US lawmakers accused of equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has blasted US lawmakers who voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill that broadens the definition of anti-Semitism in the US.
The proposal, which aims to codify a new definition of anti-Semitism, was passed 320-91 and will now have to be also approved by the Senate. Critics fear the new definition – which is taken from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) – will be used to label any criticism of Israel in the US as anti-Semitic.
“Tonight we condemned members of the US House of Representatives who voted to approve a one-sided and dishonest proposal about campus antisemitism that ignored anti-Palestinian racism and conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism,” CAIR said in a post on social media.
“The push to adopt this act was motivated by an anti-Palestinian bias aimed at stifling young student voices advocating for Palestinian human rights, especially following Israel’s genocidal invasion of Gaza,” CAIR’s Robert S McCaw said in a statement.
UN says Israeli authorities interfered with 37 percent of attempts to deliver aid to Gaza’s starving north in April.
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