Congress ‘Gridlocked’ Over Censorship Bills to Suppress ‘Anti-Semitism’

By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation

Gridlock in Congress is reportedly preventing passage of multiple Anti-Defamation League-backed censorship bills aimed at suppressing First Amendment-protected criticism of Jews and Israel.

Attempts by the ADL to exploit the Capital Jewish Museum shooting and the attack in Boulder, Colorado to justify eliminating the First Amendment are going nowhere in the House and Senate, Jewish Insider laments.

The ADL-backed “STOP HATE Act” is also likely to fail.

From Jewish Insider, “Congress gridlocked over legislation to crack down on antisemitism”:

The House and Senate have passed resolutions condemning the attacks, but key legislation related to antisemitism remains stalled, even as lawmakers individually and in groups continue to press for action.

There are still no clear prospects for passage of the Antisemitism Awareness Act, a key element of congressional efforts to address antisemitism, after a contentious Senate committee meeting in April in which Democrats, joined by Republicans including Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), voted to add amendments that most Republicans supporting the bill view as nonstarters. House leaders have made no public moves to advance the legislation.

And despite calls from Jewish groups for significant increases in nonprofit security funding to as much as $1 billion next year and a push from a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers for $500 million, the funding levels under consideration in the House are so far little different from those discussed in prior years.

What a nice way to say “thanks” to US taxpayers for giving them $454.5 million for fiscal year 2024 alone.

One Republican senator working on the Antisemitism Awareness Act told Jewish Insider they have not seen much movement among colleagues who have continued concerns about the legislation, in conversations with those colleagues and the White House.

The senator said they are frustrated by unresolved disputes about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism on the Republican side of the aisle, noting as well that there are steps the administration can take independently.

Note that this unnamed senator won’t even go on record while he champions taking away our free speech rights.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said at a press conference last week that “there needs to be, for sure” more focus from Congress on tackling antisemitism. A key part of that, he said, will be sidelining extreme voices.

“I think too often extremes on both ends kind of warp the conversation and insist that the definition of antisemitism somehow needs to include things like the false charge of ‘the Jews murdered Jesus,’ or the claim that anti-Zionism is never antisemitism,” Greenblatt said, alluding to the objections from both sides of the aisle to the Antisemitism Awareness Act.

“All the Jews didn’t murder Jesus, and anti-Zionism is antisemitism. I think I’d like to see the extremes marginalized so the vast majority of members of Congress on both sides can get the stuff done that needs to happen once and for all,” he continued.

The “extremes” in this case are the majority of Americans who don’t support Israel’s ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza.

By Greenblatt’s standard, you’re an “extremist” if you’re against eliminating the First Amendment to silence criticism of the genocide he is actively championing.

 

Despite the roadblocks, AIPAC-owned reps are still pushing forward on trying to take away our free speech:

Several Democrats said last week that more needs to be done legislatively to tackle antisemitism.

“We’ve had an unlimited amount of hearings, and the speaker has now come out with a security plan [for members] for the summer, and a lot of that, obviously, is tied to the amount of hate and threats that we are getting, but we still haven’t passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said. “No, we’re not doing enough to combat antisemitism and other forms right now of hate and demagoguery that’s going on.”

“The language and the culture, it’s just completely toxic,” Moskowitz continued, adding that Congress is “also not doing enough on the security grants.”

Indeed, Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott noted during the opening of the House’s last anti-Semitism hearing just two weeks ago that “This is our ninth hearing on anti-Semitism in 18 months.”

There have been zero hearings on “racism” or any other identity-based grievance, Scott pointed out.

Rep. Moskowitz threw a fit during another anti-Semitism hearing last month, lamenting that he’s being “called a foreign asset” and “a foreign lobbyist” on social media.

“Marjorie Taylor Greene is holding up the Antisemitism Awareness Act because she wants to say that Jews killed Jesus!” he raged.

 

Per usual, the one solution for “anti-Semitism” that is not being proposed is ending the genocide in Gaza and cutting off all US support for Israel.

Both proposals now have the support of the majority of Americans, but Congress two weeks ago wouldn’t even vote to cut $500 million in funds to the Jewish state.