Anti-Semitism Is a Political Strategy, Not a Form of Discrimination

Motivated by the rising tide on college campuses of anti-Semitic sentiment—often in the form of hatred of the Jewish state—the U.S. Senate passed the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which would effectively expand the 1964 Civil Rights Act so as better to apply to discrimination against Jews. In particular, its passage would make it easier for the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to respond to and punish the mistreatment of Jews at universities. It now awaits passage by the House of Representatives. Ruth Wisse, while applauding the bill, argues that it is poorly matched to the realities of anti-Semitism: