Defending and promoting the wellspring right of freedom of religion, conscience, and belief - including combatting the scourge of antisemitism

• Since 2021, Foundation President Katrina Lantos Swett has served as the Co-Chair of the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit, held in Washington, DC, alongside Ambassador Sam Brownback, the former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. We have partnered with dozens of religious freedom groups, human rights organizations and faith communities on this bipartisan event that convenes more than a thousand advocates, activists and members of civil society – representing more than 30 faith traditions – to focus the broader IRF community on collective action. In 2023, the IRF Summit shifted dates and locations to coincide with the prestigious National Prayer Breakfast. In her role as Summit Co-Chair, Katrina Lantos Swett speaks out on numerous issues related to freedom of religion, conscience, and belief, and she has become what many consider the leading voice on the left for this fundamental human right.

• We inaugurated the Solidarity Sabbath initiative in 2015, and the first annual event saw world leaders from 24 countries, including then-President Barack Obama, come together on a single day to express their support for combating antisemitism in Europe and North America. From 2015 to 2021, the Solidarity Sabbath highlighted the plight of persecuted religions or prisoners of conscience around the world, including the Uyghurs of Xinjiang, China. Congressman Lantos was among the first American leaders to speak out on behalf of the Uyghur people, and the Lantos Foundation has continued his advocacy, taking up this cause well before it became an internationally recognized human rights issue. The Solidarity Sabbath initiative also used digital platforms and technology to carry its messages to a global audience through a podcast series and virtual film screening.

• As the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress, Tom Lantos was a uniquely compelling and respected voice on combating the ancient and pernicious evil of antisemitism. We have carried on his legacy of fighting against this scourge by partnering with the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) in 2008 to establish the Tom Lantos Archives on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial. The Archives serve as the repository for MEMRI’s Antisemitism Documentation Project, which keeps a record of antisemitism and Holocaust denial in every form of media throughout the Middle East and beyond. The project also focuses on brave individuals in the Arab and Muslim world who courageously speak out against antisemitism and Holocaust denial. It has become the preeminent source of information on the global upsurge in antisemitism and is regularly used as a primary source for legislators, policymakers and researchers around the world. With the rise of internet-based hate and incitement, we have worked to uncover the threat posed by these digital “highways of hate”. In 2019, we partnered with MEMRI to release the report “The Hater Next Door: Online Incitement Against Minorities in America”. It exposes the horrifying extent and nature of online hatred and incitement in the United States against minority communities including Jews, People of Color, members of the LGBTQ community and others. MEMRI’s vital research helps inform government, militaries, intelligence agencies, law enforcement and legislatures across the 50 states and throughout the world.

• In 2013, we partnered with the Budapest-based Tom Lantos Institute to convene a two-day Conference on Jewish Life and Antisemitism in Contemporary Europe. This event, which was sponsored by the Hungarian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, sought to address the alarming resurgence of antisemitism in Europe, including in Hungary, and to explore positive and hopeful aspects of present-day Jewish life. During the conference, Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Administration and Justice Tibor Navracsics delivered groundbreaking remarks in which he acknowledged the role of the Hungarian government and Hungarians, themselves, in carrying out Hitler’s “Final Solution” in Hungary. At our invitation, Yair Lapid (14th Prime Minister of Israel) addressed the conference. Attendees came from 40 countries worldwide.

• We work with state legislators, local community groups and major national organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to advocate for the adoption of state legislation on Holocaust remembrance and education, including legislation passed in the Foundation’s home state of New Hampshire in 2020. We continue to work to ensure that such legislation exists in all 50 states and to encourage schools to include Holocaust education in their curriculum.