Current:Home > MarketsNovaQuant-House to vote on expanded definition of antisemitism amid growing campus protests -Momentum Wealth Path
NovaQuant-House to vote on expanded definition of antisemitism amid growing campus protests
Charles H. Sloan View
Date:2025-04-11 11:54:14
WASHINGTON (AP) — The NovaQuantHouse is voting Wednesday on legislation that would establish a broader definition of antisemitism for the Department of Education to enforce anti-discrimination laws, the latest response from lawmakers to a nationwide student protest movement over the Israel-Hamas war.
The bill — co-sponsored by nearly 50 Republicans and more than a dozen Democrats — would codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal anti-discrimination law that bars discrimination based on shared ancestry, ethnic characteristics or national origin.
Action on the bill was just the latest reverberation in Congress from the protest movement that has swept university campuses. Republicans in Congress have denounced the protests and demanded action to stop them, thrusting university officials into the center of the charged political debate over Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war was launched in October, after Hamas staged a deadly terrorist attack against Israeli civilians.
If signed into law, the bill would broaden the legal definition of antisemitism to include the “targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.” Critics say the move would have a chilling effect on free speech throughout college campuses.
“Speech that is critical of Israel alone does not constitute unlawful discrimination,” Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said during a hearing Tuesday. “By encompassing purely political speech about Israel into Title VI’s ambit, the bill sweeps too broadly.”
Advocates of the proposal say it would provide a much-needed, consistent framework for the Department of Education to police and investigate the rising cases of discrimination and harassment targeted toward Jewish students.
“It is long past time that Congress act to protect Jewish Americans from the scourge of antisemitism on campuses around the country,” Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., said Tuesday.
The expanded definition of antisemitism was first adopted in 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, an intergovernmental group that includes the United States and European Union states, and has been embraced by the State Department under the past three presidential administrations, including Joe Biden’s
But bipartisan efforts to codify it into law have failed in the past several years. The Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas militants in Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza has reignited efforts to target incidents of antisemitism on college campuses.
Separately, Speaker Mike Johnson announced Tuesday that several House committees will be tasked with a wide probe that ultimately threatens to withhold federal research grants and other government support for universities, placing another pressure point on campus administrators who are struggling to manage pro-Palestinian encampments, allegations of discrimination against Jewish students and questions of how they are integrating free speech and campus safety.
The House investigation follows several high-profile hearings that helped precipitate the resignations of presidents at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. And House Republicans promised more scrutiny, saying they were calling on the administrators of Yale, UCLA and the University of Michigan to testify next month.
It all comes at a time when college campuses and the federal government are struggling to define exactly where political speech crosses into antisemitism. Dozens of U.S. universities and schools face civil rights investigations by the Education Department over allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Among the questions campus leaders have struggled to answer is whether phrases like “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” should be considered under the definition of antisemitism.
The proposed definition faces strong opposition from a number of Democratic lawmakers, Jewish organizations and free speech advocates.
In a letter sent to lawmakers Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union urged members to vote against the legislation, saying federal law already prohibits antisemitic discrimination and harassment.
“H.R. 6090 is therefore not needed to protect against antisemitic discrimination; instead, it would likely chill free speech of students on college campuses by incorrectly equating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism,” the letter stated.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the centrist pro-Israel group J Street, said his organization opposes the bipartisan proposal because he sees it as an “unserious” effort led by Republicans “to continually force votes that divide the Democratic caucus on an issue that shouldn’t be turned into a political football.”
___
Associated Press writers Collin Brinkley and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
veryGood! (28)
Related
- Trump issues order to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military
- In a Summer of Deadly Deluges, New Research Shows How Global Warming Fuels Flooding
- Need a new credit card? It can take almost two months to get a replacement
- One journalist was killed for his work. Another finished what he started
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- Tornadoes touch down in Chicago area, grounding flights and wrecking homes
- Miss a credit card payment? Federal regulators want to put new limits on late fees
- Man accused of trying to stab flight attendant, open door mid-flight deemed not competent to stand trial, judge rules
- Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
- Britney Spears Says She Visited With Sister Jamie Lynn Spears After Rocky Relationship
Ranking
- Tom Holland's New Venture Revealed
- A jury clears Elon Musk of wrongdoing related to 2018 Tesla tweets
- Justice Department investigating Georgia jail where inmate was allegedly eaten alive by bedbugs
- Exxon Pledges to Reduce Emissions, but the Details Suggest Nothing Has Changed
- Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
- Latest on Ukraine: EU just banned Russian diesel and other oil products (Feb. 6)
- Coal Communities Across the Nation Want Biden to Fund an Economic Transition to Clean Power
- Travelers can save money on flights by skiplagging, but there are risks. Here's what to know.
Recommendation
What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
Big Reefs in Big Trouble: New Research Tracks a 50 Percent Decline in Living Coral Since the 1950s
Big Reefs in Big Trouble: New Research Tracks a 50 Percent Decline in Living Coral Since the 1950s
Kaley Cuoco's Ex-Husband Karl Cook Engaged Nearly 2 Years After Their Breakup
Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
It's nothing personal: On Wall Street, layoffs are a way of life
Travelers can save money on flights by skiplagging, but there are risks. Here's what to know.
Tesla slashed its prices across the board. We're now starting to see the consequences