Scott, Rosen reintroduce Antisemitism Awareness Act in Senate

Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) reintroduced the Antisemitism Awareness Act in the Senate on Wednesday.

The bipartisan bill directs the U.S. Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism when investigating acts of Jew-hatred on campus.

“In the continued aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas and Iran, we have seen college campuses across our nation become hotbeds of antisemitism where Jewish students’ rights are being threatened,” Scott said. “It’s critical the Department of Education has the tools and resources it needs to investigate antisemitism and root out this vile hatred wherever it rears its ugly head.”

The legislation would enshrine in law U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2019 executive order instructing federal agencies to consider the IHRA definition of antisemitism in enforcing Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits any recipient of federal funds from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin. Title VI notably applies to virtually every university in the country.

The IHRA definition includes both a “non-legally binding working definition” of antisemitism as well as 11 “contemporary examples” of antisemitism, including “holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel,” and “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”

A previous iteration the bill passed the House by a wide margin in 2024, but the previous Senate majority leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), did not bring it to a vote in the upper chamber before the end of the 118th Congress.

Critics of the legislation argue that the IHRA definition is too restrictive, with some on the left, like Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), saying that it precludes legitimate criticism of Israel. From the right, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) argued during the 2024 House vote Christians could be accused of antisemitism “for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews.”

The Senate version of the act has 32 co-sponsors, including Schumer, who was not a co-sponsor of the previous Senate version.

Jewish groups such as the the Anti-Defamation League, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Federations of North America have also endorsed the legislation.

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) reintroduced the House version of the bill in the lower chamber earlier in February.

Republished with Permission