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Title: Antisemitism Awareness Act 'in Jeopardy' After Pushback From Democrats and Rand Paul
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URL Source: https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=64919
Published: May 4, 2025
Author: Chris Menahan
Post Date: 2025-05-04 09:22:09 by Horse
Keywords: None
Views: 56
The future of the "Antisemitism Awareness Act" was thrown into jeopardy on Wednesday after Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey together with Rand Paul's backing introduced a series of amendments to undermine the bill's aim of outlawing criticism of Jews and Israel. From Jewish Insider, "Antisemitism Awareness Act's future in question after committee postpones vote": Senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee postponed a final vote on advancing the Antisemitism Awareness Act after approving four amendments that could jeopardize GOP support for the bill and leave its future passage once again in question. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the committee's chair and a major proponent of the legislation, told Jewish Insider after the meeting that he needed to postpone the vote because Republicans could not return to the committee room quickly enough to vote for it, with just minutes remaining before a two-hour cut-off to the meeting. Democrats refused requests to waive the two-hour limit. "I couldn't get my people back. And Democrats have limited debate until noon as an obvious tactic to defeat the bill," Cassidy said. "They don't care if Jewish students are harassed on college campuses. And so that is a procedural way in which, if you limit the two hours and we can't get our votes back, then we can't have the vote." Cassidy, who opposed all of the approved amendments other than a largely technical one he introduced, said that they were "problematic" and that he would have to survey other committee members to determine whether they would still support the bill. He vowed in a statement after the hearing that he would continue working to pass the bipartisan legislation. The approved amendments included one by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stating that it is not antisemitic to use free speech rights to oppose the "devastation of Gaza," and laying out a series of Sanders' specific objections to the war and criticisms of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. All Democrats and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voted in favor. An amendment led by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) would oppose the revocations of visas, detentions and deportations of students and faculty based on "protected conduct under the First Amendment." All Democrats and Paul voted in favor. A third, also led by Sanders, states that the legislation protects rights to distribute written material on campus or online; to carry out protests in adherence to schools' time, place and manner restrictions; and to engage in "any speech that does not include true threats or incitement of violence, including such speech as communicated through guest speakers, materials used in a classroom or online, or classroom discussions or debates." All Democrats, Paul and Sen. Susan Collins (R- ME) voted in favor. A fourth, by Sanders, stated that no entity of the federal government can enforce a policy that would "compel" an educational institution to "violate the rights of a student, faculty, or staff member under the First Amendment." All Democrats, as well as Paul and Collins, voted in favor. The amendments are likely to make some Republicans who had previously supported the legislation wary of doing so. A final committee vote was already expected to be tight, with only two Democrats expected to support the bill and one Republican expected to oppose it, meaning that sufficient support may no longer exist to move the bill forward. AIPAC threw a fit over the bill getting undermined: AIPAC, which supports the AAA, lamented the outcome of the HELP markup. "The original Antisemitism Awareness Act is a key step in the effort to fight antisemitism and anti-Israel hatred on campus. Unfortunately, Sen. Sanders and Paul sought to weaken the bill and brought in issues unrelated to the fight against antisemitism," spokesperson Marshall Wittmann said in a statement. "We are deeply disappointed the committee was unable to pass the bill, which passed in the House last year with overwhelming bipartisan support (320-91). We will continue to fight for the bill's passage." Wittmann added, "The amended version has significantly undermined the purpose of the legislation." The Orthodox Union described Sanders' Israel-related amendment and Markey's amendment as "poison pill[s]." "Let's be clear: these amendments are a disgrace. They don't just weaken the Antisemitism Awareness Act — they mock it," Nathan Diament, the executive director of public policy for the OU, said. "Some lawmakers in Washington are abdicating their responsibility to ensure that this country's civil rights laws are used to protect American Jews as much as they protect any other community targeted with discrimination and harassment. Many of the senators who voted for these poisonous amendments represent large Jewish communities. Their constituents will remember this day." Let's be clear: trying to abolish the First Amendment to protect Jews and Israel from criticism while the Jewish state is committing genocide in Gaza is a disgrace. Every lawmaker who backed this disgraceful piece of legislation put loyalty to Israel above loyalty to America and should count their blessings that they're not being brought up on trial. I don't want to overhype what's taken place here but there's a chance this could be the start of a seemingly inevitable sea change of the Israel Lobby losing its death-grip on our Congress. Polls show most Americans now oppose Israel, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's popularity has imploded and the Israel Lobby is plotting for the next US aid package to span 25-years rather than 10 in order to "insulate the relationship against future US political vagaries and uncertainties." The Israel Lobby knows support for the Jewish state in Congress is on shaky grounds and they're panicked that the scam they've been running for decades at any moment could abruptly come to an end. That's why they're spending millions of dollars on small House races and threatening "unlimited spending" to get Rep. Thomas Massie out of the House. Trying to undermine the First Amendment by making criticism of Jews and Israel illegal was a key part of their plans -- similar legislation has been advanced in other countries which don't have the First Amendment -- but they appear to be failing here in America. They've been aggressively rounding up critics of Israel for deportation but that too is being undermined by the courts. Poster Comment: 'Unparalleled' snake antivenom made from man bitten 200 times https://citizenwatchreport.com/unparalleled-snake-antivenom-made-from-man-bitten- 200-times/ 
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