SAN DIEGO – In the midst of partisan debate over President Donald Trump’s possible impeachment, and a day after a kosher market in Jersey City was the scene of a mass shooting, there is a lot of rhetoric going around about Trump’s decision to sign an executive order adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA’s) working definition of anti-Semitism and to apply it to Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Palestinians and their supporters say the executive officer is an attempt to squelch legitimate criticism of Israel. Major Jewish organizations say it is an appropriate effort to protect Jewish students on federally funded college campuses from harassment or discrimination.
With three major public universities in San Diego County (UC San Diego, San Diego State, and Cal State San Marcos) as well as a variety of private colleges and universities, including the University of San Diego and Point Loma Nazarene College, it’s appropriate to delve into the background of this controversy.
The IRHA’s working definition of anti-Semitism, which has been adopted by 18 nations and the European Parliament, says, “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/ or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
The IRHA offered some examples:
(1) Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
(2)Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective – such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government, or other societal institutions.
(3)Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non Jews.
(4)Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
(5) Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
(6) Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interest of their own nations.
(7) Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
(8) Applying double standards by requiring of it [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
(9) Using the symbols and images associated with classic anti-Semitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
(10) Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
(11) Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
In a preamble to its guidelines, the IRHA says that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as anti-Semitic.” Opponents of Israel say that the guidelines –especially numbers 7 through 10 above – violate constitutional protections of free speech.
Title VI of the Civil Right Act of 1964 said that the federal government, through the Department of Education, can refuse to fund institutions that discriminate against people on the basis of their race, color, or national origin. In his executive order, President Trump decreed that Jews should also be a protected class – prompting some to say that the effect of this is to classify Jews as an ethnic group rather than a religion. The U.S. Constitution requires separation of “church and state,” or perhaps in our case, “synagogue and state.” By treating Jews as an ethnic group, rather than as a religion, the Executive Order may possibly sidestep this issue.
We Jews have long wrestled with self-definition. We are not exclusively a religion, because there are atheists who are Jews by virtue of their parentage. We are not a race because Jews come in all colors, ranging from the black Jews of Ethiopia to the white Jews of Europe and Jews of numerous other shades in Latin America, Oceania and Africa. We are not a nationality because Jews live in many countries around the world. So, what are we? Some say we are a “people.” Others say, we are an “ethnic group.” Whatever we are, this Executive Order, paralleling bipartisan legislation that has been stalled in Congress, says that we Jews are a protected class under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
In most cases, though not all, reaction to President Trump’s Executive Order has been nuanced.
Jonathan A. Greenblatt, the executive director of the Anti-Defamation League, says the order “provides valuable guidance on anti-Semitism, giving law enforcement and campus officials an important additional tool to help identify and fight this pernicious hate. It also reaffirms protection of Jews under Title VI without infringing on First Amendment rights. These are all important steps forward.”
David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, says “AJC does not consider the EO [Executive Order], or longstanding Department of Education guidance, to be designed to suppress rational criticism of Israel or its policies, and we will speak out against any attempt to do so. AJC also recognizes that there will be hard cases where it will be necessary to decide whether the speech in question is constitutionally protected or not.”
At the same time, Harris said, “the situation for Jewish students is most worrisome. As AJC’s recent landmark survey on anti-Semitism in the U.S. shows, American Jewish young people are the age group most vulnerable to this hatred. Nearly half of those between the ages of 18 and 29 have been victims of anti-Semitic acts over the past five years, compared to just over a third of American Jews overall. More than a third of Jewish young people said they either had experienced anti-Semitism on an American college campus themselves or know someone who has.”
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center said the executive order “will have an immediate impact on US campuses plagued with anti-Semitic and extreme anti-Israel acts, where many University officials complained that the lack of a working definition of anti-Semitism hampered efforts to deal with anti-Semitic incidents on campus. Now, through this Executive Order, necessitated by Congress’ failure to pass legislation, University officials and Jewish students will be better equipped to deal with hate attacks often associated with the anti-Israel BDS campaigns.”
Jack Rosen, president of the American Jewish Congress, said: “The President has made the right decision. For too long, hate, in the form of extreme anti-Israel rhetoric, has flourished on campuses across the country, making Jewish students feel unsafe and unwelcome while setting the stage for other forms of anti-Jewish hate. In particular, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, a deeply anti-Semitic movement that has been linked to terror organizations, is widespread at universities and has led to the targeting of Jewish students. The U.S. Congress has already made clear its bipartisan opposition to BDS. We must be blunt, the government should not be in the business of funding hate and college campuses are no exception. Like members of any minority group, Jewish students deserve to feel welcome and protected at their schools, and President Trump’s order brings us closer to attaining that reality.”
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), on the other hand, headlined its news release, “Trump Attacks Free Speech on College Campuses.” The press release went on to say that “this order will allow the Department of Education (DOE) to use Title VI funding to force college campuses to censor any criticism of the abusive apartheid state of Israel.
“One of the main purposes of the order is to attack the right to participate and show solidarity with the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement and criminalize the Palestinian narrative by illegalizing pro-Palestinian speech as well,” the ADC said. “It is intended to silence the growing peace movement on college campuses aimed at crushing the debate around peace, Palestinian rights, and an end to Israeli aggression and occupation.”
The Jewish Democratic Council of America said President Trump’s signing the Executive Order “is truly the arsonist attempting to serve as the firefighter, and we’d prefer Trump stop inciting the flames of hatred against Jews as opposed to feigning his concern with a political stunt timed to correspond with a Republican-only Hanukkah party. American Jews—and Israel—are not pawns to be used in Trump’s reelection bid. It’s not up to Donald Trump to define, stereotype, or use Jews for his own political advantage and we reject his attempts to do so.”
The Zioness Movement issued a statement saying “Attempts to define us in certain ways or as members of certain categories or classes of people do not end well for the Jewish people, and it is difficult for us to find comfort in any action by an American President who singles out marginalized group after marginalized group, consistently propagates classical anti-Semitic tropes, and cozies up to white nationalists – including within the senior ranks of his own administration.” Nevertheless, the statement said, there is “an urgent obligation to pay attention to what is happening on college campuses in this country. Jewish students are demonized, demoralized and alienated as ‘Zionists’ by far-left factions – whether they publicly identify as Zionists or not. Jewish voices are silenced, the Jewish state is existentially threatened, and anyone who believes in its secure future – including, of course, nearly every American Jew – is attacked, verbally and too often, physically, for its ostensible wrongdoing.”
The Jewish Agency for Israel’s chairman Isaac Herzog commended Trump’s executive order as “in line with the International Holocaust Remembrance Association working definition of anti-Semitism. This definition, reflecting a wide international consensus, better defines anti-Semitism, making the fight against hatred of Jews more effective. At a time when anti-Semitism is receiving, unfortunately, increasing and alarming expression, this decision is a helpful step.”
Pastor John Hagee, chairman of Christians United for Israel, which had advocated for the executive order, said in a press release “One cannot defeat that which they are unwilling to define. As such, advancing the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act has been CUFI’s top policy priority of the year. Through this executive order, President Trump will achieve what Congress could not bring themselves to do: take an important first step in combating the scourge of anti-Semitism that has spread across our nation.”
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com
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