WASHINGTON (JTA) One of Sen. Chuck Schumers last actions as the outgoing US Senate majority leader is an attempt to codify a controversial definition of antisemitism in the face of claims from the left and the right that it impinges on free speech. The Antisemitism Awareness Act, as passed in the House last May, would enshrine antisemitism as a type of discrimination that could trigger corrective action under Title VI, the section of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibits discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funds. The definition of antisemitism that the bill uses, drafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, has been adopted by a wide range of countries, local governments, universities, and other entities, but has spurred opposition from the left for classifying some criticism of Israel as antisemitic. In May, some on the right also opposed the definition that the claim that Jews killed Jesus is antisemitic.
Among IHRAs examples of antisemitism that the ACLU said constitutes political as opposed to hate speech are 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, drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, and applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
The Republican sweep has heightened concerns among the bills critics, who say Trump does not need more tools to make good on his threats to weaponize the law to go after his political enemies. Kevin Rachlin, the Washington director of Nexus, a Jewish group promoting a different antisemitism definition, said he feared that Trump could use the act to delegitimize political opponents, defund them, and attack them using the institutions of government. The American Civil Liberties Union in a letter sent Thursday to every senator called the IHRA definition overbroad.