Illustrating the very real problem of Democrats supporting Israel and condemning anti-Semitism, 13 members of President Joe Biden’s party in the U.S. House of Representatives voted “no” and another 92 voted “present” on the resolution “[s]Strongly condemning and denouncing the drastic increase in anti-Semitism in the United States and around the world.”
105 Democrats (plus one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who opposed the resolution on semantic grounds) could not agree with the following resolution:
whereas acts of hatred, intimidation, discrimination and violence based on ethnicity or religion have no place in our country or in the global community;
whereas the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism is widely accepted and serves as a key tool in helping individuals understand and identify the various manifestations of anti-Semitism;
whereas since the massacre of innocent Israelis by Hamas, a terrorist organization supported by Iran, on October 7, 2023, the number of anti-Semitic incidents of harassment, vandalism and assault in the United States has increased by 388 percent over the same period last year, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center on Extremism;
whereas since the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, there has also been a drastic increase in anti-Semitic activity in Jewish communities around the world;
whereas the slogan ‘From the River to the Sea’, a call to uproot the State of Israel and the Jewish people, has been used by anti-Israel protesters in the United States and around the world;
whereas on October 8, 2023, a car containing people holding Palestinian flags apparently intentionally veered from its lane, almost hitting an apparently Jewish family in Clifton, New Jersey;
whereas on October 15, 2023, a resident of New York, New York, punched a Jewish woman in the face at Grand Central Terminal solely because she was Jewish;
However, on October 28, 2023, a Jew in Sydney, Australia, was seriously injured by 3 anti-Israel rioters, as a result of which he was hit at least 12 times in the head, suffered a concussion, 2 black eyes and 4 broken spines;
whereas on November 3, 2023, a Jewish woman’s store in New York was attacked by a crowd of anti-Israel protesters, all because she hung posters depicting Israeli hostages in the store window;
whereas on November 3, 2023, four masked men entered a restaurant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, tore down an Israeli flag and shouted “Free Palestine”;
whereas on November 4, 2023, federal authorities arrested an Arizona man for threatening to execute a local rabbi and “any other JEW I meet tonight at midnight of your Shabbat”;
whereas on 4 November 2023, during an anti-Israel protest in Washington, rioters shouted their support for the Hamas massacre on 7 October 2023 and other acts of terror against Israel, calling for the fall of the State of Israel, and made hateful and vulgar statements language reinforcing anti-Semitic themes;
whereas during the same protest in Washington, rioters stormed and attempted to scale the White House fence, vandalized property by staining the sides of the White House pillars with blood-red handprints, and spray-painted the words ‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Glory to Our Martyrs’ on buildings in DC;
whereas on November 6, 2023, Paul Kessler, a 69-year-old Jewish man, tragically died from injuries suffered when an anti-Israel protester hit him in the head with a bullhorn in Los Angeles, California;
whereas on November 11, 2023, as part of a mass anti-Israel protest, rioters set off smoke bombs outside a synagogue in London, England;
whereas on November 12, 2023, police found several tombstones at the Chesed Shel Emeth Jewish Cemetery in Brooklyn, Ohio, which had been desecrated with swastikas;
However, on November 13, 2023, in Milan, Italy, a mezuzah was torn off the doorpost of a Jewish woman’s apartment, and in its place a knife was stuck in the wood;
whereas on November 13, 2023, on the evening before the March for Israel on Washington, anti-Israel rioters vandalized a Jewish medical tent, spray-painting the words ‘Free Gaza’, ‘Palestine will be free’ and ‘Gaza will win’; AND
whereas on November 15, 2023, anti-Israel protesters illegally blocked and violently attacked the Democratic National Committee headquarters, endangering the lives of those inside, including members of Congress, and injuring six Capitol Police officers; So let it be so
Loose, That the House of Representatives –
(1) Strongly condemns and condemns all incidents of anti-Semitism occurring in the United States and around the world;
(2) reaffirms and reiterates its strong support for the Jewish community at home and abroad;
(3) calls on elected officials and world leaders to condemn and combat all forms of domestic and global anti-Semitism;
(4) states clearly and firmly that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism; AND
(5) rejects all forms of terror, hatred, discrimination and harassment of members of the Jewish community.
Here are the 92 Democrats in the House of Representatives who did not find the moral courage to support a resolution condemning terrorism and anti-Semitism, and also did not have the courage to openly oppose it:
Despite Democrats’ inability to condemn anti-Semitism, resolution exceeded two thirds threshold necessary, 311-14-92 with 17 members not voting at all.
