Why Jews Shouldn’t Necessarily Flee to Israel

The site of a Paris terror attack against a kosher market. Photo: JJ Georges via Wikimedia Commons.

By: Eli Verschleiser

For a people who wandered the globe for centuries in exile, the question of what constitutes a safe haven or just a temporary reprieve from persecution has been one with life or death consequences.

In recent history, the open arms of Germany turned into the deadliest of fists, and the Shah’s hospitable Iran became a hellish prison after the revolution. France betrayed its Jews once, collaborating too willingly with the Nazis to deport Jews, but for the most part it has historically been a place of thriving and growth.

Until now. Attacks against Jews, mostly in Paris and its suburbs, have risen sharply with the rise of Muslim immigrants, mostly from North Africa, who have set back relations with Muslims of longer standing in France that were largely positive. The French government has left no stone unturned in denouncing anti-Semitism, and cracking down on violent thugs and terrorists, with Prime Minister Manuel Valls saying “France without Jews is not France.” But an unpopular government’s power to protect 500,000 Jews is limited, caught between right-wingers who want to end immigration and left wingers who sympathize with Israel’s enemies.

Recent support for a Palestinian state and a greater role for the Palestinians in the United Nations – with attacks against Israelis on the rise, no progress toward peace, and persistent refusal to accept Israel’s legitimacy – send a mixed message.

That’s surely one reason aliyah to Israel is on the rise, with as many as 10,000 immigrants expected this year, up from 7,000 last year, which was double the 2013 number (economic factors such as France’s record unemployment surely also figure into it.)

I too would pick up my entire family and move. Having local police and soldiers on the ground for protection after terrorist attacks, while voting for a terrorist Hamas government to become a legitimate country, does not say much about the government’s sanity and surely does not bode well for the future.

We have seen disturbing videos of street clashes between Muslim and Jewish youths, and images of vandalized Jewish shops and shuls. While it’s important for the Christian-led government to denounce such acts, it’s even more crucial for the French Muslim community (hopefully the majority) not influenced by the radicals – who I still believe simply use Islam as their false claim to a religion – to stand up and show themselves and defend the Jewish people there.

But nevertheless, Islamic extremism is on the rise in France. It doesn’t help when the White House publicly shows ambiguity about the true nature of ISIS, downplaying the Islamic nature of the movement, depicting the savage attack on a kosher grocery store in Paris as not related to anti-Semitic and anti-Israel ideology.

While it is certainly self-evident that not all Muslims are terrorists, it is equally clear that nearly all the most dangerous terrorists today are Muslims. Not just France, but much of Western Europe has become a battleground, to the point that 70 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, some observers believe it’s easier to be a Jew in Poland than in Paris.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has wasted no time reinforcing Israel’s place as a safe haven for all Jews, but particularly the French. After the deadly Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher attacks, he told Paris Jews last month “The State of Israel is not just the place to which you turn in prayer. The state of Israel is also your home.” He sent a special delegation of ministers to help facilitate more immigrants.

Some, at least, are not ready to pack their bags just yet. After Netanyahu’s address at a Paris synagogue, they rose and sang the French national anthem.

Good for them. While staying in France or saying au revoir may one day be a life or death decision, we are not there yet. Bailing out en masse would inevitably means leaving the most vulnerable – the poor, the sick, the elderly – behind, almost powerless, as the Muslim population continues to rise in both numbers and influence.

Besides – we didn’t spend centuries wandering stateless in the diaspora and prevailing over numerous forms of adversity only to let bullies in 2015 tell us where to live.

Israel should be strengthened by Aliyah and an ingathering of the exiles. But on our terms, not theirs.

Originally Published: The Algemeiner 

Recognizing terror in its many forms

By: Eli Verschleiser

There’s a plague of fear spreading across the globe. The news greets us nearly every day like a blast of cold air. Acts of evil intended to influence the behavior of others.

The attack on Sony by North Korea may have been bloodless, but it’s an act of terrorism no less, undertaken by a dictator desperate to exert his influence in a world in which he feels insecure. This time it was the hacking of email accounts and other information from a major international corporation. Next time the hackers could target power grids or an airport, and the results could be actual loss of life. The entire fragile US economy could be thrown into chaos by a maniac with sophisticated cyber-terrorists on his leash.

As in any case, the US can strike back, as it appears to have done by somehow shutting down Internet access in North Korea (the White House won’t confirm or deny). But the effects of cyber-terror are already felt.

Kim Jong-un

Theater chains across North America declined to show a lowbrow comedy starring Seth Rogen that accomplished its mission of poking the bear, in the form of Kim Jong-un. Fearing liability, they caved in to vague threats by hackers that they would somehow punish audiences who saw The Interview. The media were Kim’s accomplices, not only rushing to publicize the hacked Sony emails and causing severe corporate mayhem, but also, in the case of CNN, referencing the 2012 Aurora, Colorado, theater shooting and even 9-11 in its coverage as feasible outcomes of screening the movie.

Americans nearly universally groaned at this capitulation – it’s not like us to hide from bullies – but there were defenders, too.

“They’ll never be able to protect [audiences],” said Mortimer Zuckerman, publisher of The New York Daily News and US News and World Report on the McLaughlin Group last week. Fortunately some 300 small theaters agreed to show the movie in time for the release date and Sony Pictures wisely made it available online at the same time.

It is the very essence of terrorism to upset a society’s way of life, economic and cultural, via violent intimidation, whether the threat is real or just perceived.

It’s not surprising that terrorism is gaining an upper hand in a world that gives a free pass to groups that embody it. Last month the European Union court ordered Hamas removed from the EU terrorist list for “procedural reasons.”

Never mind that US courts have found that in fact Hamas has been responsible for the murder of innocent people, or that it has turned Gaza into a rocket base to attack Israel from the moment it gained independence. International donors have raised $5.4 billion to rebuild the area from Israeli retaliation strikes last summer, and schools across the United Kingdom are joining a five-mile walkathon next week to raise money for rebuilding schools in Gaza.

One wonders how much will be ponied up for the rebuilding effort by the international Hamas supporters who paid for the rockets that soared into Israel and ignited the conflict.

Does the fact that the EU court is located in Belgium, now known as one of the most anti-Semitic locations in the EU, contribute to this “procedural reasoning” or is this part of an attempt to encourage inclusion of Hamas in the coming debate over a Palestinian state, along with the more reasonable Fatah wing of the Palestinian Authority? It was in Brussels, the de facto capital of the EU, that shouts of “Death to the Jews!” and “Gas the Jews!” were heard at pro-Palestinian rallies. As The New York Times reported, “ugly threats were surpassed by uglier violence” as a new wave of Antisemitism sweeps across Europe even as anti-Israel fervor grows. Recently, there was a deadly attack on a Jewish Museum in Brussels, a Jewish-owned pharmacy in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles was destroyed and a synagogue in Wuppertal, Germany was firebombed.

The plague of physical and economic terrorism will only worsen until we find a way to take a tough stand against its practitioners rather than kowtow to them or capitulate to their demands.

Evidently the world can’t even wait for the generation of Nazi victims to pass before moving on to the next wave of hate against the Jews. While world leaders gathered in Berlin last month for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s 10th annual conference on Antisemitism, some participants noted that it was largely a gathering of governments who either pay lip service to the issue, or are fully committed but simply lack the wherewithal to have a serious impact on the problem, as in the case of France.

The more “sophisticated” Jew haters at least make an attempt to mask their hate as political activism, utterly fixated on the policies and actions of the Jewish state (while yawning at the daily bloodshed in Syria and elsewhere). Their form of terrorism is also cloaked in faux respectability: a boycott campaign against Israeli academic institutions and companies. Never mind that one of the targeted companies, Sodastream, is a major source of stable unemployment for Palestinians, and Israeli universities are full of professors harshly critical of their own government.

The plague of physical and economic terrorism will only worsen until we find a way to take a tough stand against its practitioners rather than kowtow to them, whitewash them or capitulate to their demands.

I will leave it to experts to decide a strategy that is effective for deterrence. But the first step is easy. Call it what it is.

Originally Published: The Hill

Cosby Case Shows Need For More Victims’ Support

By: Eli Verschleiser

It is difficult, but not impossible to believe that the same man who was America’s favorite, funniest TV dad for eight years and served as a role model could be accused of horrible sexual trespasses over the course of his long life as a celebrity.

Nor, sadly, is it hard to accept the possibility since the end of his show in 1992, Bill Cosby spoke out publicly on responsibility and morality, while privately practicing neither.

Abusers can often be very affable and endearing leaders who espouse values they do not embody.

More surprising is the fact that Cosby, if he is guilty of these awful allegations has made it to this stage in his life without facing the consequences of his actions.

AP BILL COSBY A ENT USA PA

Disbelievers may say this increases the doubt – why would victims stay silent when the star was at the peak of his popularity, only to come after him in his sunset years?

But to those of us who are active in the victim advocacy community, the silence of years or decades or even a lifetime is all too common.

Only years after the death of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, leader of a major spiritual revival movement, did a group of women come forward with tales of improper physical contact.

In the armed forces in particular, women subjected to abuse sometimes wait until they or their abuser have left the service until reporting crimes. In religious communities, fear of ostracization or even consequence from God as a result of accusing a revered clergyman can keep secretes perpetually buried and imperil more people.

And sadly, it’s safe to assume that whether the setting is a college campus, a home, church or yeshiva, a large share of incidents and, possibly the majority, will never be reported at all. In all too many cases, a result can be suicide, as the victim can live no longer with the torment.

When people do find the admirable courage to speak out and accuse the powerful of abuse, there can be a cascade effect, as in the case of Rabbi Baruch Lanner, who for years terrorized children involved in a youth group he ran. When stories emerged in a Jewish newspaper, more victims came forward to press charges that sent the rabbi to jail. That’s what we are seeing in the Cosby case as decades-old walls of silence collapse.

Attorney Gloria Allred, representing some alleged victims, has challenged the comedian to waive the statute of limitations and allow one of the cases against him to tried in court to settle the question of guilt or innocence. But this is more theatrical than realistic.

It’s likely that Cosby will only be tried in the court of public opinion.

So, absent convictions, the best result that can come from this disturbing list of allegations against a beloved figure who may have hoodwinked America about his character is that more victims will feel safe coming forward --  for their own good and for the sake of protecting other potential victims.  To do that, it’s incumbent on society, courts, lawmakers and others to establish better conditions for them.

We must do away with the sense of futility associated with coming forward. If it takes someone years to find the courage, or if they come forward in the interests of protecting others, they should not be hampered by the statute of limitations.

Professor Marci Hamilton one of the United States’ leading church/state scholars has advocated for extending criminal and civil Statutes of limitation (SOLs ) which can vary widely, from two or three years to 30 (as in the case of Connecticut) or no limitations at all as Arkansas and Alaska. These new legislation trends should be encouraged by all.

Another answer is greater education that empowers victims to come forward by teaching them to speak out at an early age. Organizations like Lauren's Kids and Magenu.org educates adults and children about sexual abuse topics through in school curricula and speaking engagements around the country.

Erin’s law, championed by Erin Merryn, promotes legislation for prevention education from kindergarten through high schools.  It is now law in 19 states. A similar law should be passed at the federal level to include all educators in America.

We have come a long way since the days when Bill Cosby’s crimes are alleged to have taken place. Hopefully better awareness and more empowerment will mean fewer people falling prey to these kinds of crimes, but we must do everything we can to ensure that today’s victims won’t be confronting their accusers decades down the road, if they do so at all.

The Familiar Face of Terror, And Resolve

The blood shed from Nov. 18's massacre of 4 rabbis &
one Israeli  at a synagogue in Jerusalem. Photo: Twitter

By: Eli Verschleiser

Living in the Har Nof section of Jerusalem more than 20 years ago, I knew what terror was like. In those days, it was the Scud missiles of Saddam Hussein that brought fear, but also a lesson in faith, determination, and the simple resolve of people that want to live a peaceful life in their country at all costs.

Like other mostly American communities in the Jewish state, Har Nof has only grown tenfold, instead of families running back to the United States where a majority of these residents were born and raised. But as we saw last month, regardless of their desire to do nothing more than live, work, study and pray, there will still be those determined to deprive them of all of the above.

The horrific carnage that erupted inside a Har Nof synagogue on Nov. 19 reminded me of the old adage coined by Abba Eban that those who want to destroy Israel “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”

After gaining widespread sympathy during the Gaza war provoked by Hamas rockets last summer, those who embraced or justified this attack, and the vehicular homicides in Jerusalem that shortly preceded it, have brought back a familiar narrative: senseless targeting not of military forces controlling Palestinian areas but the soft underbelly of Israeli society, its women and children and rabbis at prayer who do not serve in the army.

Some have attempted to link the attacks to a so-called “dispute” over the holy Temple Mount and recent moves by some Jews to gain the right to openly pray there (as if this might justify the horrific gun and ax attack).

Since the very idea of this “dispute” is fiction – Prime Minister Netanyahu has rejected any notion of change in religious control of the site – the linkage is even more preposterous.

What’s more likely happening is that Arabs from east Jerusalem, who have free access to the rest of the city, are being prodded by Palestinian jihad groups to pick up the slack in terror attacks caused by the highly successful security barrier. The object of international scorn, this 430 mile fence has nevertheless drastically reduced homicide bombing infiltrations.

Now, instead of bombs we see attacks with cars and construction equipment or, stabbings and shootings.

These attacks are celebrated by some Palestinians, and a Hamas spokesman reacted to the Har Nof attack by saying “The new operation is heroic and a natural reaction to Zionist criminality against our people and our holy places. We have the full right to revenge for the blood of our martyrs in all possible means."

While Fatah Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, he made a desperate attempt at linkage by decrying in the same statement “incursions and provocations by settlers against the Aksa Mosque.”

In a bitter rebuke to Abbas and Israel’s international critics, Ambassador Ron Dermer on Nov. 24 decried the “fog [that] descends to cloud all logic and moral clarity [when the Israel-Palestinian conflict is discussed. ] The result isn’t realpolitik, its surrealpolitik.”

Supporters will claim that the absence of peace talks and harsh rhetoric from Israeli extremists fuel Palestinian rage and invite attacks such as the Har Nof atrocity.

It is clear that Jewish right-wingers do seem to strike great fear in the hearts of Palestinians and their supporters: Meir Kahane of the Kach Party and Rahavam Zeevi of Moledet, who advocated expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank, were assassinated by Arab gunmen in 1990 and 2001, and in October another tried unsuccessfully to kill Rabbi Yehudah Glick for his advocacy of Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.

But Palestinians know full well the Israeli mainstream is ready for peace and willing to make great sacrifices if they only had a partner that is willing, trustworthy and capable of delivering on promises of coexistence.

To see the likelihood of that, one need look to Gaza, handed over to 1.5 million Palestinians almost a decade ago in the best of hopes, with significant restrictions by Israel that would have surely been eased over time had trust been gained.

Like many people, I would love to one day have an opportunity to visit beach side resorts operated by the Palestinians in Gaza, on one of the most beautiful shores of the Mediterranean, in a state negotiated by the parties with the help of the US.

But the coastline that could have attracted throngs of tourists from Europe and international investment has instead become the object of intense Israeli blockades to keep out weapons shipments from Iran and other terror supporters.

Beautiful, innovative, productive greenhouses built by Jews were destroyed, as labor and creativity was put instead to the smuggling and firing of rockets. Concrete that could have built schools and hospitals above ground instead went to terror tunnels below.

There may well be a large segment of Palestinians who want peace, but they are continuously eclipsed by the more visible and deadly elements for whom the conflict is a nihilistic zero-sum game. In the absence of more attainable goals, killing Israelis is no longer a means to and end for them, but the end unto itself.

Life went on in Har Nof and the rest of Israel after the Scuds fell, and will go on after November’s massacre, and after every other vile murderous outrage that, God forbid, may come after it.

Each time, a lesson in faith and determination from a people who embrace life over death.

Originally Published: The Allgemeiner

Isolate and Contain

By: Eli Verschleiser

Which virus is a bigger threat to the lives of Americans? Ebola, or Islamic fanaticism?

Judging from recent news, both appear to be equally malicious. Almost simultaneously, officials here have been forced to react to a doctor who inadvertently imported Ebola to New York City from Africa, and an outbreak of so-called “lone wolf” terrorism by a jihadi sympathizer who took an ax to two police officers in Queens.

Fortunately in both cases, the threat was quickly contained. The doctor was brought to Belleview Hospital as soon as he became symptomatic and contagious, and the “lone wolf” was quickly put down by police bullets. He is not believed to have any known connections to organized terror groups.

But neither were any of those who engaged in terror attacks in the 13 years since 9/11: The would-be Newburgh bombers who plotted to attack Bronx synagogues, the attempted Times Square bomber and the Boston marathon bomb brothers are all believed to be sympathizers with Islamic terror rather than part of organized sleeper cells coordinating with al Qaeda or ISIS.

That means that like Ebola or other diseases, jihadi ideology can spread across the United States and infect deranged or socially disaffected people here, thus providing an effective way for ISIS and others to terrorize America without lifting a finger. And just as the administration’s reaction to Ebola, with its reluctance to consider travel bans, has been lacking, it has turned its back for too long on the danger posed from ISIS.

Authorities believe ISIS is actively encouraging lone wolf attacks. A law enforcement bulletin obtained by Fox News warned that ISIS uses social media to encourage sympathizers to find members of the armed forces and attack them (although a Homeland Security spokesman said there was no credible, specific threat.) A man in Oklahoma City charged with beheading a coworker reportedly had pictures of ISIS beheadings on his Facebook page.

“The Internet as well as certain specific Muslim extremists are really firing up this lone wolf phenomenon,” California Sen. Diane Feinstein recently said on CNN. “The multiplicity of [worldwide] attacks in 2014 shows that their propaganda is having some effect.”

Several Americans have been apprehended in the process of trying to join forces with ISIS, including three teenage Denver girls of Somali descent who were stopped in Frankfurt and a Chicago man who was arrested in O’Hare airport. Although the girls were not charged, authorities are probing their online contacts to see who might have been encouraging them. The 19-year-old man told authorizes he met a man online who directed him to fly to Istanbul and wait for further instructions, CNN reported. It also said he had pro-ISIS writings and illustrations in his Bolingbrook home.

Just as we are developing protocols to contain and control Ebola, so to we must take measures to monitor both the spread of jihad sympathy and any inroads ISIS may be making to extend its reach into America’s cities. As we head toward Midterm elections, Americans seem less concerned about being struck by a terror attack here than they are about exposure to Ebola, which by all medical accounts is extremely rare. Analytics from Google show Ebola is the more-searched term than ISIS, and a Pew Poll found that 36% of Americans are following the spread of Ebola, while 31% are following America’s strikes against ISIS.

The answer to both problems is the same: education. As doctors, public officials and the general public learn how Ebola spreads and how it can be contained, we must also look at “lone wolf” terrorism as an epidemic.

Speaking on “Meet The Press” Sunday, Michael Leiter, former director of the United States National Counter terrorism Center, said the only way to contain the spread of lone-wolf terror is to “ramp up our surveillance” to detect people who may “have a crisis in their life, are mentally ill and attach themselves to that ideology.” As in the Ebola crisis, he said, the risk is small, not an existential threat, but one we dare not underestimate.

We always hear about “increased chatter” from extremist groups before and after an event. We should be listening more often and more carefully, and we must continue to work with the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court to find ways to be diligent while respecting the privacy of innocent Americans.

The man shot dead by police after the Queens hatchet attack, Zale Thompson, had an online history that involved rants against America and visits to sites associated with terror groups.

Leiter noted that monitoring is not enough: Authorities and their operatives also need to be able to engage extremist forces through social media to mitigate their impact on others.

Based on what we learned in Dallas from the treatment of Ebola patient Eric Duncan, New York officials were able to learn a great deal that may have saved the lives of the first patient in New York, people with whom he came in contact, and the health care workers treating him.

We must take great care to take similar lessons of prevention and response whenever an outbreak of the pro-jihad virus occurs.

Originaly Published: The Huffington Post

Tough talk on ISIS is not enough

By: Eli Verschleiser

In late 1998, national security officials under President Bill Clinton mulled a strike deep into Afghanistan that may have taken out Osama bin Laden. In the end, Clinton decided the potential cost of hundreds of innocent lives was too high.

No one can be sure that such a strike would have eliminated the al Qaeda terror chief, let alone forestalled the 9/11 terror attack three years later that cost the lives of 2,977 people, most of them Americans.

But Clinton and his military chiefs at the time, some of whom warned that holding back was a mistake, will always have to wonder, as will we all.

Will we face the same kind of hindsight in the future if, God forbid, the savages of ISIS (or ISIL, as the US calls the radical terror group) are able to infiltrate our borders and carry out a large-scale attack here?

As we mark the 13th anniversary of the worst attack on America in history, Americans are worried about new carnage, with a recent NBC News poll finding that nearly half (47 percent) of respondents saying we are less safe now than before Sept. 11, 2001, up substantially from 28 percent last year and, amazingly, up from 20 percent just a year after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Another poll by NBC and the Wall Street Journal founds 61 percent of Americans, nearly two out of three, support increased military action against the Isis militants. No doubt they have been affected by videos showing mass executions in Syria, including children and the be-headings of American captives, and news of missing Libyan passenger jets likely commandeered by militants.

President Obama has an opportunity, and an obligation to reassure Americans. In his speech from the White House on Sept. 10, the president seemed to deviate between trivializing ISIS and beating the war drums. First he de-legitimized its religious roots, noting that it has harmed mostly other Muslims and emphasizing that ‘Islamic state’ is recognized by no government.

Then, sounding more like the Republican predecessor that invaded Iraq and Afghanistan than the domestic-minded Democrat who vowed to wind down those wars, Obama vowed that “America will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat” and warned that those who attempt to harm Americans “will find no safe haven.” This is an echo of the Bush doctrine that America will not distinguish between terrorists and the governments that harbor them.

Ultimately the speech showed the president at his most determined, promising to “degrade and destroy” the capability of the militants and recognizing that “small groups of killers have the capacity to do great harm.”

But are 475 new soldiers in Iraq on a non-combat mission, increased air strikes in Syria and more aid to the rebels fighting ISIS enough to accomplish those goals?

The president’s ability to take executive action as commander in chief is limited, and he needs strong support from both houses of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, to fully prosecute the mission of neutralizing Isis and its allies.

It’s not at all clear that he’ll get it from a war-weary and deeply partisan Congress. Many members will have to be convinced that arming rebels and minority groups resisting Isis – which is so extreme that al Qaeda distances itself -- is in our interest; others will fixate on blaming the president for failing to leave a sufficient interim force in Iraq, which could have stemmed the Isis tide, or failing to back the rebels in Syria in toppling Bashir Assad.

Others will simply urge sitting on our hands. Voters will be influenced by commentators who note that as bad as doing nothing sounds, acting ineffectively, or counter-productively, is worse.

“Maybe it’s time for America to stop taking the bait,” says Fox News host and commentator John Stossel. “Islamic militants do monstrous things all over the world. We cannot stop it all. Why do we assume that government doing something is always an improvement over government doing nothing?”

Stossel noted that Clinton launched Tomahawk missiles at Osama Bin Laden, missed and was mocked as a paper tiger.

But the problem with inaction vs. action is that the result in the former case is almost guaranteed: Isis will rise in popularity, adherents from all over the world, including the U.S., will continue traveling to the Middle East to join the fight or form terror cells in the West. The more we shirk away from our role as the world’s leading policeman against terror, the likelier the possibility we will live to regret it.

Originally Published: The Hill

Does Obama 'have the back' of our children, too?

By: Eli Verschleiser

President Barack Obama deserves credit for making the war against sexual assault on college campuses a top priority of his administration. In January, he created a task force of senior officials to coordinate federal enforcement efforts. And this month he created a government-run web site, notalone.gov, which will provide resources for students, help for victims and help track enforcement efforts.

Photo: D2L

“Perhaps most important, we need to keep saying to anyone out there that has ever been assaulted: you are not alone,” said President Obama. “We have your back. I’ve got your back."

It’s time for the White House to show it also has the back of children who undergo the horror of sexual abuse, by taking real action.

The White House Council on Women and Girls was created in response to members of Congress repeatedly sounding appropriate alarms about sexual assaults, mostly against women, in the military and on college campuses, leading to the president’s stronger posture.

What grassroots group is applying similar pressure to stamp out the scourge of children who are abused by relatives, teachers, authority figures and others to whom they have difficulty saying no, or reporting to their parents or police after they are victimized?

Consider the following:

• 1 in four girls and 1 in six boys under the age of are sexually violated before age 18.

• Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children.

• The United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations – losing on average between four and seven children every day to child abuse and neglect.

• More than 90 percent of juvenile sexual abuse victims know their perpetrator in some way. 

I know the president takes these matters very seriously. He declared April National Child Abuse Prevention Month, vowing that “We all have a role to play in preventing child abuse and neglect and in helping young victims recover,” and encouraging Americans to look for warning signs such as changes in behavior and performance, untreated physical or medical issues, lack of adult supervision, and constant alertness.

Resources are also available on the Administration for Children and Families’ web site.

But just as it was important to up the ante against date rape or assaults in the military, it’s past time for tougher action, on both the federal and state level against the abuse of the weakest segment of our society. The president could start by calling on states to take a tougher stand and meet established federal benchmarks in fighting abuse.

The White House could hold state governments accountable by tying federal education funding to their efforts, commitment to and progress toward anti-abuse awareness programs.

The federal government could also mandate education both for teachers and students in abuse awareness and prevention, the same way they do to establish standards in math, science and other disciplines.

Another measure that could be implemented on the federal level would be mandating that “sexual predator” is stamped on the driver’s licenses of convicted offenders via the REAL ID act, similar to a recent provision in the state of Florida. Florida’s bundle of exemplary new laws make it the harshest in the country for sexual predators.

According to the Sun-Sentinel in south Florida -- which conducted an investigation by mining records in state databases, police reports and court documents -- nearly one quarter of sex offenders attacked again within six months of being released.

And these numbers do not include people living in Florida convicted in other states or federal court and those arrested but still awaiting trial for new sex crimes. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS,) in a study released in 2003 claims that compared to non-sex offenders released from state prisons, released sex offenders were four times more likely to be rearrested for a sex crime.

“One person re-offending when you have innocent victims is too many,’’ said Lauren Book, founder of Lauren's Kids, which advocates for victims of childhood sexual abuse and is an ardent supporter of Florida’s civil commitment efforts.

"These are children. And so I fight every day to make it so that these monsters, these sexually deviant behaving individuals are as far away from our children as humanly possible,” she said.

Isn’t the ability to quickly identify unsafe situations, loudly and clearly say “No!” to a potential abuser and/or quickly tell a trusted adult about the abuse of equal importance to our children’s future as the mastery of scholastic skills? Even more so, when we consider that children who suffer abuse will often not only fall behind academically but are more prone to dysfunctional or even criminal behavior as adults, including the abuse of others.

I hope Obama will go beyond awareness months and speeches and begin to treat sexual and other forms or abuse against children as the public health hazard that it is.

Originally Published: The Hill