On January 14, 2019 the Republicans voted unanimously to remove fellow Republican Congressman Steve King from all House Committees for expressing support for white supremacy. Subsequently the Republican leadership supported Steve King's primary opponent Randy Feenstra and King lost the Republican primary and was not reelected to Congress.
Recently, President Trump was successful in opposing Republican Congressman Thomas Massie and Representative Marjorie Taylor Green with Green resigning from Congress and Massie losing reelection in which both members promoted the false blood libel accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and opposed President Trump’s pro Israel policies.
On March 7, 2019, the House passed Resolution 183 condemning antisemitism. The resolution, which passed 407-23, was initiated in response to antisemitic comments made by Democratic members of Congress Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. The text of the resolution states that “accusing Jews of being more loyal to Israel or to the Jewish community than to the U.S. constitutes antisemitism." This was due to Omar’s Feb. 27, 2019 claim that supporters of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship “push allegiance to a foreign country." Her comments followed a tweet by Tlaib the previous month, in which she attacked then Sen. Marco Rubio’s anti-BDS efforts with the accusation, “They forgot what country they represent." Rubio responded, “The ‘dual loyalty’ canard is a typical antisemitic line."
On December 16, 2022, Democratic Congresswoman Elaine Luria said “The first time I stood in this very place to speak on the floor of the House, I rose as a Jewish woman to speak out against antisemitism, which has seen a rapid and alarming rise and has even reared its head among our colleagues in our own chamber, in the forms of claims of dual loyalty to those who show support for Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East."
Luria had previously collaborated with Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Kathy Manning (D-N.C.) and Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) on a May 26, 2021 letter to U.S. President Joe Biden. The letter stated that the Representatives “reject comments from members of Congress accusing Israel of being an ‘apartheid state’ and committing act[s] of terrorism." The letter prophetically went on to say:
"These statements are antisemitic at their core and contribute to a climate that is hostile towards many Jews. We must never forget that less than 80 years ago, within the lifetime of our parents and grandparents, six million people were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust because they were Jews. Israel has long provided the Jewish people with a homeland in which they can be safe after facing centuries of persecution. Sadly, we have learned from our history that when this type of violence and inflammatory rhetoric goes unaddressed, it can fuel increasing hatred and violence, and lead to unspeakable acts against Jews, even in the most civilized, modern societies."
The letter has been proven prescient. It was written before October 7, 2023.
In February 2023 House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was successful in having the House vote to remove Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a vote of 218-211. Not one Democrat voted in favor of her removal. If the Democrats win a majority in the House one can expect that Omar will be put back on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The IHRA definition of antisemitism was adopted in 2016 at a time where there were no members of Congress who were antisemitic, at least not overtly. The IHRA definition made it clear that using double standards for Israel and opposing Israel as a Jewish state is antisemitic. John Spencer, Head of Urban Warfare at West Point, has repeatedly written that the less than 2-1 civilian to combatant ratio of Gazans killed by Israel in the current Gaza war is the lowest civilian casualty ration in any civilian war as the lowest before recorded was 4-1.
It should not have to be noted that Israel launched the war after Hamas deliberately and barbarically massacred 1,200 Israelis, mainly civilians including children and babies on October 7, 2023, Accordingly, false claims about Israel committing Genocide in Gaza are overt antisemitism.
Oracle was a rare U.S. Company under the leadership of Larry Ellison, and until recently Oracle CEO Safra Catz publicly supported Israel after October 7, 2023. Catz, an Israeli American, was likely the most successful female CEO in the world, but her pro Israel statements were too much for actor Mark Ruffalo. Ruffalo blasted Ellison and Catz due to their pro Israel positions and Ruffalo used their pro Israel positions as the reason to oppose the Warner merger with Paramount that is led by Ellison’s son David. Paramount rightly blasted Ruffalo’s comment as antisemitic.
Notorious antisemitic streamer Hassan Piker, who has campaigned with Michigan Senate Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, recently said "If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone's going to come around and take action... against American Jews".
It appears, according to Ruffalo and Piker, that only anti-Israel Jews should not fear having their businesses attacked or even being physically attacked. El-Sayed’s attempt to distance himself from Piker is not going to work when El-Sayed refuses to say he supports the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. That position will hopefully cost El-Sayed a majority of the Jewish vote. El-Sayed also already accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza on October 21, 2023 which was around one week before Israel sent in ground troops to Gaza. He has a lengthy history of false antisemitic statements.
The intellectual underpinning for the weakening of the fight against antisemitism was provided by the Biden Administration. It did mention the IHRA definition for antisemitism but included the so-called Nexus definition for antisemitism in its May 2023 document to combat antisemitism. The IHRA definition has been adopted by 48 countries and now 37 U.S. States while the Nexus definition has not been adopted by any countries. The Nexus Project destroyed what little credibility it had in opposing antisemitism when they wrote on X that Actor Mark Ruffalo's comments "did not cross the line into antisemitic speech." Jstreet joined Nexus in claiming that Ruffalo’s comments were not antisemitic.
The recently passed Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act, which is in essence an anti BDS legislation against boycotts of israel by academic institutions had only 33 Democratic members of Congress supporting the legislation and passed 237-169 with 167 Democratic members of Congress voting against the Act. The lack of support for this bipartisan legislation by Democrats indicates a further slide by the Democratic party against Israel and legislation against boycotts of israel.
Recently, Democratic Congressman James Raskin condemned the Trump Administration for keeping antisemitic students out of America even though the policy has led to a drastic decrease in antisemitism on College campuses.
It is only once the Democrats start paying a political price with the Jewish vote for their failure to stand with Israel and against antisemitism within their own ranks is there a chance they will change their ways.