Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90
A view of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
(JNS) — The U.S. House of Representatives passed resolutions this week condemning antisemitism and moving to strip the tax-exempt status from organizations that provide material support to designated terrorist organizations.
A resolution “Condemning the global rise of antisemitism and calling upon countries and international bodies to counter antisemitism” passed Wednesday by a vote 388-21.
The non-binding measure welcomes the decision by 40 countries, led by the United States, in July to adopt the Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism, which includes the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
“The spiritual cancer of antisemitism is metastasizing — not only in our own country but in many others as well — at a rate that is both shocking and sickening,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who co-sponsored the resolution with Rep. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.).
“The Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism constitute a program of best practices that can be adopted by countries and organizations to formulate policies that boldly and effectively respond to this pernicious hatred,” Smith said.
The 21 “nay” votes on the resolution came from three Democrats — Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.), all of whom are members of the so-called “Squad” of left-wing progressives — and 18 Republicans.
The group of Republicans who voted “nay” overlapped almost completely with the list of Republicans who voted against the Antisemitism Awareness Act in May, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), on the grounds, they said, that the IHRA definition is contrary to the principle of free speech or because it labels as antisemitic the claim that Jews killed Jesus.
On Thursday, the House passed the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which strips the tax-exempt status of nonprofits that support terrorism and amends the tax code so that Americans taken hostage don’t face tax penalties from their time in captivity.
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said that included one of her own constituents, who is being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan, as well as the American hostages taken by Hamas in Gaza.
“The last thing these Americans should have to face when returning home is tax penalties from the government,” Tenney stated. “The Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act corrects this flaw in our tax code, ensuring that individuals returning home from unimaginable hardship are not penalized with back taxes by the IRS.”
The bill passed with bipartisan support, 219-184, with the 15 Democratic “yea” votes mostly coming from pro-Israel and Jewish members, including Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Brad Schneider (D-Ill.). The lone Republican “nay” vote came from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a libertarian who frequently votes against legislation relating to foreign policy issues.
Some opponents of the bill, including the Council on Islamic-American Relations, argued that it could be used arbitrarily to target groups that hold anti-Israel views.
Lawmakers and Jewish groups have raised questions about the funding links between antisemitic and anti-Israel protest groups — many of which have tax-exempt status and unknown funding sources — and foreign terrorist organizations.
In October, the United States and Canada designated the “sham charity” Samidoun, which has helped organize anti-Israel protests in both countries, as a front group for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization.
In July, Avril Haines, the U.S. director of national intelligence, announced that Iran is also providing money to anti-Israel protesters, though she added that recipients of the money may not have been aware that they were receiving aid from a foreign power.
