The Satmar Hasidim are an orthodox Jewish sect with tens of thousands of members in New York state. Their religious beliefs and practices are extremely conservative, but in many ways their approach to politics seems blandly centrist. Their leadership tends to see cultivating relationships with politicians as a pragmatic way to advance the community’s interests. In the spring of 2016, for instance, both of the two main Satmar leaders urged their followers to vote for Hillary Clinton rather than Bernie Sanders in New York’s Democratic primary. In the general election that fall, they supported her again against Donald Trump.

According to a resolution passed earlier this week by the US House of Representatives, the Satmar are “antisemites.” The resolution “firmly and finally” declares “that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.” Well, the Satmar have been fiercely anti-Zionist since long before the state of Israel was founded in 1948.

To be fair, Jews like the Satmar — who believe that founding a Jewish state in the Holy Land before the coming of the Messiah is blasphemous — aren’t the kind of anti-Zionists that Congress had in mind. But the House accidentally calling tens of thousands of the most visibly ultrareligious Jews in New York “antisemites” demonstrates the larger problem with the resolution.