More than 525 mayors across the United States, including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, have joined the national effort to combat anti-Semitism, the American Jewish Committee and the US Conference of Mayors announced Tuesday.
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The two organizations have called on mayors across the country to sign a statement declaring anti-Semitism incompatible with fundamental democratic values.
"Anti-Semitism is a growing societal menace, it comes from multiple sources, and mayors are uniquely positioned to lead their cities in taking concerted steps to fight it," CEO of the American Jewish Committee David Harris said.
"In a world of global communications, where anti-Semitic ideas spread rapidly, a concerted and principled response is required to raise awareness, to educate, and to ensure decency prevails. As Mayors and municipal leaders, we have a unique responsibility to speak out against the growing menace of anti-Semitism," the Mayors United Against Anti-Semitism statement said.
The initiative comes as incidents of anti-Semitism continue to rise across the US, confirmed in FBI reports and AJC public opinion surveys.
According to the FBI 2019 Hate Crimes Statistics report, American Jews, who make up less than 2% of the American population, were the victims of 60.2% of anti-religious hate crimes.
AJC's 2020 State of Anti-Semitism in America report found that 88% of Jews considered anti-Semitism a problem in the US today, 35% had personally been victims of anti-Semaitism over the past five years, and 31% had taken measures to conceal their Jewishness in public.
Moreover, the AJC report revealed that nearly half of all Americans said they had either never heard the term "anti-Semitism" (21%) or are familiar with the word but not sure what it means (25%).
By signing the statement, municipal leaders across the nation pledge to condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms, support government efforts directed at eradicating it, reject that policies and actions, or existence of the State of Israel can ever justify or excuse anti-Semitic acts, and recognize the ever-present need to be vigilant about efforts to report acts of anti-Semitism and other hate crimes.
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