House to vote on resolution condemning antisemitism

The House is set to vote Tuesday on a Republican resolution condemning antisemitism in the United States and globally.

A number of Democrats, however, have expressed concern that the language of the GOP resolution is overly broad and would effectively define any criticism of the Israeli government or its policies as antisemitism.

The vote comes as aid to Israel remains stalled in Congress amid Israel’s war against Hamas. There is widespread bipartisan support for aid to Israel, but the issue has become entangled with partisan disputes over other policy priorities, including the US Southern border, putting its passage in question.

Ahead of the vote, Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler and Daniel Goldman of New York and Jamie Raskin of Maryland urged their colleagues to vote “present” on the GOP resolution, describing it as a partisan attempt to score political points and saying that a bipartisan approach is needed.

Nadler, Goldman and Raskin on Monday introduced an alternative resolution that condemns antisemitism and calls on executive branch agencies and Congress to implement the Biden administration’s national strategy to counter antisemitism.

In remarks on the House floor, Nadler pointed to language in the GOP resolution stating that “anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”

“That is either intellectually disingenuous or just factually wrong,” he said.

“The authors, if they were at all familiar with Jewish history and culture, should know about Jewish anti-Zionism that was, and is, expressly not antisemitic,” he said.

“Most anti-Zionism, particularly in this moment, has a real antisemitism problem. But we cannot fairly say that one equals the other,” he said.

In November, the GOP-controlled House passed a bill to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel. Democrats, however, took issue with the bill over the…