Yesterday, by a vote of 314-14, in which 92 voted “present,” the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution “strongly condemning and denouncing the drastic rise of anti-Semitism in the United States and around the world.” Thirteen Democrats and one Republican (Thomas Massie of Kentucky), voted against it. The resolution states that the House “clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.” The vote occurred amidst increasing efforts to label the growing pro-Palestinian actions and protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza as allegedly anti-Semitic.
According to Antiwar.com news editor Dave DeCamp, yesterday Jerry Nadler (D-NY), the most senior Jewish House member, issued a release on his voting “present” on House Resolution 894.
“The resolution suggests that ALL anti-Zionism is antisemitism. That is either intellectually disingenuous or just factually wrong. And it unfairly implicates many of my orthodox former constituents in Brooklyn, many of whose families rose from the ashes of the Holocaust,” he said.
Nadler claimed that “most anti-Zionism is antisemitism” but added that if authors of the bill “were at all familiar with Jewish history and culture, should know about Jewish anti-Zionism that was, and is, expressly NOT antisemitic.”
