US House passes 311-14 resolution saying anti-Zionism is antisemitism; Palestinian rights advocates denounce it

The United States House of Representatives passed a resolution on Tuesday, December 5, 2023, by a 311-14 vote, according to both Al Jazeera and The Nation. Both outlets report that 92 Democratic members voted “present” rather than yes or no. The resolution states that the House “clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism,” according to Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera reports that the resolution condemned the slogan “From the River to the Sea” as a “rallying cry for the eradication of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.” It also described demonstrators who gathered in Washington, DC, last month to demand a ceasefire as “rioters.” According to Al Jazeera, the measure was framed as rejecting the “drastic rise of anti-Semitism in the United States and around the world.” The Nation’s report does not describe that framing, so the two accounts are presented here as separate sources’ descriptions of the text.

Husam Marajda of the US Palestinian Community Network told Al Jazeera that the resolution is an effort to “cancel” Palestinian rights advocates. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said that opposing the policies of the Israeli government and Netanyahu’s extremism is not antisemitic. The Nation reports that New York Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler raised objections to the resolution in an impassioned dissent.

The House Education and Workforce committee also held a marathon hearing on antisemitism on American college campuses at the US Capitol on the same Tuesday, according to The Nation. The hearing was titled “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism.” The committee’s advance news release had carried the title “College Presidents to Answer for Mishandling of Antisemitic, Violent Protests.” Committee Chair Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, as The Nation describes it, sternly lectured witnesses on the “moral rot” and “poisonous fruits” of their agenda. Weighing competing descriptions of the same events requires care with each claim (Proverbs 18:17).

The Nation also notes that the 1975 UN resolution condemning Zionism as racism was revoked in 2019.