October 7 Remembrance Education Act

Bill: 118-hr-8254
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5]
Introduced: 2024-05-06
Policy area: Education
Latest action: action_date: 2024-05-06
text: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Summaries:

tv_txt: I 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 8254 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 6, 2024 Mr. Gottheimer (for himself and Mrs. Steel ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce A BILL To direct the Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to develop a curriculum for the study of modern-day antisemitism surrounding Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks against Israel for use in secondary schools, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the October 7 Remembrance Education Act . 2. Curriculum for the study of antisemitism surrounding and leading up to Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks against Israel (a) Curriculum development Beginning not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (referred to in this Act as the Director ) shall develop a curriculum for the study of Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks against Israel, for use in secondary schools. Such curriculum shall include information on— (1) the heinous and brutal attacks committed against Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023; (2) the history of antisemitism and how it played a role in such attacks; (3) how antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric spread throughout the United States and on campuses of institutions of higher education following such attacks; (4) how social media accelerated the spread of antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric following such attacks; and (5) denial and distortion as a form of antisemitism in the wake of such attacks. (b) Report (1) In general Following the completion of the curriculum development under subsection (a), the Director shall prepare and submit to Congress a report on the curriculum described in subsection (a). (2) Deadline for submission The report under paragraph (1) shall be submitted not later than the earlier of— (A) 180 days after the completion of the curriculum development under subsection (a); or (B) 3 years after the date of the enactment of this section. (c) Definitions In this Act: (1) Antisemitism The term antisemitism has the meaning given the working definition of antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance on May 26, 2016, including the contemporary examples of antisemitism cited by the Alliance. (2) ESEA terms The terms local educational agency , secondary school , and State have the meanings given those terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 7801 ). (3) Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks against Israel The term Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks against Israel refers to the surprise land, sea, and air attacks against Israel led by the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas (a United States-designated foreign terrorist organization) from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 (the Jewish holiday Simchat Torah and 50 years after the 1973 Yom Kippur War), in which Hamas brutally murdered, decapitated, burned alive, and raped over 1,200 men, women, children, and elderly, and kidnapped over 240 people, including Americans.