Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action testified before the U.S. House ofRepresentatives Judiciary Committee Tuesday. He urged the Committee to approve and send the “Anti-Semitism Awareness Act” (ASAA) for a full vote of the House of Representatives. 
During his testimony before the committee and during nearly three hours of Q and A between committee members and witnesses, Rabbi Cooperemphasized that “the major leadership of the American community, from AIPAC and Federations to the Wiesenthal Center, American Jewish Committee and the ADL are united in urging Congressto adopt the State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism. This would provide the US Education Department, University and other campus officials the context to take action on behalf of ourstudents who have suffered anti-Semitic attacks, intimidation and bullying.”
Rabbi Cooper added, “It is telling the Department of Education’s Title VI program has not adjudicated a single case involvinganti-Semitism. This is an intolerable and dangerous situation.”
The senior Wiesenthal Center official was not optimistic that today’s hearing would yield the desired results, adding, “if House JudiciaryCommittee Chairman Goodlatte does not move the legislation forward, we will pursue other avenues to pass the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act. Our students and community deserve equal protection underthe law.”
Video from the full hearing can be seen at https://judiciary.house.gov/hearing/examining-anti-semitism-college-campuses/. Rabbi Cooper’stestimony begins at 49:41.
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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the UnitedStates. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).
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