Over the past few months, lawmakers in Washington have pushed a wave of bills and held multiple hearings that ostensibly aim to address the rise in antisemitism. These measures have caught lawmakers and the public off-guard with their swift movement through the House.
Certainly, some of these lawmakers are well-intentioned. But by and large, these efforts mask a much larger, darker agenda: Many far-right lawmakers are seizing an opportunity to fashion yet another political weapon against free speech and thought. It’s part of a tried-and-true playbook.
Consider just a few of the recent legislative moves to address antisemitism. The House recently passed a bill to sanction the ICC for seeking an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On the day of the vote, Rep. Tracey Mann (R-Kan.) tweeted, “We can't sit by idly as antisemitism takes root in the International Criminal Court.”
Just a couple of weeks prior, the House held its third antisemitism hearing, where Republican lawmakers demanded to know how many students had been punished for participating in encampments on college campuses. Legislators blamed the leaders of UCLA, Rutgers and Northwestern universities, declaring they should be "doubly ashamed for capitulating" to protestors. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) went so far as to claim Northwestern's resolution a "unilateral capitulation to the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, antisemitic encampment.”
Approving censorship legislation under the guise of combating antisemitism and extremism hands the far-right the perfect tool to accomplish their authoritarian vision.
Weeks before that, in the midst of nationwide college protests, the House passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, requiring the Department of Education to incorporate the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism when assessing allegations of discrimination.
However, there are already an array of laws that address antisemitism on college campuses. So why this addition? Well, the IHRA definition—which has been roundly criticized by Holocaust scholars—conflates criticism of Israel with criticism of Jewish people. Under this definition, people could be accused of antisemitism for speaking out against Israel or Israeli policy.
It’s clear that the lawmakers leading all these efforts are strategically backing their Congressional colleagues into a corner. They know that it would be political suicide for their colleagues to push back on efforts that seems to address antisemitism. The message is clear: Either risk your career, or fall into line.
Vulnerable legislators up for reelection are falling into the trap. They’re hoping to sway voters in their favor and appear tough, especially in the wake of a growing pro-Palestine movement. But election prospects should not persuade them to gamble with our civil rights and support bills that have serious long-term implications.
Make no mistake: Antisemitism remains a persistent problem in America. But unfortunately, it also remains an attractive political weapon to be exploited by the likes of Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump and other antisemites who recognize the fact that it can be easily abused to silence dissent and criticism. October 7th is just the latest opportunity for far-right lawmakers to lock the public into another never-ending cultural flashpoint.
Lawmakers have used LGBTQ+ issues in schools, critical race theory, even the George Floyd protests to introduce more bills that advocated for educational gag orders—more broadly, censorship.
Attacks against freedom of speech and expression are on the rise, reminiscent of the anti-speech tactics of the Red Scare era. Key terms in these bills are deliberately left vague, inciting uncertainty in determining the law’s scope and ensuring that bills can be easily taken advantage of to silence opposition or even suppress political adversaries.
For example, Leah Watson of ACLU notes that the right’s push for classroom censorship engenders an environment that is “marked by constant surveillance, scrutiny and second-guessing,” and the combination of book bans, educational gag orders, and general free speech restrictions are ultimately forcing educators to self-censor in fear over what is acceptable speech and costly legal battles.
David French laments this phenomenon as the right’s “process of unlearning liberty.” But the right’s push for censorship across every institution reflects their overall aspiration of controlling what’s acceptable in their America.
Lawmakers cannot be willing accomplices in that scheme. Approving censorship legislation under the guise of combating antisemitism and extremism hands the far-right the perfect tool to accomplish their authoritarian vision.
If Congress wants to seriously address antisemitism, then it must stop wasting time debating bills and holding hearings that censor criticism of foreign governments. Instead, Congress should invest its time in enacting effective policies that uphold both academic freedom and the fight against antisemitism without compromising on the principles of free speech and expression.
