Bernie Sanders' AAA amendment endangers Jews ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Thursday, May 01, 2025

Bernie Sanders' AAA amendment endangers Jews

JTA reports:

An amendment saying that criticism of the Israeli government is not antisemitic was added to the Antisemitism Awareness Act today in a Senate committee hearing.

The amendment was proposed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Jewish progressive leader, and approved in a 12-11 vote in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

We do not yet know the exact text of the amendment. That wording is critical.

The Antisemitism Awareness Act, as currently written, says:

For purposes of this Act, the term “definition of antisemitism”—

(1) means the definition of antisemitism adopted on May 26, 2016, by the IHRA, of which the United States is a member, which definition has been adopted by the Department of State; and

(2) includes the “[c]ontemporary examples of antisemitism” identified in the IHRA definition.

However, the IHRA definition already says "criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic. "

So what is the purpose of the Sanders amendment?

If Sanders is concerned that this is a free speech issue, the very same act also says, "Nothing in this Act shall be construed...to diminish or infringe upon the rights protected under any other provision of law..." meaning, it already protects the First Amendment.

What, exactly, is his amendment adding to the Act that wasn't already there?

Sanders positions himself as a free speech absolutist, at least in terms of left-wing free speech. heis positioning this as a defense of free speech. He does not appear to be quite as liberal for speech he disagrees with: he advocated for regulating speech associated with right-wing or corporate interests, such as corporate campaign spending (the Citizens United case), billionaire-owned media (e.g., Fox News), and online ads funding right-wing outlets.

In terms of the Antisemitism Awareness Act, the only reasonable explanation for adding an amendment that seems redundant to the existing IHRA definition is that Sanders wants to allow all criticism of Israel, including Holocaust inversion, accusing Israel of being Nazis, or saying "Zionists" control the media or the banks. Adding text to the Act which primarily supports using the IHRA definition is meant to undermine the Act itself.

It might be possible that the additional amendment, if it does not include the IHRA qualifiers, would endanger Jewish Zionist students on campus. Student groups can say that they won't allow "Zionists" to enter their spaces or become members, and argue that they are simply making a political statement and not a discriminatory one - the exact scenario that prompted the government to extend Title VI to Jews who consider Zionism a core part of their identities.

Depending on the language, this amendment might destroy whatever gains have been made in applying Title VI protections to Jews on campus.

It would be better to kill the Antisemitism Awareness Act than to allow it to gut the IHRA definition that it is meant to promote.