As House Republicans enter the new congressional session with just one vote to spare on party-line legislation, even a small number of defectors could have significant sway over what kind of legislation relating to antisemitism or Israel could make it to the House floor or pass out of the lower chamber.

In the previous Congress, a group of GOP lawmakers repeatedly voted against legislation on those two subjects — particularly when it came to additional aid for Israel without other funding cuts and legislation involving the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. Their views could help shape the kinds of bills that are able to make it to the House floor during the upcoming term.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is the most notorious of the GOP’s right-wing rebels, emerging as the only Republican who refused to support House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in this last week’s leadership election. But at least several other Johnson skeptics and critics of GOP leadership are among the group of Republicans who, on several occasions, opposed bipartisan pro-Israel and antisemitism legislation supported by the vast majority of the party.

In the previous Congress, Massie was the only Republican to vote against legislation describing anti-Zionism as antisemitism; blocking sanctions relief for Iran; redesignating the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization; making it easier to strip nonprofit status from charities supporting terrorism; blocking funding for Iran; condemning terrorist groups’ use of human shields; condemning the slogan ‘from the river to the sea’ as antisemitic; condemning support for terrorism at U.S. universities; standing with Israel after Oct. 7, supporting Israel’s right to exist; eliminating sunsets on Iran sanctions and condemning Iran’s April 2024 attack on Israel.

But on some other votes, Massie was joined by GOP colleagues: Including Massie, 21 Republicans voted against supplemental aid to Israel in April; 21 voted against the Antisemitism Awareness Act a month later; 18 voted against a resolution condemning antisemitism and supporting the State Department’s global guidelines for combating antisemitism; 14 voted against a standalone Israel aid bill last February; 12 voted against extending federal Holocaust education programming under the Never Again Education Act; three voted against overriding the Biden administration’s halts on some arms for Israel; and two voted against a bill pairing Israel aid with cuts to Internal Revenue Service funding.

Nine currently serving Republicans, most of them from the right flank of the House GOP and many of them affiliated with the Freedom Caucus, voted against a majority of those seven bills and resolutions. 

Nevertheless, all of the bills and resolutions received support from a majority of the House even with some GOP defections — some seeing support from a substantial number or a majority of Democrats, and all receiving at least a few Democratic votes — which could give Republicans a cushion on some such legislation in the new Congress.

But, in a signal of the sway they could have in the upcoming Congress, some conservative Republicans also urged Johnson not to allow the Antisemitism Awareness Act into the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, sources told Jewish Insider last year.

Over the weekend, Massie got into an online feud with Kentucky-based Chabad Rabbi Shlomo Litvin, who criticized the congressman for refusing to meet with the local Jewish community and taking anti-Israel votes. Massie responded: “It’s true that it’s my policy not to meet with groups that lobby for foreign governments, and I don’t meet with organizations that spend money to smear me. [Litvin is] also not one of my 750,000 constituents.”

The comments echo past accusations by Massie that AIPAC and other American pro-Israel activists are foreign agents for Israel, which have prompted accusations of antisemitism, including from the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Litvin shot back, “Just a US Congressman stating he refused to meet with a Rabbi who leads the Jewish community in his district on the subject of criminal justice reform because he sees Jews as foreign, along with antisemitic accusations of money. Your KKK hood is slipping.”

Litvin went on to repeatedly refer to the congressman as “HaMassie,” and described his online supporters as neo-Nazis.

Asked about the exchange and Massie’s votes against various bills relating to Israel and antisemitism, a Massie spokesperson said the congressman stands by his positions.

“Representative Massie would cast each of these principled votes again, believes AIPAC should register under FARA (Foreign Agent Registration Act), and knows of Litvin primarily as a perpetually aggrieved, non-constituent, online troll,” Massie’s communications director, John Kennedy, said in a statement to JI.

Massie is also seen as having aspirations to run for the Senate when Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) seat opens.

While Massie’s votes place him in a category of his own on Middle East and antisemitism legislation among Republicans, there are some conservatives who voted with Massie on several occasions against the bulk of their party on Israel and antisemitism bills. Most of them, however, have supported various other measures to support Israel and combat antisemitism.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) voted against all three of the Israel aid bills, the Antisemitism Awareness Act, the Holocaust education bill and legislation forcing arms sales to Israel to proceed.

Asked about these votes, a Greene spokesperson referred JI to social media posts she shared about the legislation at the time of the votes.

On Israel aid, she slammed House leadership for supporting foreign aid before border security legislation passed the Senate, and said that the House had already passed aid to Israel in November, referring to the Israel/IRS bill, which she also opposed. She also blasted House leadership for not bringing forward a stand-alone Israel aid bill in April, when the House passed a larger foreign aid package, though she opposed both such bills put before the House.

Greene said she voted against the Antisemitism Awareness Act because it “could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews.”

Pro-Israel Christian leaders rejected and condemned such claims.

Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Eli Crane (R-AZ) and Chip Roy (R-TX) all opposed five of the seven pieces of legislation: the April and February aid bills, the Antisemitism Awareness Act, the Holocaust education bill and the global antisemitism guidelines resolution.

“Instead of wasting time on show votes that pose legitimate First Amendment concerns so a bunch of politicians can send out pointless press releases, Congress should answer the threats to Israel and the Jewish people with real action,” Roy said in a statement to JI. 

He called for Congress to “permanently stop the flow of taxpayer dollars to institutions like the United Nations that have pumped out anti-Israel propaganda for decades, and… quickly pass my bill to sanction the International Criminal Court for attacking Israeli officials like [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu (H.R. 23) which passed the House on a bipartisan basis last year.”

Roy reintroduced his bill sanctioning the ICC in the new Congress, and the House is set to vote on it this week.

“Further, we should support Israel in defending its citizens and its right to exist; at the same time, we have to ensure that any funding we send Israel shouldn’t also be tied to funds that we know will end up going to Hamas — and we need to pay for it,” Roy said.

A spokesperson for Roy’s office said he voted against the Holocaust education bill because it was a priority for a Republican senator who voted for the 2023 omnibus spending bill; Roy and 31 House Republicans had vowed to vote against any priority bills for GOP senators who supported the 2023 funding package. The spokesperson also noted the bill authorized spending that was not paid for.

Roy’s comments to JI are consistent with his contemporaneous statements about the bills: he expressed concerns about the Antisemitism Awareness Act and the antisemitism resolution because they utilize the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, which he said raises First Amendment concerns.

He added that he had concerns that the funding for humanitarian aid for Gaza included in the Israel package would end up in the hands of Hamas and said the aid should be paid for with offsets from other federal spending. He also said, at the time, that Congress should pass border security legislation before foreign aid.

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) each opposed four of the seven pieces of legislation. All three voted against the April and February aid bills and the Antisemitism Awareness Act. Clyde and Gosar voted against the global antisemitism guidelines resolution. Davidson opposed the bill to override holds on arms to Israel, as well as voted present, with Massie, on sanctioning the ICC.

A spokesperson for Clyde directed JI toward statements he had issued on some of those votes at the time, as well as supporting the House-passed bill pairing Israel aid with IRS cuts.

Clyde said he voted against the February Israel aid bill because “Congress should not — and doesn’t need to — borrow money to support our greatest ally in the Middle East,” calling instead for a bill offset by spending cuts. He also objected to funding for humanitarian aid in the April bill.

The spokesperson also highlighted Clyde’s leadership on legislation re-listing the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization as well as past comments by Clyde slamming the Biden administration for allegedly withholding rifles from Israel and demanding answers from media outlets about reports that freelancers they employed had participated in the Oct. 7 attack.

The other lawmakers referenced in this article did not respond to requests for comment.