The unapologetic antisemite in Congress
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie has voted against antisemitism measures in Congress, called for the U.S. to stop sending military aid to Israel and railed out against the "Israel lobby."
By Robert Isler
JNS
Jun 24, 2025
On May 18, 2022, House Resolution 1125, condemning the rise of antisemitism in America, was set for a vote. How to parse it seemed a no-brainer, particularly since it was essentially symbolic. You were either against an increase in hate or you didn’t have a problem with it. And, in fact, at 420-1, the vote to condemn antisemitism was nearly unanimous. So, who was the lone holdout? Not Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Ga.) or Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), well-known extremists on both sides of the aisle, whose votes would likely have been dismissed as meaningless, their views out of touch with the vast majority of Americans. No, it wasn’t any of them. The nay vote was cast by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie.
This wasn’t a one-off for Massie, not by a long shot. But because he’s been under the radar until recently, he hasn’t received the scrutiny or pushback reserved for others.
In late November 2023, a similar softball bill, House Resolution 888, came up for a vote. This one was to reaffirm Israel’s right to exist and reject as antisemitic any calls for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state. As 412 members of the House of Representatives voted to approve, Massie stood alone in his rejection of the bill.
Not satisfied with simply casting indefensible votes, he became more proactive. He posted a meme in December 2023 with visuals showing American patriotism being rejected in favor of Zionism, implying that Congress prioritizes the latter. The Biden White House labeled the post as “virulent antisemitism.” Although it sparked a bipartisan backlash, it was soon forgotten.
Six months later, perhaps under the belief that nothing he could say would result in negative consequences, Massie was at it again. During a June 2024 interview with Tucker Carlson, Massie said that “everybody” in Congress, except for him, has an “AIPAC babysitter managing their votes.” It was yet another classic trope, which suggested a pattern from the congressman.
The Kentucky Jewish Council noted Massie’s obsession with such tropes and stated in a post in January that he has been “called the Republican member of the Hamas ‘Squad.’” In late May, almost to prove the council’s point, Massie said that the United States should stop “all” military aid to Israel, not distinguishing between offensive and defensive weapons as Israel’s other critics have done, citing the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza.
Which brings us to the current situation in Iran. Because he has been such an outspoken Republican critic of President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, going as far as to propose a bipartisan War Powers Resolution with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), key media outlets are falling all over each other for additional comments. Reuters, the AP and Politico have quoted him extensively, resulting in massive attention. This has allowed Massie to not only rail against Trump with his charge that the president has broken his campaign promise to the American people regarding participation in foreign wars, but it has also provided the congressman with an unfettered opportunity to spread his dangerous views about the so-called “Israel lobby” to a much wider audience.
For instance, on the CBS Sunday-morning news program, “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan, Massie not only pitched the dubious comparison between protracted U.S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan and a brief, highly targeted, aerial strike in Iran, he went on to suggest that Trump’s America First policy had fallen victim to advice from advisers close to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “AIPAC is very persuasive. For instance, the Israel lobby in Congress,” he said, “if you look at my colleagues’ feeds … they all look the same. They’re all tweeting the same message that we’ve got to support Israel.” His implication was that top U.S. leaders are thoroughly controlled and put Israel’s interests ahead of American concerns, rather than concede the possibility that those interests are shared. His rhetoric feeds into a current ugliness that will only worsen should Massie remain in the limelight. He nurtures people’s fears, rhetorically asking Brennan, “What happens when Israel gets bombed again? Is Trump going to sit by and say, ‘No, we’re not going to further engage in this war?’”
Of course, no one in the Trump administration has suggested that at all. Israel has navigated the conflict remarkably well by itself. But Massie has planted the seed.
In these dangerous times, with anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiments raging, the patterns of people like Massie need to be recognized and called out for what they are.
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