House to vote on antisemitism bill amid campus arrests

The House is set to vote Wednesday on an antisemitism bill as pro-Palestinian protests roil colleges throughout the country.

The bill, titled the Antisemitism Awareness Act, would mandate that the Education Department adopt the broad definition of antisemitism used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, an intergovernmental group, to enforce anti-discrimination laws.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., introduced the bipartisan legislation, which has backing from Democratic moderates who are supporters of Israel amid the country’s war with Hamas.

In a letter Monday to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., wrote “there is nothing scheduled on the floor this week that would accomplish the concrete, thoughtful strategies outlined by the Biden administration” to combat antisemitism.

Jeffries instead demanded a vote on the bipartisan Countering Antisemitism Act, which aims to address concerns over rising antisemitism through the appointment of a new adviser to the president who would be dedicated to implementing its coordinated strategy to counter antisemitism.

“The effort to crush antisemitism and hatred in any form is not a Democratic or Republican issue,” Jeffries wrote. “It’s an American issue that must be addressed in a bipartisan manner with the fierce urgency of now.” 

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters on Tuesday that she won’t support the antisemitism bill and argued that Republicans are weaponizing antisemitism.

She argued the bill led by Lawler is “doing real harm to the issue of antisemitism, which I feel very strongly about.”

“We all have to continue to speak out against antisemitism and be clear that we don’t like — we will not tolerate antisemitism any more than we tolerate Islamophobia or any of the other hatreds and discriminations that are out there,” she said. “And I think, unfortunately, what Republicans seem to be doing is bringing forward things that they hope will divide us.”

Jayapal also argued that the bill also “has a definition that is so broad” that many Jewish groups do not support it.

“So why would you do that? Except if you want to weaponize antisemitism, and you want to use it as a political ploy,” she said. “Let’s remember that many of these Republicans didn’t say a word when Donald Trump and others in Charlottesville other places were saying truly antisemitic things.”

The bill comes as Republicans seek to launch investigations into antisemitism on college campuses in response to the pro-Palestinian protests.