The United States House of Representatives passed a resolution that reaffirms Israel's right to exist, denounces antisemitism, and condemns the Hamas militant group’s actions against Israelis, with only one member of Congress voting against the legislation.
“Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the lone member of the House to vote against a resolution equating criticism of the modern state of Israel with antisemitism.
The resolution passed in a vote of 412-1-1, as Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) voted ‘present’. The bill states that the House ‘reaffirms the State of Israel has the right to exist’ and ‘recognizes that denying Israel’s right to exist is a form of antisemitism’.
Massie explained his opposition in a post on X. ‘I agree with the title ‘Reaffirming the State of Israel’s Right to Exist’ and much of the language, but I’m voting “No” on the resolution because it equates anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Antisemitism is deplorable, but expanding it to include criticism of Israel is not helpful’, he wrote.
Massie has voted against other Israel-related legislation, including a bill to give Israel $14.3 billion more in military aid to support its war in Gaza. For his position, Massie has been targeted by the Israel lobby”. -Dave DeCamp, Antiwar
Regardless of whether what Massie believes to be “anti-Zionism” can reasonably be considered antisemitic, the supposed reasoning behind his need to distinguish between criticism of the Zionist ideology and attacks on worldwide Jewry sheds light on one significant drawback in his libertarian convictions, in which he fails to consider that a political movement such as Zionism grew out of a desire to form a distinct national identity and runs contrary to the idea of having a displaced, cosmopolitan diaspora without a homeland always trying to survive as an ethnic minority.
The truth is, there wouldn’t be an Israeli lobby in American governance to target representatives like Thomas Massie had Zionism prevailed over the internationalists it sought to oppose, as was its earliest intention.