After a year of violent, antisemitic attacks, including one in Washington, D.C., that left two people dead, the U.S. House of Representatives debated its annual resolution supporting Jewish American Heritage Month.
The annual commemoration takes place each May and is designed to remind the country of the contribution of American Jews. This year’s resolution emphasized Jewish Americans who were members of the U.S. Armed Forces and received the Medal of Honor for their service.
“Their stories embedded in this resolution are the best illustration of how Jewish Americans have contributed to protecting our liberty and our way of life, and they are the clearest refutation of false, bigoted accusations that Jewish Americans lack loyalty for this country,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the resolution’s chief sponsor, said on the House floor on Monday.
“Honoring the sacrifice of these heroes means ensuring their identity isn’t erased when they are gone,” she said.
The House will vote on the resolution at a later date.
The Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit of Jew-hatred incidents, released last week, reported 6,724 events last year, one-third fewer than the record 9,354 reported in 2024 but 70% higher than the 3,698 incidents reported in 2022, the year before Oct. 7.
But violent incidents rose by 4%, from 196 in 2024 to 203 in 2025, and for the first time since 2019, Americans were killed in antisemitic incidents, according to the ADL.
Two Israeli embassy employees were murdered on a Washington, D.C., street and one was killed after Molotov cocktails were thrown at peaceful demonstrators in Boulder, Colo., who had gathered to call attention to the hostages captured by Hamas.
“These and countless other incidents targeting the Jewish people are unacceptable,” Rep. Brad Knott (R-N.C.) said during the debate.
Knott said that 91% of American Jews felt less safe due to violent attacks, according to the American Jewish Committee, and 85% of Jewish college students experienced or saw some kind of Jew-hatred on their campuses, according to Hillel International.
“These are not just numbers on a page but are lived experience of all Jewish Americans,” Knott said.
The resolution declares that “one of the most effective ways to combat antisemitism and hate is through education and awareness of the contributions Jewish Americans have made to the United States.”
It also calls on “elected officials, faith leaders and civil society leaders to condemn and counter all acts of antisemitism.”
“Certainly the Jewish community—we know what it means to be treated sometimes as a scapegoat,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said on the House floor.
“We know from the struggles of our history that we must all work together to counter racism and antisemitism, which form the gateway to destruction of liberal democracy,” he said.
