Rep. Summer Lee Statement on Performative Partisan Resolution that Does Nothing to Address Antisemitism
**For Immediate Release**
Rep. Summer Lee Statement on Performative Partisan Resolution that Does Nothing to Address Antisemitism
(Washington, DC) – Today, Congresswoman Summer Lee voted ‘No’ on a Republican resolution that politicizes the rise in antisemitism to try to divide the Jewish community and weaponize their pain. Rep. Lee released the following statement on H. Res. 894:
“As the Member of Congress representing the community still grieving from deadliest antisemitic attack in the history of the United States just five years ago, I have made combating hatred and bigotry in all its forms and protecting Western Pennsylvania’s Jewish community a top priority.” said Rep. Summer Lee (PA-12). “However, this extreme Republican resolution does absolutely nothing to address antisemitism–classifying any and all criticism of any of the actions of the Israeli government as antisemitic while ignoring the origins of antisemitism that motivated the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and ongoing threats Jewish Americans face every day. Combating rising anti-Jewish, Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian hate demands serious action–not performative resolutions that seek to politicize the rise of hate and divide the Jewish community. I will continue to work tirelessly to ensure this Congress fights back against antisemitism, islamophobia, and bigotry.”
“As my colleague Rep. Jerry Nadler (NY-12) pointed out on the House floor:
“The resolution states that all anti-Zionism is antisemitism. That’s intellectually disingenuous or factually wrong […] the authors, if they were at all familiar with Jewish history and culture, should know about Jewish anti-Zionism that was and is expressly not antisemitic […] The GOP has shown themselves fundamentally unserious. [They] carefully avoided mentioning any of the obvious instances of antisemitism coming from their own leaders.”
“One of my own constituents Mandy Simons so eloquently wrote in an op-ed:
“As a citizen of Israel, now a long-term resident and citizen of the U.S., this attitude is strange. For Israelis inside Israel, there is nothing anti-Israel about criticizing government actions and policies – witness the widespread demonstrations which took place throughout 2023 in Israeli cities large and small.”
Rep. Lee continued, “I refuse to vote for any resolution that will force me to call my Jewish and Israeli constituents antisemitic.”
Rep. Lee has worked tirelessly to secure federal funding to combat antisemitism in Western Pennsylvania, helping to move forward $1 million in the latest House Appropriations bill for the Tree of Life Foundation to create a community gathering space to educate against antisemitism, and has also requested over $500,000 for the 10.27 Healing Partnership at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh. Rep. Lee also recently sponsored a resolution recognizing the fifth year commemoration of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that was cosponsored by 63 House Democrats including all eight Democratic members of the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation. Rep. Lee has also introduced the Disarm Hate Act with Senator Bob Casey to prevent hate-fueled individuals from purchasing firearms. Rep. Lee has also also condemned the antisemitic property damage in Frick Park at the end of October–saying “the antisemitic targeting of a Jewish community member’s property in Frick Park as we commemorate 5 years since the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting is unacceptable and wrong. I condemn them in the strongest possible terms.”
