Congress: 115 · Status: passed · Israel/Palestine classification: pro-Israel
Data (JSON) — machine-readable record of this bill (identifiers, sponsor, classification, actions, and the member-by-member vote breakdown).
Official record on Congress.gov — full text, actions, and cosponsor history for HR 672.
Sponsor: Lowey, Nita M. (D-NY)
Combating European Anti-Semitism Act of 2017 This bill requires the Department of State to include in its Annual Report on International Religious Freedom information about each European country where there have been particularly significant threats or attacks against Jewish persons or institutions. The report shall include information about the security needs of such Jewish communities, U.S. efforts to partner with European law enforcement agencies and civil society groups, European public awareness initiatives to promote pluralism and tolerance, and efforts by European governments to adopt and apply a working definition of anti-Semitism.
The bill requires the State Department to include in its annual religious freedom report detailed information about antisemitic threats and attacks in European countries, security needs of Jewish communities, U.S. partnerships with European law enforcement, public awareness campaigns promoting tolerance, and whether European governments have adopted a working definition of antisemitism.
The bill's focus on European governments adopting 'a working definition of antisemitism' signals support for the IHRA definition, whose 'contemporary examples' classify several forms of Israel criticism—including describing Israel as racist, comparing it to Nazi Germany, or applying double standards to it—as antisemitic. This can function as speech regulation that conflates Israel criticism with hate speech in international advocacy spaces.