Senate moves to pass contentious antisemitism bill targeting anti-Israel activity on campuses
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer added the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act as an amendment to the defense spending bill
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Nov. 13, 2024. Photo by Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh November 15, 2024
The Senate is set to advance a bipartisan, but contentious, bill aimed at addressing rising antisemitism on colleges and universities in the coming weeks during the lame-duck session, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Friday.
The Antisemitism Awareness Act, passed in the House in May by an overwhelming majority of 320-91, would require the Department of Education to use the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism — which classifies most anti-Zionism as antisemitic — when investigating allegations of discrimination. Some top Democrats and Jewish advocacy groups objected to the bill, worrying it could suppress constitutionally protected free speech on campuses and stifle legitimate criticism of Israel.
“As he always said he would,” Angelo Roefaro, a Schumer spokesperson said, the Democratic leader offered on Thursday to add the legislation to the National Defense Authorization Act – which must pass by year’s end – in his negotiations with congressional leaders. “The GOP is taking a look at his request,” Roefaro said.
The Senate had not scheduled a vote for the Antisemitism Awareness Act due to ongoing discussions between Republicans and Democrats about the best route for passage. Schumer also faced resistance from some in his caucus. Democrats suggested prioritizing another bipartisan bill, called the Countering Antisemitism Act, which would implement the outgoing Biden administration’s national strategy to counter antisemitism and does not endorse a single definition. But that never came up for a House vote.
Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York who introduced the Antisemitism Awareness Act, welcomed the development and said Schumer finally “succumbed to pressure” from mainstream Jewish groups and members of Congress to move the bill forward. “Jewish students cannot afford to wait any longer for their safety to be protected on campus,” Lawler said. “It is long past time to get the Antisemitism Awareness Act across the finish line.”
The Florence Avenue Initiative, an anonymous group, spent millions of dollars over the summer on an advertising campaign blasting Schumer for failing to bring the Antisemitism Awareness Act to a vote.
In remarks on the Senate Floor on Wednesday, Schumer said, “Universities are supposed to be places where people can learn and grow and argue in peace and security. No student – or staff or faculty member — should ever have to worry about looking over their shoulder walking through campus.”
The adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism has been a point of contention in the Jewish community in recent years. Mainstream American Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents, lobbied for support of the GOP-led bill.
Kevin Rachlin, the Washington director of the Nexus Leadership Project, a group promoting a different definition — which states that most criticism of Israel and Zionism is not antisemitic, provided that Israel is not treated differently solely because it is a Jewish state — said there’s concern that the Antisemitism Awareness Act, if signed into law, will give the Trump administration additional powers to “delegitimize political opponents, defund them and attack them using the institutions of government.”
JTA contributed to this report.
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