The Antisemitism Awareness Act has been pending in the U.S. Senate since April 2024. It has more than enough bipartisan votes to support passage by a wide margin. But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is apparently concerned that not enough Democrats are committed to passing the bill and he doesn’t want to highlight divisions in his caucus while giving Republicans bragging rights for passing the bill.
Schumer needs to stop his political maneuvering and move the AAA forward for a vote. That’s his job. And let those who oppose the bill answer for their votes.
The AAA will adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism as the standard under federal law and would direct the U.S. Department of Education to consider the definition — which, among other things, identifies some criticism of Israel as antisemitic — in evaluating complaints of anti-Jewish discrimination on college campuses.
The policy advanced by the AAA — complete with the IHRA working definition of antisemitism — has been in place since 2019, under an executive order signed by former President Donald Trump. But the formal bill faces some opposition from progressive Democrats in Schumer’s caucus, and from a few right-wing Republicans who oppose the bill on free-speech grounds. Nonetheless, there are more than 60 senators who support the bill, which is the number needed to pass it.
Schumer’s dalliance comes at a particularly bad time for U.S. Jews, who are facing an alarming rise in antisemitism. According to a report released by the FBI on Sept. 23, antisemitic activity around the country is skyrocketing.
The FBI indicates that in 2023, Jews were targeted in 1,832 reported hate crimes, which represents a whopping 63% increase over reported cases in 2022. And that’s based on a reporting pool that doesn’t include several large U.S. cities that did not report any data in either year. A report from the Secure Community Network, a Jewish security agency that works closely with Jewish Federations of North America, recorded almost triple the number of threats and incidents of an antisemitic nature in 2023, and the Anti-Defamation League reported almost 9,000 incidents.
Numbers matter, but we don’t need statistics to know that the Jewish community is at risk. We see it and feel it all around us every day, and we are living through it. Although Jews are only 2.5% of the U.S. population, every report indicates that Jews are targeted more often than any other religious group — by a disturbingly wide margin.
While we have no question that Schumer cares about antisemitism, cares about the Jewish community and wants to help pass the AAA, he needs to overcome his inclinations toward political protectionism and follow his moral conscience.
U.S. Jews are at risk in our cities, on our streets and on our campuses. U.S. Jews need the protections of the law to assure their safety and security. We need to do everything we can to eradicate antisemitic behavior. Prompt passage of the AAA and its enactment into law will help make that objective a reality.
