In the abstract, a congressional resolution opposing global antisemitism is a no-brainer. Antisemitism is, in respectable circles, not acceptable, and legislators tend to like to align with popular — or at least not unacceptable — public positions.
The resolution brought forward in the House this week, though, did a little bit more than condemn antisemitism. Instead, the resolution from members of the Republican majority was a vehicle for putting Democratic legislators in a bind. Would their opponents decline to support a resolution centered on antisemitism if it also included arguments specifically useful to Republicans?
They got their answer: yes, to an extent.
Much of the text of the resolution focuses on acts of violence or aggression against Jewish Americans or Jewish businesses in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel in early October. “Acts of hate, intimidation, discrimination, and violence based on ethnicity or religion have no place in our country nor in the global community,” the resolution says at the outset, and most of the provided examples reinforce the sort of activity that should be condemned.
But the resolution did something else, too: It offered tacit equivalences between those protesting Israel’s response in Gaza and the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced a resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (R-Mich.) earlier this year, she included an accusation that Tlaib had been involved in an attempted insurrection — because she was part of a protest that included a brief, performative occupation of a congressional office building. That overreach helped doom the measure.
The resolution against antisemitism included most subtle language with a similar insinuation. For example, it decried how, during a Nov. 4 protest in Washington, “rioters stormed and tried to scale the White House fence.” The suggestion that there was an effort to break into the White House — from “rioters,” rather than protesters — aligns with a widely shared social-media post from a right-wing commentator. Even reporting from the New York Post, though, indicated the protest concluded peacefully. Video showed one protester climbing halfway up the fence outside the White House, where he waved a flag to the crowd.
At another point, the resolution suggested that protesters on Nov. 15 “violently attacked the Democratic National Committee headquarters,” ultimately “injuring 6 Capitol Police Officers.” Injuries to law enforcement, of course, were a central element of criticism of the Capitol riot. Semafor reporter David Weigel was at that protest and reported at the time that claims of a violent attack by protesters were untrue.
These claims could have been excluded from the resolution, with the criticisms of other explicitly antisemitic actions retained. By including them, though, those drafting the resolution force Democrats to choose between approving a document that will serve as the official view of the House on antisemitism or rejecting exaggerations about largely leftist protests.
More controversial was the resolution’s conflation of anti-Zionism — opposition to Israel as a Jewish state — with antisemitism. The resolution is explicit: with its passage, the House is stating that it “clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.” That conflation spurred disagreement, including from prominent Jewish lawmakers like Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.).
Regardless, the pattern is clear. House Republicans aimed to push the antisemitism resolution just far enough into contested partisan territory to force Democrats either to indicate support for things they didn’t want to support or to oppose a resolution condemning antisemitism.
Many Democrats, predictably, demurred. Thirteen voted against a motion to approve the resolution. Ninety-five voted in support of it. Another 92 voted “present,” refusing to take a position one way or the other.
As might be expected, those Democrats tended to be from districts that voted for Joe Biden by a wider margin in 2020 or who have more liberal ideologies. On average, the districts of those voting “yes” on the motion to approve the resolution backed Biden by 23 points. Those voting “present” represent districts that backed Biden by 38 points on average, and those voting “no” are from districts with an average 2020 margin that favored Biden by 49 points.
You can see that below; the orange area, defining the legislators who voted “present” sits further down (more liberal) and further to the left (more Biden-supportive districts) than most of the green dots from Democratic legislators (those appearing below the central horizontal line).
There was one Republican who voted against the measure. That was Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who used a social media meme to suggest that his opposition was to criticism of anti-Zionism. The post spurred enormous backlash, including from some on the right.
But otherwise the resolution accomplished what House Republicans would have wanted. It split the Democratic caucus and got many on the record in opposition to a resolution ostensibly about opposing antisemitism. It also got the House to approve a document that includes specific framing about left-wing protests and Israel.
And here some people say that Congress can’t accomplish anything.
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Analysis | The House votes to condemn antisemitism — with some partisan edges - The Washington Post
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