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Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who led an earlier effort to condemn his Democratic colleagues who engaged in antisemitic tropes, introduced a resolution Thursday taking aim at celebrities like the former Kanye West who use “social media platforms to spread their antisemitic, hateful views, including Holocaust denial and praise for Adolf Hitler.”
The bipartisan resolution garnered 85 supporters, almost one-fifth of the U.S. House. The four lead sponsors were Democrats Gottheimer and Kathy Manning of North Carolina and Republicans Don Bacon of Nebraska and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. Eight New Jersey lawmakers were among the co-sponsors.
The resolution does not single out anyone by name, but does cite the December 2019 attack that killed three people at a kosher grocery store in Jersey City as one of the recent “high-profile attacks on Jews.”
“Over the last years, we’ve witnessed an alarming spike in activity from domestic extremist groups threatening our communities with antisemitism, violence, and hate — in person, online, and deep in our communities,” said Gottheimer, the only Jewish U.S. representative from New Jersey
“Celebrities have continued to spew antisemitic filth, promote Nazism, and praise Hitler,” he said. “It’s not partisan to condemn this vile behavior, and I can’t stress enough how dangerous it is to promote these ideas.”
The resolution condemned antisemitism and called on faith leaders, Americans of influence and public officials to “use their platforms to speak out against antisemitism;” calls for “robust” Holocaust education; and said the House stood “in unity with the Jewish people in the United States and around the world against this rising antisemitism.”
With the current Congress scheduled to adjourn at the end of the month, it remains to be seen whether there will be time for the House to debate and pass the resolution.
Former President Donald Trump came under fire for a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate with Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, and Nick Fuentes, who attended the August 2017 march of neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, and has “repeatedly spread racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.
And Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving was suspended in November after he promoted an antisemitic movie that claimed the Holocaust was a lie.
One of the sponsors of the resolution was Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. Omar’s February 2019 comments resurrecting the ages-old falsehood that Jews were not 100% loyal to the country that they were citizens of caused Gottheimer to lead an ultimately successful effort to pass a House resolution condemning antisemitism, though the final measure also criticized attacks on Muslims.
The other New Jerseyans listed as co-sponsors were Reps. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd Dist., Andy Kim, D-3rd Dist., Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., Tom Malinowski, D-7th Dist., Albio Sires, D-8th Dist., Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9th Dist., Mikie Sherrill, D-11th Dist.; and Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-12th Dist.
Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., also co-sponsored the resolution, as did Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the chief sponsor of the 2019 measure.
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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant.
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