Keeping America’s Promise to Jewish Americans | Jewish American Heritage Month Congressional Breakfast

Remarks as prepared for delivery : Eric, thank you for that kind introduction — and thank you for everything Jewish Federations does, year in and year out, to strengthen Jewish life across this country. Sam, it’s an honor to be with you this morning. A Philly kid who walked on at Texas A&M without ever having played a down of varsity football — wearing your kippah under your helmet, keeping Shabbat even when it cost you playing time. You’ve shown your teammates, the kids back home in Philadelphia, and all of us in this room that you don’t have to hide who you are to chase your biggest dreams. We’re proud of you. Friends, I’m grateful to be here during Jewish American Heritage Month — and especially in this year, as we mark the 250th anniversary of our founding. For nearly all of those 250 years, the Jewish American story has been woven into the American story — in science and medicine, in business and the arts, in law and government, on every battlefield where Americans have fought. My wife, Dina, and I in Squirrel Hill — the historic and geographic heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community. In October 2018, a gunman walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue—just a few blocks from my house—on Shabbat morning and murdered eleven worshippers in the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history. The families who buried their loved ones that day are my neighbors. So when I talk about antisemitism in this country, I’m telling you it will never be someone else’s fight for me. On October 7, 2023, two wars were launched against the Jewish people. One in Israel — brutal, barbaric, the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. And another one here, and around the world — a war of intimidation and hate against Jewish students, Jewish families, Jewish communities. Both wars are still being fought. And we have an obligation in both. Antisemitism is wrong. It is evil. And it is evil regardless of who is peddling it. Historically, in my lifetime, we’ve seen more of it on the political left — on college campuses and in radical movements. But I’ll be honest with you: I’m increasingly worried about its rise on the right as well. Antisemitism is poison wherever it appears — and our condemnation of it cannot depend on whose side it comes from. This is not, and must never be, a partisan issue. It is an American issue. It is a moral issue. Every American — Republican, Democrat, independent — should be able to stand together and say without qualification: there is no place for antisemitism in this country. That’s why I was proud to team up with my colleague Senator John Fetterman to introduce a bipartisan Senate resolution condemning the surge in antisemitic violence across the United States. It passed unanimously. Every single senator. I’ll share one more thing I’m proud of. The very first congressional delegation I led as a Senator was to Israel and to the United Arab Emirates — a member of the Abraham Accords. I believe in the U.S.-Israel relationship and the Abraham Accords show us a future worth building — a Middle East where Israel is integrated, prosperous, and at peace with her neighbors. So to everyone in this room — to the Jewish leaders, to the students, to our friends from the Israeli Embassy, to Sam and his family — hear me clearly: you have a friend in me. You have a friend in my office. And you have many friends in the United States Senate. Let me close with the words of our first President. In 1790, George Washington wrote to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport: “ May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants — while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid. ” Two hundred and thirty-six years later, that promise is ours to keep. May we prove worthy of it. Thank you.