Lawmakers bolster fight against antisemitism
Legislation is introduced to set up national coordinator to lead effort
WASHINGTON — To combat a sharp rise in the number of antisemitic incidents erupting throughout the United States, including the murder of 11 Pittsburgh congregants in 2018, President Joe Biden 11 months ago released a plan.
The problem worsened last fall after Hamas, designated as a terrorist group by the U.S., attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel’s retaliation against Hamas-ruled Gaza drew another increase in antisemitic actions, including attacks against Jewish college students on campuses and against Jewish-owned businesses in communities.
Now a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers want to strengthen the effort to combat the continued growth in antisemitism. They have introduced legislation to establish the first national coordinator to counter antisemitism and entrust that person with ensuring that Mr. Biden’s U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism is put into place.
“Antisemitism has been dramatically rising in the United States in the last several years and skyrocketed in the months since the horrific Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel,” said U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev. “There have been countless disturbing stories of Jewish families accosted and assaulted on streets, Jewish businesses and places of worship vandalized and desecrated, and Jewish students threatened at colleges and universities.”
Leaders of Jewish organizations welcomed the bill.
“We think it will strengthen federal efforts in the fight against anti-Jewish hate,” said Marcia Bronstein, regional director for the American Jewish Committee.
Almost nine in 10 Jewish respondents said there was more discrimination against them since the Hamas attack against Israel, according to a Pew Research Center poll released last week. Seven in 10 Muslims said there was more discrimination against Muslims since the war began.
The percentage of Americans saying Jews face a lot of discrimination has doubled
from 20% in 2021 to 40% this year, while the percentage saying the same thing about Muslims rose from 39% to 44% during the same threeyear period, the poll said.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, 3,291 antisemitic incidents were reported between Oct. 7 and Jan. 7, up 361% over the same period a year earlier.
And that came on the heels of the record 3,697 incidents reported in 2022, the highest yearly total ever since the ADL began tracking such occurrences in 1979.
“The U.S. Jewish community is facing the worst crisis of antisemitism that we have seen in a generation,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said. “This historic bill is the most far-reaching antisemitism initiative ever to be introduced in Congress.”
In November, the Pittsburgh Jewish community marked five years since the worst antisemitic attack in American history when a gunman slew 11 worshippers at a Squirrel Hill building housing three congregations — Dor Hadash, New Life, and Tree of Life. The shooter, Robert Bowers, was convicted and sentenced to death last year.
The legislation also is sponsored by U. S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who co-chairs a Senate task force on antisemitism with Ms. Rosen; and U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; Chris Smith, R-N.J.; U.S. Reps. Kathy Manning, DN.C.; and Randy Weber, RTexas, who co-chair a House antisemitism task force.
The national coordinator created under the proposed law would be the president’s principal adviser on antisemitism in the U.S., chair a task force and coordinate efforts to fight antisemitism. The law would require federal agencies to tell Congress what steps they are taking under Mr. Biden’s national strategy.
The bill also would require federal law enforcement agencies to annually look at the threats posed by antisemitic violent extremism, have the U.S. Education Department address antisemitism on college campuses, and officially designate May as Jewish American Heritage Month.