Jewish News Syndicate

“Whereas whether from the political right, center or left, bigotry, discrimination, oppression, racism and imputations of dual loyalty threaten American democracy and have no place in American political discourse,” states the resolution.

 It defines anti-Semitism as “the centuries-old bigotry and form of racism faced by Jewish people simply because they are Jews.” Islamophobia, according to the measure, is “prejudicial attitudes towards Muslims and people who are perceived to be Muslim, including the irrational belief that Muslims are inherently violent, disloyal and foreign.”​

It then cites examples of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim incidents from the October 2018 Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh to mosque attacks in 2017 in Minnesota, Texas, Florida and Washington state.

The legislation came in response to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who on Sunday defended her recent remarks accusing her “Jewish colleagues” for attacking her and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for labeling every criticism of theirs as anti-Israel because of the faith of the two congresswomen, in addition to slamming her critics regarding “the political influence in this country that says it is OK to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”

Omar voted in favor of the resolution, which cites anti-Semitic instances such as “accusing Jews of being more loyal to Israel or to the Jewish community than to the United States constitutes anti-Semitism because it suggests that Jewish citizens cannot be patriotic Americans and trusted neighbors, when Jews have loyally served our Nation every day since its founding, whether in public or community life or military service.”