U.S. Senator Tim Kaine wrote today to FBI Director James Comey, calling on him to use all necessary FBI resources to investigate the recent wave of anti-Semitic incidents across the United States, including a bomb threat to the Gesher Jewish Day School in Fairfax County yesterday, and work with Jewish communities to assess and address their safety needs.
“These reports make it even more important that law enforcement entities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, swiftly investigate cowardly acts of hate against vulnerable communities, including the young students of Gesher Jewish Day School,” wrote Kaine. “I hope you may be able to provide some assurance that this recent set of coordinated anti-Semitic attacks are being given the serious attention they deserve.”
The FBI’s annual report on hate crimes reported a seven percent increase from 2015, including a 67 percent rise in crimes against Muslims in 2015. According to Virginia State Police records, anti-Semitic acts are the most common hate crimes motivated by religion in the Commonwealth.
On January 24, 2017, Kaine and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced the Combatting European Anti-Semitism Act, legislation to address the troubling trend of anti-Semitism across Europe.
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