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Human rights groups call for stronger anti-Semitism efforts

A Monroe Community College organization has joined more than a hundred others around the country in their call for stepped-up efforts to fight anti-Semitism.

They're responding to recent reports that the Trump administration was considering the elimination of a State Department envoy assigned to monitor and combat anti-Semitism.

"I really hope that our voices will be heard and I truly believe that if we voice them loud enough they will be," said Daniella Insalaco, an MCC student and president of the college's Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Project.  A statement signed by her group and others across the U.S. says anti-Semitism is not only a Jewish problem, but a threat to the very foundations of liberal democracies. Insalaco pointed to recent bomb threats at Jewish Community Centers, the desecration of cemeteries, synagogues, churches, and mosques, and white supremacist threats on social media.

"So we believe that it's time to increase the vigilance and that's why we fell creating a new office to address these issues is the best step forward."

Scores of holocaust organizations, institutions, scholars, and educators are urging federal officials to maintain and strengthen the State Department's anti-Semitism office and to create a new one to address the issue domestically. 

Beth Adams joined WXXI as host of Morning Edition in 2012 after a more than two-decade radio career. She was the longtime host of the WHAM Morning News in Rochester. Her career also took her from radio stations in Elmira, New York, to Miami, Florida.