Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bipartisan bill, the Antisemitism Awareness Act, to ensure that we are standing up to the Jew hatred that is spreading like wildfire on campuses across our country. I am proud to lead this legislation with my friend and fellow Problem Solvers Caucus member, Congressman Mike Lawler from New York.

As we are voting today in real time, our country's universities are experiencing a tidal wave of anti-Semitism. Protesters have targeted Jewish students, haranguing them with awful Jew-hating insults and cheering on Hamas, a barbaric, foreign terrorist organization that murdered Americans on October 7 and still hold five living Americans hostage, including my constituent, Edan Alexander. I met with hostage families just this morning.

I saw these protests up close, like many Americans did, at Columbia earlier this month. I have heard the sickening Jew-hating, anti-Semitic comments comparing Zionists to Nazis, promising a redux of October 7 a thousand times over, and calling for ``resistance by any means necessary'' and intifada revolution. Intifada is used to call for a violent uprising against Israel and Jewish people.

These protests embolden Hamas, America's enemy and Iranian-backed terrorist. In fact, they have put out a statement lauding professors as the leaders of the future. That is what our enemies said about the pro- Hamas protesters at these universities.

Let me clear up any confusion since I am a huge champion myself of free speech. This bill protects the First Amendment. It allows criticism of Israel. I ensured that. It was critical to me. It doesn't allow calls for the destruction or elimination of the Jewish state, but it certainly allows criticism of Israel.

Even more, it reminds us that our universities have a title VI obligation to stamp out harassment on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

Mr. Speaker, we cannot stand idly by as protesters call for the death of Jews on college campuses and across the country. This bill will require the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance or IHRA definition of anti-Semitism when carrying out title VI investigations.

IHRA's anti-Semitism definition is the most widely recognized in the world. It is used by 36 countries. It condemns traditional hatred and the ugly, modern anti-Semitism that we are seeing on college campuses.

There shouldn't be anything controversial about this bill. As was mentioned when it was first introduced in 2018, 50 Democrats and Republicans cosponsored this legislation, including Members who are still in this body.

Right now, the Department of Education has 137 active title VI investigations, some of which have been open for years.

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Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Mr. Speaker, the bill will give investigators a clear framework to evaluate anti-Semitism and finally hold harassers accountable.

Don't just take my word for it. Thirty of our Nation's leading Jewish groups back this bill. Under the last three administrations, the State Department has used the IHRA definition to monitor anti-Semitism worldwide. This bill takes a commonsense step to formalize the IHRA definition for our education systems. Again, three administrations accepted this definition of anti-Semitism.

When I was at Columbia University last week, I told the administrators that we need deeds, not words to protect Jewish students.

Mr. Speaker, I am making the same ask of my colleagues. This bill is a critical step we can take to stand against hate. I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join us in supporting this legislation and stand strong against anti-Semitism with no excuses, no claims of commas that they don't like. Standing strong today against hate and anti-Semitism is what our country should stand for.

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