J Street is appalled by the surge of antisemitism on college campuses, and strongly supports robust, responsible action by Congress and the White House to condemn and respond to it.
Given the intense sensitivity and importance of the issue, it is critical that elected officials address it strongly, responsibly and accurately.
Last week, J Street proudly urged Senators to support the bipartisan Rosen-Blackburn resolution condemning campus antisemitism, which passed the Senate unanimously.
We urge Members of the House to pass the bipartisan companion resolution to that bill, introduced by Reps. Kustoff and Wasserman Schultz. It is our strong hope that by passing this resolution promptly, the House can join the Senate in delivering a clear, united, and unambiguous message that antisemitism at institutions of higher learning is utterly unacceptable.
On Thursday, the House voted on a different, Republican-authored resolution addressing campus antisemitism, H.Res.798. We objected to the implication in it that several specifically-named universities had not condemned or acted to prevent the incidents of antisemitism on their campuses highlighted in the resolution. In fact, they had.
Liberty was taken as well with regard to a vote by the Brandeis student government — representing a heavily Jewish student body — which was used to imply that the students somehow refused to condemn antisemitism. This is beyond untrue; they did and did so vigorously.
We recommended a “no” vote on this legislation and urged passage of what we consider to be a better piece of legislation.
Our recommendation that Members of Congress vote “no” has resulted in mistaken accusations against those Members of not condemning antisemitism on campuses and beyond.
That too is not true. We know that those Members who voted “no” stand shoulder to shoulder with us and in solidarity with the entire Jewish community in the face of antisemitism’s rampant spread. They should not be subject to unfair criticism or misrepresentation of their commitment to fighting antisemitism as a result of this vote.
Going forward, we are confident that all Members of Congress can affirm their clear stance on this important issue by supporting the Kustoff-Wasserman Schultz resolution and urging the Speaker of the House to swiftly bring it to a vote