The administration of US President Joe Biden has once again delayed issuing new federal regulations that would apply the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism to civil rights investigations, a measure that lawmakers and advocates have said would help protect Jewish students from anti-Zionist discrimination and harassment.

The proposed guidelines, based on a directive given in Dec. 2019 by then-President Donald Trump in response to rising anti-Zionist hatred on college campuses, will not be instituted until at least Dec. 2024, after the next presidential election, according to a copy of the proposed rule on the website of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

The IHRA definition of antisemitism — which has been adopted by dozens of governments and hundreds of civic institutions around the world — includes examples of anti-Israel bias, such as “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” “denying the Jewish people their right to self determination,” and “applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”

The US Education Department had initially pledged to issue new regulations in Sept. 2020, but later said it would happen in Jan. 2021. After Biden was sworn in on Jan. 20 of that year, the administration indicated that it had embraced the IHRA working definition but delayed codifying civil rights protections based on it until Dec. 2022. Since then, the department has continued to postpone the date of implementation.

Kenneth Marcus, a former assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department, told The Algemeiner that the new guidance’s delay is disappointing and may be driven by politics. Anti-Israel activists in the US, especially in the Arab and Muslim communities, have criticized Biden over his vocal and material support for Israel’s war against Hamas since the Palestinian terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre. Many have said they will not vote for him next November.

“It may way well be that the Biden White House lacks the political resolve to act forcefully in response to antisemitism, given political considerations involving the Arab and Muslim communities,” said Marcus, the current chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights. “To the extent that the Biden administration is not moving forward on needed regulations, it simply underscores the need for Congress to raise their game. It already has been apparent for recent weeks that the House of Representatives is picking up the slack and moving forward on issues that could have been more effectively handled by the administration.”

Marcus added that the legislative branch of government “does have a crucial to play” and can act now by passing the Antisemitism Awareness Act, a bill supported by both parties that would mandate the enforcement of anti-discrimination laws protecting Jewish Americans. Lawmakers have other options too, he said, pointing to “continued, forceful oversight, such as the promised congressional investigations regarding the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania.”

Marcus acknowledged that the Biden administration has taken important action to address campus antisemitism, recently ruling in April, for example, that discrimination motivated by anti-Zionism contravenes Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. But, he added, delaying the regulations again sends “the wrong message to the higher education community at the worst of all possible times, as antisemitism reaches historical levels on college campuses.”

College campuses across the West have been hubs of such antisemitism since Oct. 7, with students and faculty both demonizing Israel and rationalizing Hamas’ terror onslaught. Incidents of harassment and even violence against Jewish students have also increased. As a result, Jewish students have expressed feeling unsafe and unprotected on campuses. In some cases, Jewish communities on campuses have been forced to endure threats of rape and mass slaughter.

A recent poll, released by Hillel International, found that 37 percent of Jewish college students have felt the need to hide their Jewish identity on campus since Hamas’ Oct. 7 onslaught, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were murdered and 240 others taken as hostages into Gaza. The survey also found that 35 percent of respondents said there have been acts of hate or violence against Jews on campus. A majority of those surveyed said they were unsatisfied with their university’s response to those incidents.

“These regulations are what the administration has promised to do,” Marcus said. “It’s astonishing that they haven’t been able to issue them, and given the high profile that campus antisemitism has had in recent weeks, this should be the top priority for the Office for Civil Rights.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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