Congress: 115 · Status: active · 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 S 198.
Sponsor: Rubio, Marco (R-FL)
Combating European Anti-Semitism Act This bill expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) it is in the U.S. national interest to combat anti-Semitism at home and abroad; (2) there is a need to ensure the security of European Jewish communities, including synagogues, schools, and cemeteries; and (3) the United States should continue to emphasize the importance of combating anti-Semitism in multilateral bodies. The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 is amended to require the Department of State's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom to include, for each European country in which threats or attacks against Jewish persons, schools, and religious institutions are particularly significant, a description of: the security challenges and needs of European Jewish communities and European law enforcement agencies; U.S. efforts to partner with European law enforcement agencies and civil society groups to combat anti-Semitic incidents; educational programming and public awareness initiatives that impart values of pluralism and tolerance, showcase the positive contributions of Jews, and pay special attention to population segments that exhibit a high degree of anti-Semitic animus; and efforts by European governments to adopt and apply a working definition of anti-Semitism.
The bill expresses Congress's position that combating antisemitism in Europe is a U.S. national interest and requires the State Department's annual religious freedom report to describe, for European countries with significant threats to Jewish communities, security challenges, U.S. law enforcement partnerships, educational programs promoting tolerance, and efforts by European governments to adopt a working definition of antisemitism.
The bill's requirement that European governments adopt 'a working definition of antisemitism' is widely understood to mean the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition, which classifies several forms of Israel criticism—including characterizing Israel as a 'racist endeavor,' drawing comparisons to Nazi Germany, or applying 'double standards' to Israel—as antisemitic. This pressures European countries to treat certain speech about Israeli policy as hate speech, making it a mechanism for regulating Israel-critical discourse under the guise of antisemitism prevention.