N.J. rep Chris Smith calls out Farrakhan on anti-Semitism

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A New Jersey lawmaker, Rep. Chris Smith, singled out Louis Farrakhan as an example of how anti-Semitic rhetoric can have grave consequences.

"This month, Minister Farrakhan continued his anti-Semitic rant at nearby Howard University noting that he wanted to be heard 'unfiltered through the corporate-controlled, Jewish-controlled, Zionist-controlled media of the United States of America," Smith (R-N.J.) said April 28 in Washington while accepting the American Jewish Committee's Congressional Leadership Award. "Despite serious ongoing efforts to expose and combat anti-Semitism, this oldest and most nefarious form of hate continues to grow and morph and manifest in a myriad of ways."

Smith, who co-chairs the U.S. Helsinki Commission, part of a network of parliamentary human rights watchdogs, said his work in the 1980s linking Soviet treatment of its Jews to economic relations with the United States informed his efforts to combat human trafficking.

The lessons he learned then, he said, is why he introduced laws that apply foreign aid penalties to nations where human trafficking is prevalent. 

"Predictably, such linkage has and is working well to mitigate and combat this modern-day manifestation of slavery," he said. "Linkage tells bullies we mean business."

 

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