Two congressmen introduced a resolution this week that appears to include pressure on tech companies to censor people.
Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) have co-sponsored a resolution “condemning antisemitic rhetoric from prominent online personalities.” At four pages long, it urges “social media platforms and public leaders to denounce and address” antisemitism.
The resolution blames online platforms for the recent rise in anti-Jewish bigotry. It claims antisemitic incidents have “significantly increased, including a 344 percent increase over the past 5 years, and [an] 893 percent increase over the past 10 years.” And the reason is because online platforms have served as “a major vector for the spread of such hatred.”
Piker and Owens
Two influencers are targeted in the resolution, Hasan Piker and Candace Owens, both of whom have intensely criticized the Israeli government’s military operation in Gaza. “Piker has openly applauded Hamas’ terrorism, downplayed the mass rape of civilians on October 7th, and dehumanized Orthodox Jews as ‘inbred,’” Lawler said in a statement. “Owens has trafficked in vile conspiracy theories, promoted blood libels, and platformed Holocaust deniers.”
“Hatred is hatred, period,” Gottheimer said. “We must stand up and speak out. I get that speaking up is not easy, but our constituents didn’t elect us to always take the easy path. That’s what principled leadership is all about.”
Piker denied being an antisemite. “They are once again conflating legitimate critics of Israel with actual antisemites,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, according to reports. “They would rather complain about fake antisemitism in defense of Israel than call out the real sources of Jew hatred with a full chest. I have spent my entire career combating all forms of bigotry including antisemitism and will continue to do so in spite [of] this cynical ploy to satisfy donors.”
Owens has called the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza a genocide. So has another popular podcaster, Tucker Carlson. The Israeli human-rights groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel agree. As do millions of people around the world. And, if polls are to be believed, most American Jews believe Israel committed war crimes in Gaza, with about four in 10 saying it’s guilty of genocide.
Israel and Gaza
Reports say 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza, most of them civilians, thousands of them children. Most of the Gaza Strip has been carpet bombed, leaving a majority of people homeless. A few months back, U.S. President Donald Trump admitted people were starving in Gaza. Understandably, people have spoken out against that.
Israel has justified its severe response as a proper way to address the October 7 massacre during which Hamas brutally killed 1,200 Israelis. While it goes widely unreported, it should not be overlooked that Israeli defense officials reportedly ignored several warnings from within its own defense apparatus of what was coming. Nevertheless, this has all inflamed tremendous criticism toward the Israeli government. In some cases, it has ginned up genuine anti-Jewish bigotry.
Not the First Attempt
This latest resolution is part of a long list of similar attempts. Last year, Senate Democrats introduced a resolution condemning Nick Fuentes and Carlson. The move was part of the weekslong hysteria triggered by Carlson’s decision to interview Fuentes on his popular podcast. Fuentes has expressed legitimate anti-Jewish sentiments.
There is also a live bill titled the “Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2025” sitting in the Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. That bill mandates that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights officially adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA’s) definition of antisemitism.
On its website, the IHRA has an entire page dedicated to laying out its version of antisemitism. While many of the definitions and examples align with those of legitimate bigotry, the IHRA also includes vague and confusing information, or descriptions that don’t typically fall within the definition of bigotry. According to the IHRA, antisemitism is a “certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.” It further says that antisemitism includes “targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.” (Emphasis added.) But criticism toward Israel is acceptable — as long as it doesn’t go beyond a level normally applied to any other country. There is no indication of what constitutes “normal” criticism toward other countries. It’s also not OK to accuse Jewish people “of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.” And it’s also antisemitic to compare Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, which many have done.
Not Constitutional
The men who sponsored this latest resolution don’t score well in TNA’s Freedom Index. Gottheimer has managed to accrue an impressively low score of 7 percent. That’s how often he votes, on average, along constitutional lines. Lawler, a Republican, is barely better. His score is 39 percent. So it’s not surprising that they are pushing censorship.
While not illegal, bigotry is always wrong, no matter which group of people is on the receiving end. It’s also a collectivist endeavor, contrary to the American and individualistic approach to judging people. Bigotry is not the American way. But neither is censorship. That’s what totalitarian states do. Exposure and debate are how free societies address their problems. This should be no different.
