In a move intended to dramatically broaden Department of Education probes of colleges and universities who tolerate students that criticize Israel, the Senate today unanimously passed the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which was passed with little debate or fanfare.

Sens. Bob Casey (D – PA) and Tim Scott (R – SC) presented the bill as targeting a growing number of "religiously motivated hate crimes," warning that the Department of Education needed to take "urgent action" to investigate all anti-semitism at school.

The bill intends to do this by instructing the Department of Education to use the State Department's definition of anti-semitism, which broadly includes criticism of Israel or attempts to "delegitimize" Israel's status as a Jewish state, or even "focusing on Israel" for human rights investigations or urging peace.