The Latino Jewish Congressional Caucus was relaunched at an American Jewish Committee (AJC) Belfer Institute for Latino and Latin American Affairs event in Washington DC.
"The bipartisan caucus is still going strong," said Dina Siegel Vann, director of the Belfter Institute. "We look forward to working closely with the co-chairs and other caucus members to strengthen Latino-Jewish bonds of friendship, particularly at a time when antisemitism and other forms of hate are on the rise in the U.S. and around the world."
The Caucus was founded in 2011 to promote cooperation between the Latino and Jewish members of Congress on domestic and foreign policy issues. The group works on issues such as anti-Semitism, immigration reform and the search for justice in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre in Argentina.
The event focused on US-Argentina and Argentina-Israel relations, delving into anti-Semitism in the South American nation since its 2020 adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism. The conversation also turned to terrorism, specifically Argentina’s 2019 designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
"As my colleagues and I relaunch the Latino Jewish Caucus in the 117th Congress, we are working with our Latin American partners to confront and condemn the growing threat of anti-Semitism in our hemisphere. Together, we must stand firm against bigotry and hatred in all its forms,” said Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL), a co-hair of the event.
Co-chair, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) noted that Jewish and Latino communities have lived closely together for generations.
“In New York, our communities have often joined together to improve the neighborhoods in which we live, and it is this spirit of collaboration that makes me hopeful for growing coalitions on issues that affect each of us, from immigration to civil rights to education. Our communities have much in common, and we must continue to build bridges and uplift our shared voices,” he said.
The caucus will focus on supporting Jewish and Latino communities around the world, said co-hair Jaime Herrera Buetler (R-WA).
"With recent attacks on the nation of Israel and a rise in anti-Semitism rhetoric, we must work to support our greatest ally in the Middle East, as well as condemn all forms of bigotry,” said Buetler. “I look forward to working with my caucus co-chairs on these common goals, as well as helping promote policies that uplift and benefit these communities and our nation."