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PRO-ISRAEL SENATORS SHOW THEIR HAND BY OPPOSING FREE SPEECH
PROTECTIONS IN NOW-DELAYED ANTISEMITISM BILL  
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Robert Mccaw; Edward Ahmed Mitchell
May 6, 2025
Common Dreams
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_ The Antisemitism Awareness Act has never been about countering
antisemitism or protecting Jewish students from discrimination; it is
about silencing pro-Palestine students and protecting the Israeli
government from criticism. _

"Free Mahmoud Khalil Now" Hundreds of anti-ICE protesters are
gathered outside of the USCIS San Francisco Field Office on Sansome
Street and marched in streets to demand release of Palestinian
activist Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University who is arreste, Tayfun
Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

 

When Senate Republicans brought the so-called Antisemitism Awareness
Act up for a committee vote last week, they were expecting an easy
win. After all, the bill had the support of Senate Republican leaders,
most Israel [[link removed]] advocacy groups,
and even some Democrats.

Yet the bill faced an unexpected problem that may ultimately doom its
passage. During a markup hearing of the HELP Committee, two
Republicans broke ranks, joining all Democrats in approving free
speech amendments that undermined the true goal of the bill: requiring
colleges and universities to conflate criticism of the Israeli
government and Zionism with antisemitism.

The first amendment considered was HELP Chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy's
(R-La.)manager amendment
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which affirmed that “Nothing in this Act shall be constructed to
diminish or infringe upon any right protected under the First
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States."

While that vague reassurance passed with bipartisan support, most
Republicans refused to support substantive amendments that explicitly
referenced Gaza [[link removed]] as an example
of free speech, laid out examples of protected student speech, and
prohibited retaliation against dissent.

If the true purpose of the Antisemitism Awareness Act was protecting
Jewish students from illegal anti-Semitic discrimination, then none of
these amendments should have been a problem.

At start of the hearing, ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders
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(I-Vt.) warned, “Unfortunately and unacceptably, the Antisemitism
Awareness Act we are considering today would label speech that
criticizes the Israeli government and Netanyahu’s horrific war in
Gaza as antisemitic and a violation of civil rights laws, and that is
an extremely dangerous precedent.”

Sanders then offered several amendments designed to reduce the risk
that government agencies and educational institutions can use the bill
as a new tool of censorship.

His first amendment clarified
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"_no person shall be considered antisemitic for using their rights of
free speech or protest under the First Amendment to the Constitution
of the United States to ... oppose Benjamin Netanyahu's led war
effort, which has killed more than 50,000 and wounded more than
113,000, 60 percent of whom are women and children” and "oppose the
Israeli government's devastation of Gaza_..."

All Democrats voted in favor, which was itself a surprise given how
many Democratic politicians have desperately avoided any criticism of
the Israeli government. The bigger surprise came from Senator Rand
Paul. He broke ranks with other Republicans and supported the
amendment, ensuring its passage.

A second Sanders amendment
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declared that the federal government cannot force any school, college,
or university to adopt a policy that a branch of the federal
government may compel a school "_to violate the rights of a student,
faculty, or staff member under the First Amendment to the Constitution
of the United States." _

In a sane world, every Republican senator would have supported such a
basic amendment. Yet all opposed it except for two: Sen. Paul and Sen.
Susan Collins (D-Maine).

The third Sanders' amendment
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clarified that speech, such as distributing flyers, inviting guest
speakers, or engaging in classroom discussions, is protected unless it
involves true threats or incitement of violence. Again, Paul and
Collins were the only Republicans to break with their colleagues to
support it.

Sen. Ed Markey [[link removed]] (D-Mass.)
introduced an amendment
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prohibiting the federal government from detaining or deporting
students based on protected political speech. That amendment passed by
a single vote, thanks again to Senator Paul. Markey stated
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“_When a young person writes an op-ed in the student newspaper and
get whisked off of the streets of Tuffs University to a prison in
Louisiana with no charges that is what we are debating today_.”

If the true purpose of the Antisemitism Awareness Act was protecting
Jewish students from illegal anti-Semitic discrimination, then none of
these amendments should have been a problem. They should have received
universal support, and their approval should not have derailed the
bill.

Yet the fate of the legislation is now up in the air.

HELP Committee Chair Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said during the hearing
that [[link removed]], “Supporting
these amendments is an effort to kill this bill.”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Ok.) responded the next day by telling
_Jewish Insider_
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that “Rand Paul totally killed that bill.” Sen. Roger Marshall
(R-Kan.) also said, “These amendments are dealbreakers.”

Why? Because the Antisemitism Awareness Act has never been about
countering antisemitism or protecting Jewish students from
discrimination; it is about silencing pro-Palestine students and
protecting the Israeli government from criticism.

The bill would require government agencies and schools to enforce
federal civil rights law using the International Holocaust Remembrance
Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism—a vague and
widely disputed standard that poses a mortal threat to First Amendment
freedoms.

Kenneth S. Stern, the original drafter of the IHRA definition, has
testified to Congress
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that, "My fear is, if we similarly enshrine this definition into law,
outside groups will try and suppress–rather than answer–political
speech they don’t like. The academy, Jewish students, and faculty
teaching about Jewish issues, will all suffer." Stern has repeatedly
stated that the definition was never meant to be enforceable law and
that doing so risks unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. That is
precisely what this legislation seeks to achieve.

The IHRA definition declares that any student describing the founding
of Israel as a "racist endeavor" has engaged in antisemitism
punishable by their school and the government of the United
States—even though racist militias and terrorist groups like the
Irgun subjected Palestinians to a horrific campaign of ethnic
cleansing and mass murder during the founding of Israel.

IHRA also declares anyone “applying double standards” to Israel is
antisemtiic. If someone criticizes the Israeli government's war crimes
in Gaza but hasn't made time to criticize the RSF's war crimes in
Sudan, they must be antisemitic. Ditto for anyone “drawing
comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis,”
comparisons that--while controversial—have even been made by
far-right supporters of the Israeli government.

As Sen. Paul noted during the hearing, these and other examples
establish a dangerous double standard. No other foreign government is
granted this level of immunity from criticism under U.S. civil rights
law. If enforced through Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, these vague
and politically motivated examples would transform legitimate
political critique into grounds for federal investigations, and
dissent into a punishable offense.

If passed, this bill—even in its watered-down form—would open the
door for the Israeli government and its supporters to misconstrue
American civil rights laws.

CAIR, like many other civil rights groups, has called on congress to
not pass the Antisemitism Awareness Act into law, as it would give the
Department of Education—under a Trump administration already
targeting, arresting, detaining, and attempting to deport
anti-genocide protesters—even more power to investigate, silence,
and punish speech on campus critical of Israel. We are already seeing
the consequences. More than 1,700 student visas have been revoked
since January. Students like Columbia’s Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts’
Rumeysa Ozturk remain in ICE custody for nothing more than
participating in peaceful, protected protest and speech. Others face
deportation for daring to speak out. This is not theoretical. This is
not speculative. It is happening now.

In its original form, the Antisemitism Awareness Act would have given
the Trump administration even more power to escalate its attack on
free speech for Palestine
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of Sanders' amendments, the now-contradictory bill still threatens
free speech protections by including the IHRA definition.

That's still not good enough for most Senate Republicans and
pro-Israel groups pushing the bill. Now that the bill cannot be so
easily weaponized to silence dissent against Israeli government's war
crimes in Gaza or its founding ideology, at least some of its key
backers are threatening to abandon it.

Congress must reject this bill in full. No amendment can salvage
legislation built on an anti-democratic foundation. Americans have the
right to speak out against injustice, whether it occurs in our own
country or in Gaza.

We must be absolutely clear about what is at stake. If passed, this
bill—even in its watered-down form—would open the door for the
Israeli government and its supporters to misconstrue American civil
rights laws. That is not only a betrayal of free speech. It is a
threat to American sovereignty.

Americans must unequivocally oppose antisemitism, Islamophobia,
anti-Black racism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and all forms of hate.
But conflating antisemitism with opposition to Israel’s military
occupation, apartheid policies, or the ongoing genocide in Gaza is not
just dishonest. It is dangerous.

Congress must reject this bill in full. No amendment can salvage
legislation built on an anti-democratic foundation. Americans have the
right to speak out against injustice, whether it occurs in our own
country or in Gaza.

Silencing speech does not stop hate. It only deepens injustice. And we
should not stand by while our government attempts to criminalize moral
clarity.

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Robert McCaw is government affairs manager for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil
rights and advocacy organization.

Edward Ahmed Mitchell is a civil rights attorney who serves as the
national deputy executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy
organization in the United States.

* Antisemitism Awareness Act
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