Speaker Johnson needs to bring this up for a vote quickly. Or, if we want to blow the Democrats up, do it as the election approaches to scuttle the chances of many Democrats on The Squad, who are pure Jew haters
US bill on fighting antisemitism draws rare bipartisan support in Congress
Republicans and Democrats in US Congress are uniting to pass a bill that would create a national coordinator of the fight against antisemitism — though it faces competition from another Republican-backed bill that seeks to define antisemitism.
The bipartisan Countering Antisemitism Act, introduced last week, is meant to advance US President Joe Biden’s national strategy to fight antisemitism, rolled out nearly a year ago. The plan focused on action across the executive branch, demanding reforms in federal agencies from the Education Department to the Department of Agriculture.
The national coordinator would help see through those reforms. The coordinator would also receive an annual assessment of violent antisemitism nationwide from law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The position would be a counterpart to the State Department’s antisemitism envoy, who focuses on anti-Jewish bigotry abroad.
Rep. Kathy Manning told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the bill was in the works before the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, but that the ensuing rise in antisemitic incidents and rhetoric made it more urgent.
“We have seen it spread on social media, the protests on college campuses are beyond what anyone expected, “ she said. Manning, a North Carolina Democrat, is one of three lead sponsors of the bill, along with Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Nevada Democrat and Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican. Manning and Rosen are Jewish.
What the bill is not meant to do is criticize legitimate criticism of Israel. Of course, it was the hyper-criticism of Israel that has led to so many on the Left becoming Jew haters. Here’s the thing: like so many other types of “hate speech”, is it the role of Congress to stop it? The 1st Amendment is pretty specific about speech, is it not? But, consider
The D’Esposito bill, while endorsed only by Republicans, expands on a separate bipartisan bill that was introduced shortly after October 7 but has yet to be advanced. That bill would codify the IHRA definition when enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which denies federal funding to institutions that discriminate against several protected classes and has emerged as a preferred tool of activists fighting antisemitism and anti-Zionism on college campuses.
There are two things to unpack, the first being no federal funding can go to Jew hating institutions (I wonder if this applies to federal agencies full of Jew hating Democrats?). The second being the endorsements: no Democrats other than sponsors are endorsing it. However, there’s not much information on it yet on the record, so, we’ll see how many Democrats sign on. About half of the 42 cosponsors of a similar bill, HR 6090, are Democrats.
Manning said she realized early on that she needed language in the bill to address how both Republicans and Democrats see the threat of antisemitism.
“The language we have in the bill was very carefully negotiated,” she said. “The interesting thing about the composition of the Congress right now is if you actually want to get something passed, you have to have something that you can get Republicans in the House willing to lead, and Democrats in the Senate willing to lead. So that calls for a truly bipartisan approach.”
I wonder why it was necessary to placate so many of her Democrat colleagues on the language? Should be interesting to see how many actually vote for this.
The Manning-Rosen bill may still face controversy: A substantial portion is devoted to combating antisemitism on American campuses, and activists on the left worry that the fight against campus antisemitism is sometimes used as a way to shut down criticism of Israel.
Yeah, well, that’s where they learn to hate Israel and Jews. It should also focus on places like Minneapolis and Dearborn. And maybe Loyola
Get the f*ck out of here all you ugly a*s little Jewish people in this b*itch!"
says Grace Obi-Azuike, the Loyola Law School's Anti-Racism Fellow, to her classmates.
Yes, Grace is the Loyola Law School’s Anti-Racism Fellow.
The Anti-Racism Fellow.pic.twitter.com/SHhRajtlrt
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 17, 2024
Squad members like Tliab, Omar, and Bush, among others, will just put it more diplomatically.
Yes, the Speaker should bring it up right away . . . and scuttle the Ukraine/Israel aid bill! Ukraine cannot win, regardless of how much money and equipment we send them, unless we actually send American and NATO ground troops to directly fight the Russians, and Israel will not lose, even if we don’t send them a single penny.