The Antisemitism Awareness Act has been dead before, but this time it might take.
Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul teamed up to add poison pills to the bill that adopts the Jewish community’s consensus definition of anti-Semitism to fight Jew-hatred. But they did so in different ways, representing the two types of opposition to the bill.
Sanders’ strategy, to his credit, is the more effective one. If the bill finally dies of a thousand cuts, Sanders’ will have been the ones that hit an artery.
The bill, to review, streamlines the government’s use of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, which has been the topic of extended debate because it makes it harder to discriminate against Jews by smuggling in that discrimination under the false pretense of “anti-Zionism.” Essentially, those who oppose this bill tend to fall into the “Civil War wasn’t about slavery it was just about states’ rights” category of political actor.
To be clear, the use of the definition of anti-Semitism from a policy perspective is merely to clarify whether active discrimination is motivated by bigotry; the bill obviously doesn’t “criminalize” speech or anything else. Schools on the hot seat for violating the civil rights of Jews on campus, for example, need guidance on what constitutes anti-Semitism in the first place. This is that.
Sanders, however, has taken criticism of the bill to new levels by doing more than just lying about what the bill actually does. The text of his amendment actually includes literal Hamas propaganda in demanding the right (already protected under the bill) to “oppose Benjamin Netanyahu’s led war effort, which has killed more than 50,000 and wounded more than 113,000, 60 percent of whom are women and children.”
These numbers have been repeatedly debunked, most recently by Hamas itself, which has acknowledged that natural deaths (i.e. people who Hamas admits weren’t killed by Israel) are on the Hamas list of casualties. Obviously Congress cannot and will not enshrine in its legislation proven falsehoods designed to aid the enemy force currently keeping Americans hostage after massacring U.S. citizens. Sanders knows this. He just wants to demand anti-Israel propaganda be put on the congressional record, and he doesn’t care that it is also a full-out assault on the integrity of the United States Senate.
Sanders’ stunt is a good example of a poison pill: It’s not a controversial amendment; it’s an amendment the bill cannot survive and was intentionally put forth for that reason. And it might succeed.
Rand Paul’s attempt at scaremongering this legislation out of contention took a different form: He ranted like a mental patient.
“This bill would subject to punishment speech claiming that Jews killed Jesus,” Paul said, repeating a popular white nationalist talking point. He explained that the Gospels blame Jews for killing Jesus and therefore—and here he offered a solid candidate for the craziest thing ever said in Congress—“you’re no longer allowed to read John 18 and 19.”
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to have Mel Gibson as a senator, wonder no more.
He then, according to JTA, “entered into the record a list of the names of 400 Jewish American comedians who he said have referred to Jews in stereotypical language, and who he says may be targeted by the bill.”
First the Jews killed Jesus and then comedy itself. What’s next, board games? Ice cream? Matching socks?
The truth is, while the falsities about the bill have numerous champions, the reality of the legislation has no such champions. Chuck Schumer was the first to bury this bill when he had the chance to pass it as Senate majority leader. The Anti-Defamation League supports the bill but seems to have given up on any serious advocacy for it.
Unless something changes, the bill will likely exist in a permanent state of limbo. There will always be discussions, negotiations, and other language full of possibility. But such statements will get harder and harder to believe, until the bill is eventually forgotten entirely.
