John Fetterman and Dave McCormick join forces on resolution condemning antisemitism

Sens. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) and John Fetterman (D., Pa.) together introduced a resolution on Wednesday that condemns antisemitism and points to recent high-profile attacks.

The resolution condemns “the rise in ideologically motivated attacks on Jewish individuals” in the country “and reaffirm[s] the commitment of the Senate to combatting antisemitism and politically motivated violence.”

It cites recent attacks in Boulder, Colo., Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, and says they “share a common pattern of targeting Jewish individuals or symbols of Jewish life and civic engagement.”

The bipartisan Senate resolution has 34 sponsors and follows a House version that U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R., N.J.) introduced earlier this month.

Fetterman and McCormick said the issue of antisemitism has become particularly personal to them since 11 people were killed in a 2018 attack on the Tree of Life congregation in Squirrel Hill, a neighborhood in Pittsburgh with a sizable Jewish community and where McCormick resides.

McCormick said that protecting “all Jewish people across the country must be a national priority” and that the 2018 Pittsburgh attack “brings this issue home for me.”

Fetterman said the 2018 attack made him feel “an even stronger moral obligation to confront antisemitism wherever it appears and stand united against hate.”

Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Fetterman has emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s most ardent defenders of Israel and was recognized by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yeshiva University in New York for his support. McCormick, too, has been a vocal supporter of Israel on Capitol Hill and said the Jewish community has faced “unprecedented and persistent antisemitic hate and violence” since the Oct. 7 attack.

Hamas’ attack on Israel and the ensuing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza have escalated national tensions surrounding antisemitism and international politics. This landscape is inextricable from the attacks mentioned in the resolution.

In the Boulder instance, a man shouted “Free Palestine” and hurled a makeshift flamethrower into a group that had assembled to raise attention for Israeli hostages in Gaza earlier this month during the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

About one week earlier in Washington, another man who shouted the same phrase was charged with fatally shooting two staffers for the Israeli Embassy outside a Jewish museum.

And in Harrisburg, Gov. Josh Shapiro was staying at the governor’s mansion to celebrate Passover with his family in April when Cody Balmer allegedly set the residence on fire with Molotov cocktail-style devices. He has been charged with attempted homicide, terrorism, arson, and related crimes.

Balmer made comments about Palestinians in Gaza while confessing to the police, saying he “will not take part” in what he called Shapiro’s “plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,” authorities said.

Shapiro has been a supporter of Israel and advocated for the safe return of Israelis being held hostage by Hamas, but he has also acknowledged the significant death toll in Gaza and criticized Netanyahu. He has repeatedly said he supports a two-state solution.

Shapiro has left it to police to determine Balmer’s motive, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) called on the Department of Justice to investigate the incident as a hate crime.