Days before the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, President Donald Trump signed into law on Monday new bipartisan legislation committing the United States to prevent genocide and to confront anti-Semitism at home and abroad, JNS reported.
The first measure, named in honor of Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, was introduced by Representatives Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), and Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.).
The Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act is a ground-breaking genocide prevention law, which passed with an overwhelming bipartisan majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in December last year. It puts in place a set of policies and mechanisms to strengthen the U.S. response to potential and emerging genocides.
“America’s strength around the world is rooted in our values. It is in our national interest to ensure that the United States utilizes the full arsenal of diplomatic, economic, and legal tools to take meaningful action before atrocities occur,” Cardin said in a statement issued by his office. “Tragically, these atrocities are happening today; we simply cannot wait to act.”
Prior to the signing, Sara Bloomfield, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum director, said that “Senators Young and Cardin’s leadership on the bill honors Elie Wiesel’s vision for the Museum as a living memorial that would help save victims of future genocides and in doing so honor the victims of the Holocaust.”
She continued: “This legislation is an important effort toward developing a bipartisan Congressional blueprint for making ‘never again’ real by taking practical steps to mitigate the systematic persecution of vulnerable groups.”
The legislation demands that the official policy of the U.S. deems the prevention of genocide and other acts of mass murder a “core national security interest” as well as “a core moral responsibility.”
It also establishes a Mass Atrocities Task Force to ensure that foreign service officers receive adequate training in conflict and atrocity prevention. Furthermore, the measure encourages the director of national intelligence to include information on atrocities in the annual crime report to Congress.
The same day, the President signed into law House Resolution 672, the Combating European Anti-Semitism Act of 2017, which declares the fight against anti-Semitism at home and abroad a core national security interest of the U.S.
[Photo: Official White House Photo / WikiCommons ]