March 23, 2024 (EIRNS)—Editor in Chief Joe Lauria, writing in Consortium News on March 22, noted that in 2004, then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the following: “It is not anti-Semitic to criticize the policies of the state of Israel.”
However, Lauria adds: “Nearly 20 years later, on Dec. 5, 2023 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution by 311 to 14 votes equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. The resolution says: ‘Resolved, That the House of Representatives … clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.’”
The Republican-sponsored measure was backed by every Republican in the House except one, as well as by 95 Democrats, with 92 Democrats voting “Present.” “They were urged to do so in a floor speech by Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, who represents a Brooklyn district with many anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews.”
