JNS
“There is no reason why this should not be the law of the land,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a lead sponsor of the bill. “It’s time that everyone understood—and there is no confusion—what antisemitism is.”
Legislation to beef up efforts to combat Jew-hatred got a new lease on life Wednesday when a bipartisan group of U.S. House members reintroduced the Antisemitism Awareness Act.
The legislation, which requires the U.S. Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, passed the House overwhelmingly in the last Congress but never came up for a vote in the Senate. U.S. Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) are introducing the same measure in their chamber.
A spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Jewish Insider on Wednesday that he will also co-sponsor the Senate bill.
“There is no reason why this should not be the law of the land,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a lead sponsor of the bill. “It’s time that everyone understood—and there is no confusion—what antisemitism is.”
The contemporary examples appended to the IHRA definition include applying double standards to Israel, blaming all Jews for Israeli actions and denying Jews self-determination in their ancestral homeland.
Since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel, antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed, especially on college campuses. The Anti-Defamation League recorded at least 1,200 antisemitic incidents on campuses through Sept. 24, 2024, and more than 10,000 incidents of Jew-hatred in the United States in the first year since Oct. 7.
In an ADL survey of Jewish college students released last week, 83.2% said they have experienced or have seen some form of antisemitism since the attacks, 27.3 % said that faculty members have engaged in antisemitic activity and 66.2% said they did not have confidence in their school’s ability to prevent antisemitic incidents.
“We will fight like hell to get this across the finish line,” said another sponsor, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.). “We will ensure that Jewish students are protected on college campuses going forward.”
Gottheimer and Lawler were joined by several co-sponsors of the bill from both parties, as well as representatives of several Jewish and Christian organizations.
“College campuses should be safe havens for learning, not nests of hatred,” said Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio).
And Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) said the legislation was needed because “universities across the country failed Jewish students.”
Supporters said that passing such a bill will allow students to go to administrators and show them how specific incidents are antisemitic under the law and require them to take action to address them.
“What we have to do is focus on what works,” said Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America. “This bill is one of the things we know that works and it will make a difference.”
The Orthodox Union Advocacy Center also praised the introduction of the bill. “At a time of unchecked antisemitism, it is critical that Congress act to protect the American Jewish community, and passing the Antisemitism Awareness Act is a very important step in doing so,” stated Nathan Diament, executive director of OU Advocacy. “We urge Congress to act swiftly, pass this bill and send it to President Trump for his signature.”
Former President Joe Biden expanded the use of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act to cover bias towards Jews, saying in September 2023 that the government would interpret Title VI of the act as banning “discrimination on the basis of shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, including certain forms of antisemitism, Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination” in federally funded programs and activities.
In one of his first actions after returning to the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring that the United States would “combat antisemitism vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.”
And his Justice Department said on Monday that it had formed a multi-agency task force to respond to antisemitic activity.
