I have a piece up at National Review Online about the Antisemitism Awareness Act. As described in my article, the most important feature of the act is that it codifies administrative guidance that began in the Bush Administration holding that Jews are protecting from ethnic discrimination by Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Before 2003, the Department of Education treated Jews an exclusively religious group not covered by the Act.
The controversial part of the Act is that it codifies the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism in the context of determining discriminatory intent for related allegedly discriminatory actions in Title VI enforcement. That definition gives examples of statements that, depending on the context, could be antisemitic. Some of those examples relate to Israel, and one of those discusses the use of anti-Jewish tropes with origins in Christian polemic used against Israel. This had led to hysterical and wildly inaccurate claims that the law criminalizes criticism of Israel, or will somehow lead to making Christianity illegal. I explain in the peace why these claims are nonsense. I note that It's hard to imagine anyone sensible arguing that the statement, "Of course Israel is massacring Palestinians, that's exactly what Christ-Killers would do" can't be evidence of discriminatory intent for related action.
More sober critics, like co-blogger Eugene V. earlier today, worry about the chilling effect it will have on anti-Israel speech given that hostile environment cases sometimes rest in part on speech that would otherwise be constitutionally protected. I respond so such critics as follows:
