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For Immediate Release
June, 04 2009, 02:51pm EDT
Contact:
Brenda Bowser Soder (202) 370-3323,
bowsersoderb@humanrightsfirst.org
HRF Urges Senate to Adopt Federal Hate Crime Law
WASHINGTON
Dear Senator:
I write to express Human Rights First's strong
support of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 909).
This important legislation will help to ensure that law enforcement
authorities have the tools they need to combat violent hate crime in
the United States.
Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have hate crime laws,
but many of those laws do not cover crimes based on disability, gender,
gender identity, or sexual orientation. S. 909 would close this gap by
providing federal law enforcement officials with the authority to
investigate and prosecute a wider range of bias violence, including
that based on disability, gender, gender identity or sexual
orientation. And while state and local authorities will continue to
investigate and prosecute the large majority of hate crime cases, S.
909 would provide an important backstop by ensuring that federal
authorities can provide assistance in state and local hate crime
investigations and by authorizing federal prosecutions when state and
local authorities are unable or unwilling to act.
Hate crime is a serious problem in the United States. As we documented in our 2008 report on Hate Crime in the United States,
hate crimes in this country include assaults on individuals, damage to
homes and personal property, and attacks on places of worship,
cemeteries, community centers, and schools. In 2007, the FBI documented
7,624 hate crimes directed against institutions and individuals because
of their race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, or
disability. Behind these statistics are individuals, families, and
communities deeply impacted by these violent crimes. By undermining the
shared value of equality and nondiscrimination, violent hate crimes
also threaten the very fabric of the increasingly diverse society in
which we live.
Violent hate crime is a worldwide problem. In our 2008 Hate Crime Survey
we documented a rising tide of racist, antisemitic, anti-Muslim and
homophobic violence across Europe and the former Soviet Union and found
that the majority of governments in these countries are failing to adequately address the problem.
The U.S. has led efforts to confront this scourge through its foreign
policy and through engagement in multilateral institutions such as the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. In addition to
strengthening the U.S. government's response to hate crime at home,
enactment of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act would
enhance global leadership by the U.S. on this issue, enabling the U.S.
to more effectively encourage other governments to strengthen their
responses to hate crimes.
The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act has been endorsed by
more than 275 national civil rights, professional, civic, education,
and religious groups, twenty-six state Attorneys General, and a number
of the most important national law enforcement organizations in
America. In the 110th Congress, sixty Senators voted in support of a
very similar measure. Last month, we welcomed passage in the House of
Representatives (by a bipartisan vote of 249-175 of the Local Law
Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H.R. 1913).
We urge swift passage of S.909. Please do not hesitate to contact
our office if you have questions about this legislation or if we can be
helpful in any way.
Sincerely,
Elisa Massimino Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director
Download as PDF
Human Rights First is a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in New York and Washington D.C. Human Rights First believes that building respect for human rights and the rule of law will help ensure the dignity to which every individual is entitled and will stem tyranny, extremism, intolerance, and violence.
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"Today marks 68 days and counting since ANY humanitarian aid was allowed into Gaza. For more than nine weeks, Israel has blocked all supplies: no food, no water, no medicine, and no fuel."
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) not only highlighted those conditions in a speech on the Senate floor Thursday but also called out the fact that the worsening humanitarian crisis "gets very little discussion here in the nation's capital or in the halls of Congress," even though Israel has spent the past 19 months destroying Gaza with armed and diplomatic support from the United States.
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The senator took aim at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Palestinian territory, and key members of his administration.
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Noting that Israel's actions run afoul of U.S. and international law, Sanders said: "Starving children to death as a weapon of war is a clear violation of the Geneva Convention, the Foreign Assistance Act, and basic human decency. Civilized people do not starve children to death. What is going on in Gaza is a war crime, committed openly and in broad daylight, and continuing every single day."
Since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the Israeli assault on Gaza has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians. According to local officials, at least 57 Palestinians have died from malnutrition and a lack of adequate medical care. Many more are struggling to find food and water, particularly since Israel ramped up its blockade on March 2.
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Families in Gaza "are now surviving on scarce canned goods," and "the starvation hits children hardest," the senator continued. "With no infant formula, and with malnourished mothers unable to breastfeed, many infants are also at severe risk of death."
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Sanders has moved to block some U.S. weapons sales under both the Biden and second Trump administrations, but his efforts have not garnered enough support in Congress to succeed. Still, people across the United States and around the world have condemned the Israeli assault on Gaza as genocide—and Israel faces a case on the subject at the International Court of Justice.
The senator spotlighted Israel's latest plan for Gaza, Operation Gideon's Chariots, which involves "conquering" and indefinitely occupying the territory, and ethnically cleansing the region of its Palestinian inhabitants, who would be force into the south.
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For months, U.S. President Donald Trump "has offered blanket support for Netanyahu," the senator said. "More than that, he has repeatedly said that the United States will actually take over Gaza after the war, that the Palestinian people will be driven—forcibly expelled—from their homeland, and the United States will redevelop it into what Trump calls 'the Riviera of the Middle East,' a playground for billionaires."
Citing unnamed sources, Reutersreported Wednesday that "the United States and Israel have discussed the possibility of Washington leading a temporary post-war administration of Gaza," sparking global criticism and comparisons to the U.S. misadventures in Iraq in the early 2000s.
US, Israel discuss possible US-led administration for Gaza Yes, cause the American occupation in Iraq famously went really well www.reuters.com/world/middle...
[image or embed]
— Nick Cunningham (@nickcunningham.bsky.social) May 7, 2025 at 11:55 AM
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"Given that reality, one might think that there would be a vigorous discussion right here in the Senate: Do we really want to spend billions of taxpayer dollars starving children in Gaza?" the senator bellowed. "You tell me why spending billions of dollars to support Netanyahu's war and starving children in Gaza is a good idea. I'd love to hear it."
Sanders then made the case that the U.S. Senate isn't having that debate "because we have a corrupt campaign finance system" that allows organizations like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to set the agenda in Washington, D.C. He pointed to AIPAC and its super political action committee spending over $100 million in the latest election cycle.
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The report considers Musk—who has signaled he will leave DOGE—to have a conflict of interest with a federal agency when one of his companies has received contracts or grants from the department, has an interest in its proprietary data, and is subject to its regulation or enforcement regime.
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- United States Agency for International Development, which was investigating whether Russia had improperly gained access to Musk's Starlink satellite internet system.
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