ENROLLED ORIGINAL
A RESOLUTION
24-421
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
April 5, 2022
To declare the sense of the Council on denouncing antisemitism and all hateful speech and bias-
motivated violent actions in the District of Columbia.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the Sense of the Council Condemning Antisemitism Resolution of
2022.
Sec. 2. The Council finds that:
(1) Antisemitism, including harassment on the basis of actual or perceived Jewish
origin, ancestry, ethnicity, identity, affiliation, or faith, remains a persistent, pervasive, and
disturbing problem in contemporary American society.
(2) Antisemitism is a challenge to the basic principles of tolerance, pluralism, and
democracy and the shared values that bind Americans and many of our allies together.
(3) Antisemitism threatens public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and the
religious sphere.
(4) The Anti-Defamation Leagues (ADL) data shows that antisemitic incidents
are at a historic high 3 of the last 4 years have seen the highest number of antisemitic incidents
in the United States on record since ADLs Center on Extremism began tracking this information
in 1979.
(5) According to the American Jewish Committees 2021 State of Antisemitism in
America report, one in 4 American Jews have been the target of antisemitism over the past 12
months, including verbal or physical attacks and harassment online or on social media.
(6) Antisemitism is multifaceted and multiform and is manifested in many ways,
making it easier to spread and harder to combat.
(7) Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity and
blames Jews for why things go wrong. It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms. and
action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.
(8) Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations
about Jews or the power of Jews as a collective such as, especially but not exclusively, the
myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or Jews controlling the media, economy, government, or
other societal institutions is antisemitic speech.
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(9) Accusing Jews as a 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 is an example of antisemitism.
(10) Accusing Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating
the Holocaust is an especially hurtful example of antisemitism.
(11) The use of symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (for
example, claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis, drawing
comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, and holding Jews collectively
responsible for the actions of the state of Israel are antisemitic actions.
(12) Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel or to the alleged
priorities of Jews worldwide than to the interests of their own nations echo antisemitic tropes of
dual loyalty.
(13) The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances working definition of
antisemitism, adopted by over 30 countries and embraced by the United States under both
Republican and Democratic administrations, provides a road map to defining and rooting out
Antisemitism.
(14) The District of Columbias officials and institutions can play a powerful role
in promoting the values of tolerance and pluralism and in protecting citizens from acts of hate
and bigotry motivated by discriminatory animus, including antisemitism.
(15) The District of Columbia is committed to ending the spread of hate, bigotry,
and harassment based on race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sex, gender, gender
identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected characteristic as
defined by law within the limits of the First Amendment.
(16) The District of Columbia wishes to affirm its commitment to cultivating an
inclusive community, including within the Districts operations and institutions.
(17) The diversity of our community is beneficial to all within it, making us all
stronger and more resilient.
Sec. 3. It is the sense of the Council that the District of Columbia affirm its ongoing
commitment to cultivate an inclusive, safe, and just society and culture that values the diversity
of our community, works to ensure equitable opportunities in all major facets of society, and
celebrates both our individuality and commonality, commit to countering antisemitism and hate
through engagement with community leaders, governmental transparency and public
information-sharing regarding efforts to fight antisemitism, and the investigation and prosecution
of those who commit criminal acts, consistent with civil liberties protections, and urge residents
to join us by adopting these values in their own lives, calling attention to these harms, and
denouncing antisemitism, hate, and extremism to help keep us all safe.
Sec. 4. The Council shall transmit a copy of this resolution, upon its adoption, to the
Mayor.
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Sec. 5. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
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