The American Jewish Committee will honor Congressman Chris Smith at its annual Global Forum in Washington, D.C. April 27-29 for his longtime efforts to fight anti-Semitism.

    “AJC’s annual Congressional Leadership Award will be presented this year to Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) for his indefatigable efforts to combat worldwide anti-Semitism, rescue Soviet Jewry in the 1980s, and defend human rights,” the AJC stated in an April 24 announcement.

    Over 1,000 participants from across the United States and 50 Jewish communities around the world will gather in Washington for the event by one of the premier worldwide Jewish advocacy organizations. Smith said that being selected from among the many Members of Congress was a true honor.

    “Anti-Semitism is a unique evil and a distinct form of intolerance. It is the oldest form of religious bigotry in the world, and has led to international mass murder in the last century, manifesting – but not ending— in the Holocaust,” said Smith, a senior member of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and co-chair of the Bi-Partisan Anti-Semitism Task Force. “My father introduced me to a Holocaust survivor when I was 12. It was a powerful experience I carry with me always. Later, my first trip abroad as a member of Congress in 1982 was to the former Soviet Union, to seek the release of Jewish ‘refuseniks.’”

    Smith, who is Chairman of the Helsinki Commission and an Executive Member of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, conducted a landmark 2002 hearing, “Escalating Anti-Semitic Violence in Europe,” and has made the issue a priority of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) agenda, which resulted in the OSCE adopting new norms in 2004 for its 56-member states on fighting anti-Semitism, and a series of high-level conferences on combating anti-Semitism.

    Rep. Smith is the author of the provisions of the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004 that created the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism within the U.S. State Department. He recently introduced new legislation, the Combating Anti-Semitism Act of 2010, H.R. 6277, that would strengthen the office and require it to report more frequently and in greater detail on anti-Semitism around the world.