because of his Jewish roots. We publicly called this out and declared support for him and others who face such hatred because of their religious or ethnic background. We are deeply disappointed that some Latin American countries, including as you mentioned, Bolivia have chosen to suspend or cut diplomatic relations with Israel since the Israel-Hamas conflict, and that some others including Honduras, Chile, and Colombia recalled their respective ambassadors to Israel for consultations.

We do not believe that reducing diplomatic channels works towards our shared goal of promoting a long-term solution to the crisis. When my deputy traveled to Chile in December 2023, he had conversations with high-level government officials and urged them to engage with the local Jewish community at the highest level.

While the need for vigilant remains essential, there are also some signs that some are moving in the right direction. Argentina has shown leadership in the fight against antisemitism. In addition to being the only Latin America — American country that is a full member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, IHRA, Argentina is also the first country in the region to appoint a special representative for the fight against antisemitism, Ambassador Fabiana Luguso.

[ph] My deputy had the honor of speaking alongside her and Fernando Lautenberg, [ph] Organization of American States, OAS Commissioner to combat antisemitism at the American Jewish Committee conference in Santiago in December 2023. Their voices to educate the public and combat — combat antisemitism in the region are vital especially now.

We meet frequently with — with Commissioner Lautenberg, the OAS, and our US ambassadors to see how we can work together. Unfortunately, Commissioner Lautenberg does not have the designated funding, which limits the reach of his office. Nonetheless, I want to commend him because even with such limited resources —

MARIA SALAZAR: Madam Ambassador, sorry I’m interrupting. You’re three minutes over.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Okay.

MARIA SALAZAR: I would like to — and I have your remarks. We can always submit them for the record.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Fine, no problem.

MARIA SALAZAR: We would like to give the opportunity to the other members and to myself to start a line of questioning. So thank you.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: You’re welcome.

MARIA SALAZAR: And I have been following I just — I’m going to recognize myself for five minutes and then give the opportunity to the rest of — of the committee. Okay, when you — when you travel to these countries in Latin America, you are the American representative. You know, American, the United States is highly regarded by all these countries, whether they like us or not, they need us, right?

So, you are the American representative, okay? So — what is it — what’s — what are the consequences for Pedro or Lula [ph] or Celia, [ph] to be insulting Israel, one of our most important allies in the Middle East? Do they think that there is going to be any type of consequences from the American government if they were to behave that way?

Because when the President of the country speaks, then that gives license, gives a patent, or an open door to all the other members of that society that hate Israel to come up and say something or do something. So what are the consequences?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: It’s an excellent question. First of all, when I go to these countries, my deputy goes to these countries or when I meet with their representatives here, we unequivocally indicate that such statements are out of bounds. When President —

MARIA SALAZAR: Well, what do they respond?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: They — they listen —

MARIA SALAZAR: –Brazil, for instance. In Brazil, you went to Brazil. You went to Chile. You didn’t go to Colombia.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Not yet.

MARIA SALAZAR: So what happened with Brazil, the most important Latin American country in size?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Present — when President Lula made his — his statement comparing Israel’s actions to Hitler’s —

MARIA SALAZAR: That is pretty bad, isn’t it?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: I would say it’s as bad — almost as bad as it gets. I can’t think of it getting much.

MARIA SALAZAR: All right, so what did you say?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Well, at that point, he was in Africa as was the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.

MARIA SALAZAR: So, what did these people say?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: And they met. And I know that in their meeting, Secretary Blinken called him out for having said that. And in fact, he did so within the context of his personal history. Because as you probably — you may well know, his stepfather was a survivor of the Holocaust, the very prominent —

MARIA SALAZAR: But apparently, he’s forgotten. So, cutting to the chase, so what are the consequences coming from the United States to these countries if they continue attacking and — and creating this antisemitism situation in other countries?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: We — we continue to call them out.

MARIA SALAZAR: That’s all we do, call them out, call them out?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Well, I’m not sure. I think privately we — we indicate that this is something that is very troubling to us and very disturbing. That we disagree with it. Often we will call it out as having crossed the iron definition and therefore being anti– no question that they are antisemitic. And the — the further consequences of my colleagues in the State Department, I hope follow up — we expect follow up on that, but we let them know that this is something we take seriously.

You can’t just make statements like these and think okay, I can get away with it. In fact, one of the things we say in combating antisemitism when other heads of state, foreign ministers, ambassadors ask us what they should do, one of the primary things we say is the head of the government, the leaders have to call it out unequivocally, immediately, and without reservation.

MARIA SALAZAR: And you understand that those, and I agree with what you’re saying, but they have been invited to the White House and they have been treated very nicely even though some of those leaders in Latin America, even though you’re sending that message. So it’s contradictory.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Well, I would hope —

MARIA SALAZAR: Have you — have you advised the — the White House?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: I — I don’t want to speak specifically on what advice I’ve given privately, but what I would say is that when — when we encounter them, especially if they have made such outrageous statements as they have made, and you have indicated and I’ve indicated as well that this is not something that we find acceptable.

And in fact, as I like to talk about it and I’ve been meeting also with members of our intelligence community to help educate them about antisemitism that when you see antisemitism, think of it like the camel’s nose under the tent. It may seem like a small thing, but there’s a lot of camel behind it. In other words, it may seem like —

MARIA SALAZAR: But they are the camel. Probably sometimes the president —

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Well, they — they — that’s right, but that little statement — that little statement is indicative of bad things to follow.

MARIA SALAZAR: All I’m saying is, and I’m sure that you agree is that Israel is our number one ally. I’m not saying that we want peace in Israel and that we want peace in the region and that we understand that the Palestinians are going through a very hard time at the time. We understand all that. And we — no one has the monopoly on compassion.

But I think the United States should send the message to our allies in the Western Hemisphere that we need to be on the same page when it comes to Israel. And what we have seen lately is it’s completely — complete divergence. It’s completely moving away from what we have established for the last 50 years towards Israel.

So is — are — are you — aren’t you concerned?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: I am. I’m deeply concerned. I’ll tell you. I’m deeply concerned not just about the region, but we’ve seen it in Europe, we’ve seen it in other places.

MARIA SALAZAR: Well — but let’s stay in Latin America.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Okay, staying with Latin America —

MARIA SALAZAR: So, what’s —

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Many of the — the statements, which you have referred to, which I have referred to cross the line from criticism —

MARIA SALAZAR: Thank you. Cross the line, so then, what are the consequences when you cross the line? That’s what I’m saying, not just scolding you.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Well, we — I would hope that there will be — that — that they will get the message that this is something if they want to work with the United States closely, this is not something that redounds to their benefit. But it’s important to recognize that criticism of Israel, even severe criticism of Israel is like severe criticism of any other country.

But too often, in the — in the — in the recent past, we’ve seen that criticism morph into pure and unadulterated antisemitism as in the examples you cited.

MARIA SALAZAR: Thank you very much. I’m so happy that someone recognizes this, what’s happening in the Western Hemisphere within the State Department. Now, I recognize my friend, the ranking member, Mr. Castro, for five minutes.

JOAQUIN CASTRO: Thank you. Ambassador, once again, thank you for your testimony today, and thank you for your work. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, the Biden administration released the US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism last May. And can you give us a status update on where we are in implementing the parts of the strategy that refer to the State Department and to your office?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Yes. We are — the strategy, as you probably well know, not only was an extensive strategy but came with calendar benchmarks of when certain things should be done. My office submitted our report to the — to the White House indicating where we are. And what we have done is we’ve — we’ve conducted very extensive travel to these various countries.

And when I go, I was just recently, I returned from um Germany and from London, when we go to these countries, we meet with government officials, we meet with NGOs, and we meet with members of the Jewish community. We meet with students, Jewish students on campus, non-Jewish students, etc., and we indicate to them we take this seriously.

We take this seriously because I said — as I said in my opening statement, first of all, every person has a right to live in security. A job of a government is to be, if I can draw a parallel like a parent in loco parentis keep the kids safe. That’s what a parent’s job is to make sure that your child is safe.

Everybody has different definitions of safe. And you’ve got to keep the Jewish community safe. But recognize that when you see antisemitism, it’s not like the camel’s nose, it’s like a yellow flashing amber light before the light turns red. If there’s antisemitism, chances are there’s going to be other hatreds.

Chances are they’re going to be bad things that follow. We have taken that on. We do it very vigorously. And we do it unapologetically.

JOAQUIN CASTRO: Thank you. And Ambassador, the President’s National Strategy to counter antisemitism states that, “there are several definitions of antisemitism which serve as valuable tools to raise awareness and increase understanding of antisemitism.” Now, your work is international and there may be expressions of antisemitism in other countries that are rarely seen in the United States.

And it’s important that we recognize that. Is your engagement with countries in Latin America — in your engagement with countries in Latin America, how are you working with partners to identify how antisemitism manifests itself in the local context of those nations?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Whenever we travel to any country, including to Latin America, as I mentioned, I’ll be returning to Argentina specifically to be present on the 30th anniversary of the AIMA bombing. I was there on the 28th anniversary. I saw what an impact my presence had on the community. I’ve been going. I’ve been urging others to go. I said this is a forgotten tragedy.

This is something that we recognize. And two years earlier there was the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. It’s been — it’s been too easily forgotten. And it’s got to be acknowledged, especially since we — we know — we know pretty for — for — in various certitude who brought it about and the persons who have — have never been brought to justice.

And that’s something that disturbs America greatly. We go to these countries, but before we go, we talk extensively to embassies and to consulates to our embassies, our consulates, our locally employed staff. We very often reach out to the Jewish community. We want to hear before we go, before I went to Chile, I met with members of the Chilean Jewish community who were here in Washington.

I met — one of the first meetings I had was with them when I arrived there. What are their concerns? What are they seeing on the ground? We don’t want to just meet in, you know, the rarefied atmosphere of government offices, but we want to meet with people on the ground and hear their experiences.

JOAQUIN CASTRO: Ambassador, you made two very important and related points. First, that there can be legitimate criticism of the nation of Israel just as there is criticism of nations around the world for different policy reasons and other reasons. But secondly, that disagreement or discontent, even strong disagreement with Israel, should not translate into antisemitism or hatred or violent actions against Jewish people, whether it’s in New York City, in Paris, in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, or anywhere around the world.

So, can you speak to how your office addresses distinguishing between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of the actions of the government of Israel?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Again, to buttress your points and the chairman’s point legitimate criticism, if legitimate criticism of the State of Israel was antisemitism, those hundreds of thousands of Israelis who spent every Saturday night on the street protesting the proposed judicial reforms would be antisemites, which of course is ludicrous.

It’s when people march on the street, whether it’s in London or New York or any other major city, I just came back from London, so that’s why and chant globalize the intifada. Globalize? You know, global, that means go after Jews. When they say things like happened in Hunter College in New York City on the Upper East Side, a city university college.

Just a few days ago, students stood in front of the entrance to the campus and chanting, Jews, Jews, you must decide, do you support genocide? They didn’t even make a pretext, you know, Israel zine, they called them Jews. You know, they were quite obvious. When synagogues are trashed, when girls’ basketball teams from a Jewish school — when the game has to be called because the other team is — is shouting and pushing Free Palestine that’s not being pro-Palestinian.

That’s not even being pro-Hamas, though I don’t — have a hard time how someone could be pro-Hamas, that’s being antisemitic. And we have seen this conflict allow for the antisemites to crawl out of their holes to engage in overt antisemitism. And it is very disturbing. Most disturbing, as I said in my opening statement is it’s forcing Jews in many places including in our own country to change their lifestyle.

Parents say to kids, don’t go in the street with the yarmulke, put on a baseball cap. Take off your Jewish star and put it under your shirt. In October, supporters of Hamas and groups affiliated with Hamas and called for a day of rage on a Friday, it was about two weeks after the beginning of the war. And parents were — sent their kids to Jewish schools, kept their kids home.

In — in France, it was some over 70 percent. In England, it was a little less than that. In this country, too, there were people who decided to keep their children home. I’m not criticizing them. It’s one thing for me to give testimony. It’s another thing for me to decide on the safety of my children, but — and nothing happened on the day.

But from the perspective of the people who called for a day of rage, it was a roaring success because people felt, can I depend on my government to — to support me? Are we a failed state? It created doubts about democracy. It created doubts about stability. It’s a very disturbing development. We see it in this country.

We see it in other countries. I’ll give you an example from this country and from this hemisphere. In the beginning — end of December beginning of January, approximately 200 American citizens — synagogues received phone calls that there were bombs and threats. Many said that, especially if they had a preschool, they said the kids home.

The FBI determined that those phone calls came from outside the United States. In Paris, there were paintings of swaths — Jewish stars on apartment buildings where Jews lived or just random — we now know that those instructions came from people from Moldova who then left Paris and went back we assume to Moldova.

In other words, antisemitism has become a tool in the hands of countries that hate democracies in the hands of authoritarian countries to stir up doubts. In Yiddish, they call it a [untranslated], a cooking spoon to stir up the pots. And if I can destabilize your country, if I can make not just Jews but others feel there’s something wrong here, I’ve accomplished what I want to do. And that’s one of the objectives my — in my office because of course we are at the State Department and our remit is overseas, we — we focus overseas.

But the other things we’ve learned from many of the organizations that track this online and in other ways that there’s a very quick highway between overseas and our country.

MARIA SALAZAR: Thank you for answering that question. I would like every single witness to be this willing to speak. I mean it’s — it’s a rare occasion, so thank you for sharing with us your thoughts and your opinions and your experiences. I now recognize Representative Huizenga for five minutes.

BILL HUIZENGA: Thank you, Madam Chair. And Ambassador, I’m — I’m sorry you’re employed. Quite honestly. I wish it wasn’t the case. My — my — my colleague from Texas, I wrote this down and I know he don’t view this exclusively, but he said, you know, sometimes we’re seeing things overseas that are rarely seen here in the United States.

Interestingly enough, on my way over to this hearing, I walked outside and — and had to go through the barricades that have gone up, where I witnessed some pro-Palestinian protesters on the corner screaming f-you to some Jewish protesters across the street. That was half an hour ago. And you were just talking about what — what’s happening on our US campuses.

I’ve got a very good friend, a former colleague who I used to work with who was employed up here on the House at one point where his — his two daughters who are in college, they’re college age, they’ve put their — they’ve put their Star of David away and no longer wear them on their necklaces because they’re afraid of what’s happening on their college campus.

We are seeing a woeful lack of education that’s both here and in the United States. And I pulled some numbers. It’s 31 percent — this is — this is according to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany survey on awareness of Holocaust — of the Holocaust, 31 percent of respondents here in the United States did not know that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

22 percent of millennials had never even heard of the Holocaust. And in Canada, you would — you had mentioned Canada, it’s even worse. 54 percent of all respondents did not know that 6 million Jews had been — had been slaughtered. And the same 22 percent of millennials had — had never heard of the Holocaust.

I mean, clearly, there’s a — there’s a lack of education happening, whether it’s here in the United States, in Canada, and other places. Now in Canada, it kind of cuts home — close to home for me, and here’s why. My wife was born in Canada. Her parents fled the Netherlands after World War II, after German occupation.

I — I happen to be the chair of the US-Canada Inter-Parliamentary Group. And in fact, I’m going to be meeting with the — the government of Quebec here in a little while, after this hearing. And when you — you brought up the — the — the — the Jewish deli owner in Montreal, it — it brought me back to college.

Early in my college career, I had made friends with a — with — with a couple of folks on a trip. They invited me to come up to Montreal. They are — they were Jewish. I am forever — they were in the textile business. I’m forever thankful to them because they taught me what a really, truly good bagel was for the first time.

[Laughter] And — and Montreal is sort of the center of that, right? I mean, they claim they — they —

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: –Don’t Tell that to a New Yorker.

BILL HUIZENGA: I know, I know. It’s — they — but they — they — they claim they invented them, but we’ve really perfected them. But in all seriousness, you know, how — how can we counter these apparent surges in Holocaust denial and distortion here in the Western Hemisphere? And clearly, clearly, we’ve got young people that are — that are — that are susceptible to this.

And I’m curious what your assessment is on actors like Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran and others that for this — using this spike in antisemitism as an opportunity to engage in the Western Hemisphere here, especially with — with — with young people?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: First of all, I’m glad you started by saying, I’m sorry, you have a job — or I’m sorry, you engaged. I sometimes say that I work in a growth industry. Business is booming. And I’m the only one in the United States government hoping for a recession. You know, and I say it only minimally jocularly because it’s — it’s a very bad time.

What we are seeing, most disturbing, you know, in many places it’s violent attacks, but when people feel compelled to go underground to — to camouflage themselves if they can, then something is very, very wrong. How do we — how do we counter it?

BILL HUIZENGA: How can I — can I ask —

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Sure.

BILL HUIZENGA: I’m going to ask this, so what — what are you seeing as you’re — when you’re traveling and your deputies are traveling with the media? You know, both local media there. I mean, a lot of us have opinions about our media here in the United States, but are they really portraying these antisemitic incidents by both state and non-state actors?

I mean, are they are — is it an active conversation in a number of these countries? Because I’m extremely disturbing and the chair had brought up, you know, Brazil and Honduras and other places throughout Latin America. I — you know, we just talked about Canada, as well, and I have family in Canada yet.

My wife’s family is still there.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: My answer would be it depends where you go. And to focus back on Latin America, we’ve seen, in fact, the State Department issued a report in November or a statement in November 2023, on the Kremlin’s effort to covertly spread disinformation in Latin America. And in conversations — I was just at the Munich Security Conference, and someone said, well, why are you at the security conference?

And I said it’s very simple. Antisemitism is a threat to the security, particularly of democracies, but virtually to any country, but certainly of democracies. And what we’ve seen and according to the State Department report and in conversations with executives from various online companies who were at the conference that Russia has brought up taking control of legitimate, you know, various places where the local media has collapsed as it’s happened in many parts of our country, small newspapers, local newspapers.

And they publish the weather and the sports results and whether the main street is being paved over. But then they also publish anti-American, pro-Iranian, whatever it might be of propaganda.

BILL HUIZENGA: Yeah, I — and I know. I appreciate the light gavel from the chair. I know the — the ranking member went a little long too, but this is an important issue. And I want to touch on one last thing. I think I wrote it down. I believe you said you — you meet with our US ambassadors as you travel, correct?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Um-hum, I do.

BILL HUIZENGA: Yes. Okay, great. I’m glad — glad to hear that. I’m concerned about our own ambassador to Brazil, Elizabeth Bagley. She has had some documented very hateful comments she’s made about Jews. And my understanding from my Senate friends at nearly derailed her Senate confirmation. Does her track record of those types of comments — has that somehow affected her ability or the US ability to forcefully condemn DeSilva’s comparison of — of Gaza to the Holocaust?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: What I’ve seen from our post is that post-Brazil, Embassy Brazil takes this issue very seriously. I know that Ambassador Bagley addressed some of these issues in her confirmation hearings, and I don’t want to — you know that’s — that’s — that’s —

BILL HUIZENGA: I guess I’m more concerned about we having a forceful voice when we see this when trade partners and allies and — and — and certainly the — the economic activity that we have between these — our countries that we should have some influence over that. I want to make sure our ambassadors are not just speaking out.

I want them to be forcefully screaming about this.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: I think — I think they are. I think they also are meeting privately. I’ll give you an example of a case I know better, Chile. Our ambassador there, Ambassador Meehan, [ph] arrived in Chile on just the day after, I believe it was, but very close proximity to when President Boris [ph] refused to — when the Israeli — new Israeli ambassador came to the palace to present his credentials and Boris refused to see him, an action not just don’t come now come later, but of — of major political significance.

Our then newly arrived ambassador, before she had even presented her papers had a Friday night dinner with him and with our charge d’affaires.

MARIA SALAZAR: Thank you, Madam. Ambassador, sorry I’m interrupting, but I need to recognize Representative Manning for five minutes. Thank you.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Thank you.

KATHY MANNING: Thank you so much to my friends, Chairman Salazar, and Ranking Member Castro, and to my dear friend Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt for your incredible service and for being here today. As co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, I deeply appreciate the commitment of the members of this committee on both sides of the aisle to address the shocking rise of antisemitism we’re seeing not just in our own country but around the world, including the Western Hemisphere.

What we are seeing around the globe is shocking, it’s pervasive, it is terrifying. And Ambassador, you and I have been working on this issue for many, many years and I have to tell you the task has never seemed more daunting. As you and I both know, many countries in the Western Hemisphere and around the world look to the United States for leadership in the fight for human rights and against hate and antisemitism.

And we, in this country, took a major step with the release of the first-ever US national strategy to counter antisemitism last May and this was done with bipartisan and bicameral support. And given the rise of antisemitism, it was bad before October 7th. It has been catastrophic since October 7th. Would you agree that Congress should now codify and enforce the national strategy on a bipartisan basis to ensure that future administrations continue to pursue a national-level approach to countering antisemitism?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Thank you, Representative Manning. You stressed and I know the bipartisan nature of this fight. Both in this chamber on this side of the hill and on the other side of the hill, I have found tremendous bipartisan support from members. And I think what it demonstrates is their recognition, yours as well as members of this subcommittee, the ubiquitous, the free-flowing nature of antisemitism.

Antisemitism shouldn’t be looked at like on a spectrum from right to left but as a horseshoe with the extreme — the two extremes come and meet together. And what I have discovered in my — in my work and long before I entered the — the diplomatic corps was that I have friends who are on the left progressives, they — and — and they see antisemitism on the right.

And what they’re seeing is accurate. And I have friends on the right who see it on the left and what they’re seeing is accurate. The problem is neither one sees it’s standing next to them from their compatriots who share all their other views. And I think it’s really important if we’re not going to weaponize and turn antisemitism into a political weapon that we continue the bipartisan work that we’ve seen both here in — in the House and in the Senate and the bipartisan support that I’ve — I’ve received.

KATHY MANNING: Thank you. I think what you’ve said is so important for all of us to hear. And let me just say, I have drafted a comprehensive bill to codify the portions of the national strategy that are assigned to Congress. I would love to see my colleagues on both sides of the aisle co-sponsor my bill so that we can do more than just condemn antisemitism in hearings.

I want to go back to the Western Hemisphere. I was shocked by the Brazilian President Lula’s comments speaking at the African Union summit in Ethiopia when he said, as you know, what is happening in the Gaza Strip with Palestinian people has no parallel in historical moments. In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill Jews.

As you know, the State Department has for years used the IRA definition, which includes contemporary examples of antisemitism such as drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. I’m concerned about President Lula’s statement. What does the State Department have to say about this sort of antisemitic rhetoric?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Well, it’s clear that — that his statement tripped the IRA definition of what constitutes antisemitism. I know that the secretary spoke to him directly when they were at the summit. And I know that the spokesman — the spokesman at the State Department amplified the State Department — the secretary’s comments and repeated them.

I also know that there — on the ground — there has been a significant body of — of people, of political leaders, government leaders who have taken issue with — with this statement. But it’s very disturbing. It’s a trope that we’re hearing. And it’s — it’s — it’s antisemitism. As is denial. You know, someone earlier mentioned Holocaust denial.

Holocaust denial took two decades to get any traction at all. October 7th denial took two days, three days before people were saying it didn’t happen. It’s a lie. It’s made up. And that’s extremely disturbing.

KATHY MANNING: Thank you. Let me close by saying I have been to the site of the AIMA bombing in Argentina. I have seen what antisemitism can do to destroy lives and communities. It cannot be tolerated. And I think it’s important to note that those who perpetrated that bombing have never been held accountable. And although their actions have been traced to Iran, Iran has never been held accountable for that bombing either.

Thank you so much and I yield back.

MARIA SALAZAR: Thank you.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Maybe you’ll join me on in July at the 30th anniversary. Let’s get a delegation —

KATHY MANNING: Just invite me. I’m always happy to travel. [Laughter]

MARIA SALAZAR: Thank you. I now recognize Representative Stanton for five minutes.

GREG STANTON: Thank you very much, Madam Chair, Ranking Member Castro, my friend Representative Manning, who’s a leader in this Congress on so many issues, but especially on antisemitism. Thank you for your leadership and thank you to Special Envoy Lipstadt for being here today. Your job is critically important now more than ever.

Special Envoy, in your statement, you said that antisemitic incidents since October have increased by over 900 percent in Brazil, over 600 percent in Argentina. It’s tragic. To what extent have political leaders in Latin American countries committed to protecting Jewish communities or spoken out against antisemitism and violence?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Certain countries have and have spoken out directly as was mentioned earlier, but other countries have not and have engaged in statements that if not anti-overtly antisemitic, come very close to the line of antisemitism. And we have been — we are disturbed by this. We take issue with it publicly and privately.

And sometimes private admonitions, though they’re not seen by the public are — are even stronger to — to acknowledge that this is unacceptable.

GREG STANTON: Thank you. And has been discussed throughout this hearing, we know that antisemitism is not a new phenomenon in Latin America. Tragically this year does mark 30 years since the truck bomb destroyed the AIMA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 wounding, 300 people. Iran has been accused of directing Hezbollah to carry out this attack, yet no one has been brought to justice.

Since that time, Iranian influence in Latin America has only grown through its economic and political ties to with Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela. More recently, Iran has looked to bolster its outreach through media content geared for regional audiences. Special Envoy, what can be done to inhibit Iran’s effort to install its narrative in Latin America?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: I’m glad you’re asking about this. The United States is committed to countering Iran’s malign influence and Iran’s agent Hezbollah, which brings us back to — to the Middle East. The single — single, as we’ve mentioned earlier, the single deadliest attack in more than half a century, the AIMA bombing underscored Hezbollah’s global ambitions and is a clear example of Iran’s support of international terrorism.

High-level Iranian government officials were directly implicated in the attack. And Hezbollah carried it out at the direction of the Iranian government. And it is deeply disturbing to us at the State Department particularly, but not only in my office. No one responsible for the attack has been brought to justice.

The United States believes all Argentines deserve to have those responsible held accountable for this despicable and cowardly act. When I was in Argentina and I spoke with government officials, I called on them. I said, it — you — you — you — you’ll never — it hangs like a — like a lodestone over you, this unresolved.

We know who did it. You know who did it. They must be brought to justice even or especially 30 years after it happened.

GREG STANTON: What are the implications of Iran and Hezbollah as alliances with certain governments and political groups in Latin America, especially for local Jewish communities?

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: It’s very disturbing. Very, very disturbing. We see the tentacles of these relationships, this — this — whether it’s overt, more often than not, it’s undercover online, media influences, terrorism. And it is a — it is a threat to the Jewish community. And it is a destabilizing force, particularly as I said earlier, but not only for democracies.

They are not interested in seeing thriving democracies. And antisemitism becomes the pincer, the — the arrowhead for that attack.

GREG STANTON: The two — 2023 — 2023 US National Strategy to counter antisemitism require that the State Department and your office report on promising overseas programs and actions that counter antisemitism. The report was issued in September 2023. Whether from the report or from your own work in the region, please share some notable programs, policies, and actions countering antisemitism from Latin America that you would like to highlight.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Let me focus on something I mentioned earlier, but I want to stress it again because it’s possible that this committee and members of this committee could — could have an influence here. The OAS has appointed a commissioner, Fernando Lautenberg, to handle this. He is very active. He is — he is terrific.

He’s become a real partner to my office. We consult with him all the time to get a feel for what’s going on, on the ground. He suffers from virtually no budget and — and virtually no staff. He needs support. We’ve met with the secretary general of the OAS. I just met with him about two weeks ago who committed to furthering that support and enhancing his staff, enhancing his support.

The secretary general of the OAS said to me, antisemitism is not only an attack, but it — it — it works against. He said, if you have an economic problem in a country and you blame it on the Jews, first of all, you’ve enhanced the threat to Jews. Second of all, you haven’t solved the economic problem. So, I would urge that in your — your meetings, your consultations with members of the leadership of the OAS, you, A, complement Commissioner Lautenberg for the work he’s done on this and urged that his position be institutionalized, and he gets the proper support.

GREG STANTON: Thank you very much. I hope there’s a strong bipartisan showing at the recognition of the 30 years since that tragic bombing in Argentina — Argentina. So, thank you for your leadership. I yield back.

MARIA SALAZAR: Thank you, Representative. And I want to thank the ambassador for the magnificent job that you’re doing. I — we very much appreciate the fact that you are not only an ambassador entitled, but you’re an ambassador in words and in actions. And that you’re sending a very strong message to those who may not feel it, but the only thing that we could do is force them to behave well and not to send the wrong message to their populations in Latin America that being antisemitic or anti-Jew is okay.

So, I think it’s — it’s —

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate this opportunity.

MARIA SALAZAR: No, the opportunity to talk to you and — and please continue sending that bright message. Because as I said at the beginning, I know how the Latin American countries feel when they have an American representative from the United States government. And even though they may not agree with what you’re saying or what you’re demanding from them, they think about it twice before not going in favor of what the message that you’re sending.

So, it’s — it’s — it’s a — it’s a duty from the Biden administration. And in you being the representative of the White House and sending that message to Latin America. It’s despicable what’s happening with Pedro or with Lula or with Borge. [ph] You can simply — you cannot say that about our number one ally.

And we understand that the Palestinians do have the rights, too. We’re not saying that. But you cannot solve one, you cannot help one by attacking the other. We’ve got to help both, so. I think —

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: My office looks forward to working with you in any way we can.

MARIA SALAZAR: Of course, and we are delighted to do that, madam.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Thank you.

MARIA SALAZAR: And I thank the witnesses for their valuable testimony and the members for their questions. The members of the subcommittee may have some additional questions for the witness, so we will ask them to respond to them in writing. I now recognize my friend, the ranking member, Mr. Castro, if he has any closing remarks at this hour.

JOAQUIN CASTRO: Well, I just want to say, Ambassador, thank you so much for your work. And please let us know how we can support you in a bipartisan way.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Thank you.

MARIA SALAZAR: All right, so pursuant to committee rules, all members may have five days to submit statements, questions, and strenuous materials for the record, subject to the length limitations, obviously. Without objection, the committee stands adjourned. Thanks again.