re: Bill to criminalize criticisms of the Israeli gov't?

The bill is very short...it appears that this gross expansion of the definition of antisemitism will make one guilty of violating title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.)
This invokes liberty and property interests, put in jeopardy by your speech, which violates the First Amendment.
In short, if they investigate you for things you do, they can call you antisemitic and attach that to your actions, based on this huge expansion of the term and say you are discriminating based on religion.

Here is the bill
H. R. 6090

To provide for the consideration of a definition of antisemitism set forth by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance for the enforcement of Federal antidiscrimination laws concerning education programs or activities, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 26, 2023

Mr. Lawler (for himself, Mr. Gottheimer, Mr. Miller of Ohio, Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. Kean of New Jersey, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Ms. Stefanik, Mr. Kustoff, Mr. Norcross, and Ms. Brown) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL

To provide for the consideration of a definition of antisemitism set forth by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance for the enforcement of Federal antidiscrimination laws concerning education programs or activities, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the “Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023”.

SEC. 2. Sense of Congress.

It is the sense of Congress that—

(1) title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving Federal financial assistance;

(2) while such title does not cover discrimination based solely on religion, individuals who face discrimination based on actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics do not lose protection under such title for also being members of a group that share a common religion;

(3) discrimination against Jews may give rise to a violation of such title when the discrimination is based on race, color, or national origin, which can include discrimination based on actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics;

(4) it is the policy of the United States to enforce such title against prohibited forms of discrimination rooted in antisemitism as vigorously as against all other forms of discrimination prohibited by such title; and

(5) as noted in the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism issued by the White House on May 25, 2023, it is critical to—

(A) increase awareness and understanding of antisemitism, including its threat to America;

(B) improve safety and security for Jewish communities;

(C) reverse the normalization of antisemitism and counter antisemitic discrimination; and

(D) expand communication and collaboration between communities.

SEC. 3. Findings.

Congress finds the following:

(1) Antisemitism is on the rise in the United States and is impacting Jewish students in K–12 schools, colleges, and universities.

(2) The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (referred to in this Act as the “IHRA”) Working Definition of Antisemitism is a vital tool which helps individuals understand and identify the various manifestations of antisemitism.

(3) On December 11, 2019, Executive Order 13899 extended protections against discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to individuals subjected to antisemitism on college and university campuses and tasked Federal agencies to consider the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism when enforcing title VI of such Act.

(4) Since 2018, the Department of Education has used the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism when investigating violations of that title VI.

(5) The use of alternative definitions of antisemitism impairs enforcement efforts by adding multiple standards and may fail to identify many of the modern manifestations of antisemitism.

(6) The White House released the first-ever United States National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism on May 25, 2023, making clear that the fight against this hate is a national, bipartisan priority that must be successfully conducted through a whole-of-government-and-society approach.

SEC. 4. Definitions.

For purposes of this Act, the term “definition of antisemitism”—

(1) means the definition of antisemitism adopted on May 26, 2016, by the IHRA, of which the United States is a member, which definition has been adopted by the Department of State; and

(2) includes the “[c]ontemporary examples of antisemitism” identified in the IHRA definition.

SEC. 5. Rule of construction for title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In reviewing, investigating, or deciding whether there has been a violation of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) on the basis of race, color, or national origin, based on an individual’s actual or perceived shared Jewish ancestry or Jewish ethnic characteristics, the Department of Education shall take into consideration the definition of antisemitism as part of the Department’s assessment of whether the practice was motivated by antisemitic intent.

SEC. 6. Other rules of construction.

(a) General rule of construction.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed—

(1) to expand the authority of the Secretary of Education;

(2) to alter the standards pursuant to which the Department of Education makes a determination that harassing conduct amounts to actionable discrimination; or

(3) to diminish or infringe upon the rights protected under any other provision of law that is in effect as of the date of enactment of this Act.

(b) Constitutional protections.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to diminish or infringe upon any right protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

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This invokes liberty and property interests, put in jeopardy by your speech, which violates the First Amendment. In short, if they investigate you for things you do, they can call you antisemitic and attach that to your actions, based on this huge expansion of the term and say you are discriminating based on religion.

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Looks like you didn’t bother reading the bill that you posted.

All this does is expand the definition of antisemitism as it applies to the following (title vi)

Prohibition against exclusion from participation in, denial of benefits of, and discrimination under federally assisted programs on ground of race, color or national origin

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The bill doesn’t criminalize anything, it’s just updating the definition of antisemitism as it applies to the department of education federal funding.

This was the whole point of the congressional hearings with all the university presidents. Federally funded schools will face repercussions for not checking their pro terrorist student base.

This has no impact on any individuals.

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The definition of antisemitism is ridiculous, and that in itself has a chilling effect on speech and violates the First Amendment.

It punishes for speech, even worse it can be used to punish the innocent for speech made by others such as university presidents because federal funding can be pulled that obviously trickles down to fund various positions and so forth.

From DOJ
If a recipient of federal assistance is found to have discriminated and voluntary compliance cannot be achieved, the federal agency providing the assistance should either initiate fund termination proceedings or refer the matter to the Department of Justice for appropriate legal action.

DOJ will then get a court order. And what happens if you violate the court order? You are criminally prosecuted. And why would you adhere to a court order telling you to comply with something you know to be so grossly overbroad that it violates your rights?

This bill is 100% unconstitutional. Also, because the definition of antisemitism has been stretched so far, it is creating a protected group at the expense of others in violation of the 14th Amendment.

Republicans are worthless as tits on a bull.

It’s pretty obvious that both parties have been bought out by wealthy Jewish donors. Anyone who thinks that Jews controlling both political parties is a conspiracy, they’re an absolute moron who are in denial of reality.

109 countries. It’s never their fault. They never fail to cause division in every fricking country they touch.

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Is a school you dimwit.

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They don't investigate schools. They investigate people. People run schools. Those weren't schools at those congressional hearings, those were people. And the questions were very pointed about their opinions, past tweets, etc. You are engaging in deliberate avoidance and willful ignorance. You know very well how this will be wielded against PEOPLE but you are trying to ignore that and you ask that everyone just bury their heads in the sand and do the same.

Substitute the appropriate language to make this about anti-Palestinian or anti-Islamic discrimination and then get back to us about your position.

Hitchens once spoke about the issue of bias against Islam, which you remember came up after 911. He was pointing out that calling attention to inherent use of violence, justified by the Koran, did not constitute bias. He brought up the Barbary Pirates taking US sailors as slaves. Jefferson and some others went to London to speak to their ambassador and asked why, and the response was that the Koran allowed it. This is history and these are facts. Imagine if pointing that out was considered anti-Islam or discriminatory against Muslims. And pointing this out was then put under the umbrella of being anti-Islamic in a bill like this - that language and definition would be used against you, and against an institution that you may run or a department that you may run. If you're the Dean of Research and a former history professor and you spoke about this stuff, now a Muslim professor can accuse you of violating Title VI if you don't allocate funds to overhaul his lab, and Dept of Ed or another agency can say "hey there is anti-Islamic discrimination taking place here, let's pull their funding". They don't need proof, they just need an allegation, and they can hold you and your department / school hostage until you comply with whatever nonsense they come up with; and the heavy hand of government often means that Dean of Research gets fired so the school can demonstrate total subservience and compliance to the great administrators in the sky. This is how this stuff gets used by the government. You know this but you are trying to avoid this reality and seem to think everyone else is too stupid to understand this.

Go read DOJ's stuff on Title VI - they are stretching this out so far as to include it in their "environmental justice" garbage.

You are blinded by an obvious bias and you are happy to overlook these violations because they favor the group that you favor.

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The last section of the bill also explicitly states that it doesn't impede on an individuals first amendment right.

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And yet everything that precedes that sentence violates the Constitution.

They don't have anything better to do than this?

They love to play the victim card the most out of any group I’ve seen. They’ll actively scream “You’re anti-semetic!” when you haven’t even said anything.

You know you’ve got it good as a religious group when your community has an average household income that’s nearly 3x higher than almost every other ethnic group, and have laws criminalizing anyone who doesn’t praise your people. Less than 2% of the total population and yet they hold close to 50% of global wealth.

People need to wake the frick up as to who rules this country. It’s not the Democrats and it’s not the GOP.