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Sunday, April 21, 2024 | 2 a.m.
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Antisemitism shouldn’t be hard to define. It’s been around for millennia.
It was 60 years ago when Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, struggling with how to describe something that’s also been around a long time — pornography — said simply, “I know it when I see it.”
As far as I know, no one on the planet has had a problem defining pornography since.
Antisemitism is a different story. It doesn’t matter why that is at this point; what matters is that, finally, something is being done to call it out and do something about it. When we “see it.”
Senate Bill 4127 was introduced earlier this month in the United States Senate. It was sponsored by 15 Republicans, led by Sen. Tim Scott, and 15 Democrats, led by Sen. Bob Casey. It will have many more supporters when vote time comes.
This bill simply says that the United States will adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism for the purposes of the federal anti-discrimination laws, especially as they are applied to education.
I don’t think any decent person should have a problem defining this scourge of society and applying it to educational activities, especially given the reluctance, indifference, confusion, concern and fear that has frozen our country’s educators at every level when it comes to providing for the safety of students in the face of antisemitic rants, raves and recriminations across America’s campuses today.
And, yet, this has been a problem for far too long. Until ...
The “until” part of this story starts many years ago with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who led the countries of the IHRA to adopt a working definition of antisemitism when she was the chief diplomat of the United States.
The next part of the story was written in then-Sen. Harry Reid’s office. Harry was never a shrinking violet when it came to protecting minorities against all kinds of hate. Anti-Jewish hate was high on his “to do” list when he led the U.S. Senate. So he challenged his very capable chief of staff, David Krone, to find a way to get this country off the dime and free of the inertia that froze campus leaders who feared violating anything that even sounded like free speech. At least, that is where those not inclined to do something, anything, to stop the haters on their campuses, found refuge.
David turned to his friend and mine, Norman Brownstein (his name graces a building downtown where his Las Vegas law firm resides). Norman turned to his friend, Marc Rowan, who is a founder of global financial giant Apollo Capital Management during the day and a passionately committed fighter of antisemitism throughout the year.
That was a lot of brain power determined to write a definition that would satisfy the myriad of constituencies claiming to have a stake in the outcome. This is called democracy where everyone gets a seat at the table. It is also why the good things that get done, get done very slowly if at all.
In the end, or at the next beginning, following a sharp increase in antisemitic incidents that grabbed Harry Reid’s focus, the three wise men found the solution. Hillary Clinton’s prescience many years earlier had already given the United States a working definition. All they needed to do at that point was to get the president of the United States to adopt it for the Department of Education.
To his credit, President Donald Trump signed that order.
But, nothing really changed. Fear of First Amendment violations continued to freeze government action. And then came 2023 and all hell broke loose on college campuses as speech turned to action, turned to fear, turned to violence. The number of antisemitic attacks flew off the charts.
Something, finally, had to be done.
Enter Sen. Jacky Rosen. I remember when Harry Reid hand-picked her to run for Congress in 2016. He told me what I already knew, that she was a fighter. He told me what he knew and I didn’t, that she would win.
She did. Two years later she ran and won her first term as Nevada’s junior U.S. senator. She is running for reelection this year.
Jacky picked up the fight that Harry started so many years ago to provide a little steel for those who wanted to fight antisemitism but couldn’t find a way.
There is an old saying that says, “behind every great man there is a great woman.”
That is an understatement when it comes to bringing S. 4127 to the Senate for a vote. While Jacky is the second Democrat listed as a sponsor for that bill behind Sen. Casey of Pennsylvania, she has been the moving and motivating force behind its success to date. Just like Harry Reid envisioned and expected she would be.
Assuming this bill passes and winds up on President Joe Biden’s desk for signature, it will be in large part because of Jacky Rosen.
The real story, though, is about the outsized role that the state of Nevada will have played in leading America toward a more perfect union in which our campuses will become a safe space for all students, once again.
Harry didn’t have to “see it” to know antisemitism was wrong. He brought in the most capable people he knew to fix the problem and they found a solution. And he knew, instinctively, that Jacky Rosen would carry the ball across the line.
That’s a lot of very good work for a man who is no longer here. Oh, how I wish he still were.
Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun.
