Co-Chairman Cohen Questions Witnesses at a Helsinki Commission Hearing on the Threat of Antisemitism

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), the Co-Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, today questioned witnesses at a Commission hearing on “The Alarming Rise in Antisemitism and its Threat to Democracy.”

To Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, he asked: “Can you give what you believe is the Number One cause of the rise of antisemitism throughout the world? It’s been seen in America when we think of social media…but it’s also in Hungary and other countries in Europe around the world.”

Ambassador Lipstadt likened antisemitism to a virus taking advantage of “stress points” in society and said social media acts as a “delivery system” making it increasingly available.

To Rabbi Andrew Baker, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on Combating Anti-Semitism and Director of International Jewish Affairs at the American Jewish Committee, Co-Chairman Cohen echoed the Four Questions of the Passover Seder: “Why are these most recent years different from all other years?” The Rabbi agreed that social media has played a major role in antisemitic ideas’ ability to spread.

See the entire exchange with the witnesses here.

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