US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses attendees as she takes part in a protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, US, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis

The US House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly rejected an attempt by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) to add anti-Israel language to legislation seeking to limit the influence of foreign governments on American universities by a vote of 410-3.

The Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act aims to crack down on foreign gifts and contracts at American universities, arguing that foreign adversaries are targeting US higher education as part of a broader effort to undermine national security.

In a fiery speech on Tuesday on the House floor, Tlaib lambasted the proposed legislation, claiming that US lawmakers are attempting to “scapegoat” issues plaguing American higher education on countries such as Iran, China, and Qatar. The firebrand progressive decried the bill as an attempt to violate “free speech” and argued it should be amended to add Israel to the “countries of concern” influencing US universities, citing the ongoing cases against the Jewish state at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ). 

In her remarks, Tlaib said she that she tacked on an amendment to ensure the bill includes “countries whose leaders have active arrest warrants issued against them by the International Criminal Court” and “countries actively on trial with the International Court of Justice for violating the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions.”

The ICC issued arrest warrants last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes in Gaza. Meanwhile, South Africa has been pursuing a case at the ICJ accusing Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

US and Israeli leaders have lambasted both the ICC arrest warrants and ICJ case as baseless and indicative of a deeply entrenched anti-Israel bias at both institutions.

The DETERRENT ACT, if signed into law, would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to limit contracts with specific foreign entities and countries adversarial to the United States, mandate faculty and staff reveal gifts and contracts from foreign actors, and require that certain foreign investments within endowments be disclosed.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, praised the “passing of the DETERRENT Act and for overwhelmingly rejecting Rashida Tlaib’s two anti-Israel amendments.” AIPAC wrote that the passage of the legislation reflects “a strong bipartisan affirmation of American support for the US-Israel relationship.”

The legislation also comes as the Trump administration has moved to detain and deport non-citizens accused of supporting internationally recognized terrorist groups. Specifically, the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian legal resident from Syria who completed post-graduate studies at Columbia University in December and was recently apprehended by federal authorities for supporting Hamas, has sparked outrage among liberal lawmakers. 

Tlaib decried Khalil’s arrest and penned a letter to Homeland Security Kristi Noem, demanding that Khalil be “freed from DHS custody immediately.” The missive also claimed that the arrest of Khalil represents another example of the Trump administration’s purported “anti-Palestinian racism” and accused the White House of trying to dismantle the “Palestine solidarity movement in this country.”