Back From Israel, Rep. Brad Schneider Addresses Hate At Home

DEERFIELD, IL — Rep. Brad Schneider reported back to constituents at a Deerfield synagogue on his experience during trip to Israel earlier this month with several other first-year members of congress. Speaking at Congregation B'nai Tikvah Wednesday, Schneider said the trip was funded by a branch of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Pioneer Press reported

Schneider said the situation in Israel has deteriorated since his last visit, a 2013 trip with constituents, according to the paper. He said ISIS has "an enclave" near Israel's border with Lebanon and Syria. The 10th District congressman also said the Syrian Civil War requires a political solution from which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should be excluded.

While the event was ostensibly about the current situation in the Middle East, Schneider was also asked about increasing levels of anti-Semitism in the United States, according to the paper. He said he has not had to deal with any discrimination in his time as a Congressman.

"In my life I have experienced very little [anti-Semitism]," Schneider said. "What we saw in Charlottesville I've never seen before." Schneider promised to speak out at every opportunity to send a message against hate and partisan anger, Pioneer Press reported.

Schneider is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and has another trip abroad planned before Congress's summer recess ends. According to the Highland Park News, he will head to South Korea with two other members of the committee at the end of the month.

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_{Top photo: Rep. Brad Schneider | Jonah Meadows}