{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415197", "Jewish Insider article on letter from co-chairs of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism'After Sydney Hanukkah massacre, House lawmakers urge Australia to act to protect Jewish community'", "2025-12-16", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "By Marc Rod\n\nPublished December 16, 2025\n\nThe co-chairs of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism are urging Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to act more forcefully to protect Australia\u2019s Jewish community and implement months-old recommendations from the country\u2019s antisemitism envoy.\n\nIn a letter to Albanese sent Monday, the ten lawmakers said that the attack, which killed at least 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration, \u201ccomes in the wake of the Australian Jewish community repeatedly raising the alarm and urging swift action to counter the spread of unchecked antisemitic rhetoric and demonstrations occurring in Australia for far too long.\u201d\n\nThe lawmakers said that there have been repeated \u201cwarning signs,\u201d including firebombings of synagogues, graffiti, assaults and threats of violence, which \u201chave now led to a tragic reality.\u201d\n\nAustralian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a press conference in Canberra on August 11, 2025.\n\nThey noted that Jillian Segal, the Australian special envoy to combat antisemitism, released 49 recommendations to be implemented across a range of institutions in July, and questioned what the Australian government has done to enact that plan and how it will protect the Jewish community going forward.\n\nThe lawmakers called on Albanese to \u201cmove swiftly and decisively\u201d to implement those recommendations.\n\n\u201cWhile we appreciate Australia joining the Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism led by the United States, we urge your government to implement and actively utilize this document and its recommendations within,\u201d the letter continues. \u201cWe also encourage you to further insulate Australia from malign foreign influence, like that of Iran and possibly others, which has been found to be supporting antisemitic attacks in Australia.\u201d\n\nThe letter states that Australia\u2019s designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp as a terrorist organization \u201cis an important first step, but it cannot be the last step if Australia is to address the antisemitism brewing at home while also thwarting collusion from abroad.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415197"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9187981486320496, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}