The Red Wave that failed to sweep the 2020 Presidential Election did have a handful of wins, including the ascension to power of Rep. Mike Lawler in the Hudson Valley. Lawler has been an outspoken voice within the GOP, and I had the honor to hear him speak with complete determination on the failures in education that cultivate antisemitism, and in support of our pro-Israel and overall Jewish values.
October 7 gave those with inbred hatred towards Jews the ability to drop the veil that once hid these sentiments. Now, seven months later, this animosity is most vivid across the nation on the campuses of our country’s Ivy League universities. Lawler’s bill directs the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism when enforcing Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by investigating possible antisemitic actions on campus that are labeled as discrimination based on race and national origin, a practice already in place in the current 137 open complaints amongst various ethnic groups. “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” reads the definition, using such examples like calls for the killing or harming of Jews in the name of radical ideology, making stereotypical allegations about Jews, denying the Holocaust, comparing Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, or holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel. It states that antisemitism includes denying Jewish self-determination to their ancestral homeland of Israel and applying double standards to Israel.
The bipartisan U.S. House of Representatives passage of the Antisemitism Awareness Act (H.R. 6090), by a vote of 320-91 (including 133 Democrats and 187 Republicans in favor; 70 Democrats and 21 Republicans against), codifies a broad definition of antisemitism into federal laws, bringing overdue protection to collegiate Jewish students. Congress, taking to heart feelings held by an overwhelming majority of Americans, set an example by combatting rancorous antisemitism. It is high time that those standing at the helm of higher educational institutions receive the message that out-of-line demonstrations are a violation of federal law demanding stern enforcement to protect civil rights rules.
New Jersey Congress Member Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat, was a proud cosponsor. However, much shame once again befalls Jewish Rep. Jerry Nadler, who voted nay, calling the definition so broad that it would threaten constitutionally protected free speech and that it cannot only target speech “critical of Israel alone.” Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz voted against solely because of the anti-Christian notion that “symbols and images” like “claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel” are used by the definition to describe Israel or Israelis. The House’s Education and Workforce Committee is set to meet May 23, where reps from Michigan, UCLA, and Yale will have to explain their handling of ongoing pro-Hamas demonstrations.
On April 25, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York joined 29 colleagues, led by Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, to introduce the bill on the floor of the Senate portraying the rise in antisemitism as “unacceptable” as “no student should ever be the victim of antisemitic discrimination,” where according to Scott the environments “have become hotbeds of antisemitism.” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, America’s highest-ever ranking Jewish official, seems to be unaware of his New York counterpart’s actions, as he avoided confirming if the Senate would even take up a vote on the matter. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies displayed dismay with House Speaker Mike Johnson for not putting up to vote the bipartisan Countering Antisemitism Act aimed to create a dedicated White House coordinator purposed with advising the president on countering domestic antisemitism and implement a coordinated 100-step strategy to quell Jew-hate. For oversight and amendments to implementation, Congress would also receive a report from federal agencies on the plan’s success. Also, the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and National Counterterrorism Center would form a yearly threat assessment of violent extremism against Jews. The highly regarded Nonprofit Security Grant Program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency would be allotted sufficient resources and personnel for grants that provide physical security enhancements to houses of worship, community centers, and nonprofit organizations. Furthermore, Jewish American Heritage Month would be the federal name for the month of May.
Agudah, OU Advocacy, StandWithUs, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Hadassah, ZOA, Israeli-American Council, Jewish Federations of North America, AJC, and ADL all support this legislation.
CyberWell, an innovative tech nonprofit focused on monitoring and combating the spread of antisemitism on social media, uses the definition to report Jewish hate to platform moderators. Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor, Founder and Executive Director, points to the use of precise definitions that has led to her success stressing that a concrete policy to fight antisemitism without a working definition is just “rhetoric,” noting that this “consensus definition of anti-Jewish phobia and bias that is integrated as a point of reference into the community standards of many social media platforms” must be formalized for enhanced “effective enforcement and action against a growing wave of hate and hostility against the Jewish community on a broader scale.”
A November House hearing attended by OU EVP Rabbi Moshe Hauer; Kenneth Marcus, Esq., Founder and Chairman of the Brandeis Center; and Sahar Tartak, a Jewish student at Yale University, provided raw detail on the widespread antisemitism that festers in all levels of universities.
“We believed that the United States of America, built as it is on the principles of liberty and freedom and civil rights, would never spit us out. Tolerance once made America a shining city on the hill for the rest of the world. In the absence of tolerance on campus, American universities live in the shadow cast by ideologies of hatred and fear,” were Rabbi Hauer’s words.
Please take a moment to thank Sen. Gillibrand and Congress Members Meeks and Meng, who deserve to hear our appreciation as we wait on the Senate to follow suit. Always remember that the expression of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist feelings – including peaceful protest of Israel – is itself antisemitic, because the concept of Eretz Yisrael as a Jewish homeland is a core tenet of Judaism.
By Shabsie Saphirstein
