In an exclusive interview with Israel Hayom, Pennsylvania State Representative Mark Gillen shared that he is pushing forward with plans to build a Holocaust museum in Berks County in the face of growing antisemitism. The Republican lawmaker, who recently visited Israel, is determined to create an educational center despite facing threats and opposition.

Gillen, who has represented Pennsylvania's 128th district since 2010, recently traveled to Israel with the Harel Association. During his visit, he volunteered on military bases, packing first aid kits and food parcels to support soldiers amid manpower shortages. The Republican legislator also toured Christian sites in Jerusalem's Old City and visited Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial. "I'm enjoying Israel very, very much. It is a very spiritual land," Gillen told Israel Hayom. "I'm encouraging people and lifting their spirits because I stand up for them abroad."

The Pennsylvania representative's commitment to preserving history extends beyond his recent trip. Gillen founded The Berks Military History Museum in Mohnton, Pennsylvania, which houses World War II artifacts. The museum's construction incorporated reclaimed wood from German POW barracks formerly used at a Pennsylvania airport.

Encouraged by the public interest in the Holocaust section of his military museum, Gillen is now focusing on a new project: The Berks Holocaust Museum and Education Center. Set to be built in 2025, the museum will be funded by community contributions and will feature more of the reclaimed wood from the barracks and also steel from the World Trade Center as "I was a first responder and firefighter on 9/11."

All the artifacts for the museum were loaned or bought, mainly from Europe. So far, he has acquired Warsaw Ghetto Stars of David and concentration camp uniforms. He is currently in the market for a WWII train car and intends to go to antique shops in Poland in the future. Governor of Pennsylvania since 2023 and friend of Gillen, Josh Shapiro, has expressed his support for the project.

"I wasn't expecting the effort antisemites took to shut down my project," Gillen revealed to Israel Hayom. The opposition became so severe that a bomb squad was placed on standby during the ceremonial groundbreaking in 2021. Following the October 7 attack on Israel, Gillen faced further harassment after publishing a commentary supporting Israel and condemning Hamas in a local paper.

Online, Gillen was targeted with antisemitic slurs and Holocaust denial comments like, "You f*cking Jew piece of sh*t," "Shove your fake Holocaust up your ass," and "Why do you want to commemorate these pieces of sh*t?". "Because I'm a public official, you have to live with this," he lamented. "They want to get inside your head, and I won't let them. It only validated that we should be doing this."

Gillen's stance against antisemitism extends to his political actions. He recently removed state funding from the University of Pennsylvania, calling it a "hub of antisemitism." The lawmaker stated it was entirely unacceptable to "give taxpayer dollars to schools allowing these protests to go on in violation of their own rules of hate speech and threats." When approached by the university administration about potentially restoring funding, Gillen responded, "Not unless you enforce policy changes."

Our Commonwealth has a rich military story to tell, and Berks County is no exception. Recently, I had the privilege of touring the historic Berks Military History Museum. Inside are artifacts, uniforms, & memorabilia from approx. 1933 onward - these displays are worth the visit! pic.twitter.com/37uXJXZMRd

— Chrissy Houlahan (@RepHoulahan) October 21, 2020

 The representative also commented on the recent shooting at the Pennsylvania Trump rally, "I thought I was misreading because of my jetlag" and that it was utterly "jarring." Gillen, who serves as chairman of emergency affairs, noted that "it hit close to home because my secretary was sitting right behind Trump where the bullets hit, and my good friends Congressman Dan Meuser and US Senate candidate Dave McCormick were there."

"Assassinations are sadly a part of US history, and we need to ratchet down the rhetoric that 'the other party is the enemy' and visceral hatred for someone on the other side of the aisle. It is a problem," Gillen stated. He emphasized his own approach to politics, saying, "When I ran for office, I never discussed my competitor; it is just not who I am. But unfortunately, this is the exception, not the rule regarding politicians."

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US President Joe Biden was dealt a setback on Thursday as the House of Representatives abandoned plans for a vote on an infrastructure bill with progressives seeking more time to consider his call for a separate $1.75 trillion plan for climate measures, preschool and other social initiatives.

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Biden had sought to unite his party behind the climate and social spending plan with personal appeals on Thursday, and had pressed for a Thursday vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, another main plank of his agenda.

He hoped a framework on the larger measure would convince progressive House Democrats to support the infrastructure bill, but their insistence that the two move together led House leaders to abandon a planned vote, leaving Biden empty-handed.

In a meeting with House Democrats on Thursday, Biden pleaded for their support, according to a person familiar with the matter. "I need you to help me; I need your votes," the person quoted Biden as saying. "I don't think it's hyperbole to say that the House and Senate ]Democratic[ majorities and my presidency will be determined by what happens in the next week."

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Bush won 48.9% of the vote, while Clay, who has been in Congress since 2001, received 45.5%.

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In a now deleted foreign policy section of her campaign website, Bush's stance on Israel read: "In our current geopolitical economy, money talks far louder than speech alone. This is why nonviolent actions like the BDS movement are so important -- and why the effort to mischaracterize and demonize the BDS movement by its opponents is so urgent."

"I stand by the right of Palestinians to live as a free people just as the people of Israel and we as US citizens are allowed to do," stated the page. "We also stand by their right to call for a boycott on goods and services that the government that is currently oppressing them profits from, in order to draw attention to their plight."

In mailers from the Clay campaign, one shows Bush pictured with former Women's March leader Linda Sarsour, who is known for her support of BDS and has been accused of spreading anti-Semitism. Captions read "Cori Bush has an anti-Israel agenda" and "Cori Bush stands with BDS … And BDS stands with her!"

Another mailer shows a side-by-side comparison of Bush and Clay as it pertains to BDS.

One side reads "Cori Bush stands with BDS" with bullet points that state that BDS seeks to "isolate, delegitimize and end Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish People," "is supported by Linda Sarsour, an anti-Israel activist and a leader of the BDS Movement in the United States" and "supports ending US military assistance and security cooperation with the State of Israel."

It also states that Bush "failed to condemn anti-Semitic comments by her fellow staffers while working as a surrogate for Senator Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign."

The other side of the mailer shows Clay's support for Israel, including supporting a US House of Representatives resolution last year condemning BDS, backing US assistance for Israel and supporting US sanctions on Iran "because of Tehran's funding and support for terrorist groups around the world that target the United States, Israel and our Middle East allies."

Clay succeeded his father, Bill Clay, who represented Missouri's 1st Congressional District between 1969 and 2001.

In 2018, Bush lost to Clay in the Democratic primary, 36.91% to Clay's 56.7%.

In another win for the BDS movement on Tuesday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) soundly defeated longtime Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, 66% to 34%, in the Democratic primary in Michigan's 13th District.

Jones beat Tlaib once in a special election and came within a few hundred votes of defeating her in the 2018 Democratic primary. She has criticized Tlaib, who has a high profile nationally, for neglecting her district to focus on other concerns.

Tlaib has also been accused of peddling an anti-Israel and anti-Semitic agenda.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Jewish Insider first reported the development last week.

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The group's CEO and president, Mark Mellman, told the outlet that while "the overwhelming majority of elected Democrats are pro-Israel and we intend to keep it that way, there is a small group of outliers who are trying to change that and we are here to do battle with them."

While the organization has yet to decide which races it would be involved in, "we know a lot of our champions being threatened around the country, and we know some of those races are going to be serious races," said Mellman.

Although the PAC has yet to receive contributions, it had commitments from people who "would be significant," and it will spend "substantial amount of money" in the 2020 races as "a major force," said Mellman.

Pro-Israel Democrats facing primary challenges include New York Rep. Eliot Engel, who is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Illinois Rep. Brad Schneider.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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One of the things that we have in common is the core belief that our elected officials in Congress need to do more to educate our next generation about the Holocaust. Last April, a group of House representatives (four Democrats and four Republicans) introduced a bipartisan bill called the Never Again Education Act (H.R. 5460). The bill was introduced in response to an alarming survey by the Claims Conference, now public, claiming that over two-thirds or 66% of American millennials have never heard of Auschwitz.

Furthermore, over 45% of those surveyed could not name a single one of the 40 ghettos or concentration camps and nine out of 10 people responded "yes" when asked if American students should learn about the Holocaust.

After hearing the results of this study, it became very clear to anyone paying attention that the memory of the Holocaust is quickly fading while anti-Semitism in America and around the world grows. I (Bryan) am the grandson of a Holocaust survivor and I (Naomi) have relatives who survived the Holocaust. We will never forget the Holocaust and we are both personally invested in seeing Holocaust education rolled out nationwide. But what about the millions of Americans who don't have grandparents or relatives who are Holocaust survivors and can't name a single concentration camp?

In response to these shocking statistics, these eight members of Congress introduced a bipartisan bill that would authorize and fund the Department of Education to provide grants for educational programs about the Holocaust. We and many others applauded the eight members who introduced the bill and started working with our friends, community members and directly with members of Congress behind the scenes to whip up support from additional cosponsors of the bill.

To date, the bill has 53 co-sponsors (33 Democrats and 20 Republicans). The theory behind increasing the number of cosponsors is that it was supposed to increase the likelihood that the bill would be passed in committee with a recommendation for a full vote on the House floor.

Here is where things get weird and well, very frustrating. The bill was referred to the House Education Committee on April 10, 2018 (the same day the bill was introduced) and now, over 365 days later, still has not been read once in committee or been voted on. Since the new session of Congress started, no bills related to Holocaust education have been introduced.

We aren't of the belief that the federal government should be telling any of us what to do or how to live our lives. However, in this case, we will make an exception because our future depends on it.

The federal government has a real opportunity to pass a real bill that will have tangible and measurable results. A bill that will have a direct impact on the lives of our children. If we don't start educating the next generation about the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler and the 6 million Jews that were systematically erased from existence, we run the very real risk that history will repeat itself.

We, Bryan Leib and Naomi Levin, are calling on Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Education Committee Chairman Rep. Bobby Scott and the bill's original lead sponsor, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, to get together in a room as soon as possible, breathe life back into this bill, draft a new one and put it on the House floor where it belongs, for a full vote.

In closing, in the words of the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "The time is always right to do what's right." This bill is right, the cause is just and our members of Congress need to stop placating the American people by telling us they care about the growing tide of anti-Semitism and actually do something to address it. This bill is their opportunity to change the tide and make an impact. Will they? Your move, Congress.

Bryan E. Leib is a program manager for the Israeli-American Council. He is a member of the board of the National Museum of American Jewish History and a member of the Jewish National Fund's Speakers Bureau. He is the former candidate for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania's 3rd Congressional District and the former treasurer of the Philadelphia Young Republicans.

Naomi Levin is a software engineer. She is the former candidate for U.S. Congress in New York's 10th Congressional District. She is a board member of EMET (the Endowment for Middle East Truth), Manhattan GOP and the New York State Young Republicans.

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The U.S. Senate voted 56 to 44, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance the "Strengthening America's Security in the Middle East Act."

Most Senate Democrats have vowed to block all legislation in the Senate until it votes on a measure to end the shutdown, criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans for backing his demand for $5.7 billion to build a barrier on the border with Mexico before reopening the government.

Republicans increased their Senate majority to 53 from 47 in November's elections, but they still needed at least seven Democratic "yes" votes for the act to move ahead.

The Middle East legislation included provisions supported by both Republicans and Democrats to impose new sanctions on Syria and guarantee security assistance to Israel and Jordan. Those are seen as efforts to reassure U.S. allies worried about shifts in U.S. policy since Trump abruptly announced plans last month for a quick withdrawal of the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria.

However, the act also includes a provision that would let state and local governments take action against companies that boycott Israel. Many Democrats see laws passed by 16 states against Israel boycotts as an impingement of free speech.

Some Republicans accused Democrats of supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement targeting Israel. Democrats, in turn, accused Republicans of trying to use the BDS clause to divide moderate and liberal Democrats.

Even if it had passed the Senate, the act would have faced a doubtful future in the House of Representatives, where Democrats now hold a 235-to-199-seat majority, with one seat vacant, after sweeping victories in November.

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