A House resolution denounces antisemitism. Here’s why some Jewish members voted ‘present’
More than 90 Democrats, at the urging of senior Jewish House members, voted ‘present’ to protest what they called the GOP’s ‘political games’ on the issue
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Jacob Kornbluh December 5, 2023
Ninety-two House Democrats, including leading Jewish members, protested the wording of a House resolution decrying antisemitism Tuesday because it equated anti-Zionism with antisemitism. The group voted “present.”
The resolution, which condemned the dramatic surge in antisemitism since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, passed on a bipartisan vote, 311-14.
Authored by the House’s two Jewish Republicans, Reps. David Kustoff of Tennesse and Max Miller of Ohio, the nonbinding resolution embraced the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. Some Jewish advocacy groups and progressives have said the IHRA definition stifles legitimate criticism of Israel. But even IHRA allows that some anti-Zionism is not antisemitic. Yet the resolution states that the House: “clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”
In a statement ahead of the vote, Reps. Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman, both New York Democrats, and Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, accused the authors of playing “political games” with antisemitism by adopting a definition that is disputed even within the Jewish community.
“The threat of antisemitism and the safety of Jewish lives is not a game,” the group said. “It is beneath the dignity of Congress and it is an affront to Jews everywhere to treat rising antisemitism as an opportunity to create partisan division with conceptual confusion.”
Jewish Democrats introduced their own resolution, calling for the full implementation of the Biden administration’s national strategy to counter antisemitism, which was released in May. That plan did not adopt a sole working definition of antisemitism, but referred to the IRHA and other definitions that set a somewhat higher bar for deeming anti-Israel criticism as antisemitic.
In a House floor speech on Monday, Nadler also noted that the GOP resolution does not account for the views of some Haredi communities, like the Hasidic Satmar sect in New York, which remains staunchly opposed to the creation of a Jewish state in Israel until the Messiah comes. “I assure you, the Satmar Chasidic Jews are certainly not antisemitic,” Nadler said.
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