Tag: anti-semitism

Washington Post Op-Ed Argues That Colleges Should ‘Restrict’ Speech To Fight Antisemitism

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, college campuses around the country have been embroiled in intense anti-Israel protests. Elite college campuses have seen particularly aggressive demonstrations that have frequently included outright support for Hamas.

On December 5th, the college presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) appeared at a Congressional hearing, where they were grilled on their schools’ response to allegations of campus anti-Semitism. During the hearing, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), asked all three if “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate their school’s policies. 

“It is a context-dependent situation,” University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill responded. “If the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment,”

Outrage over Magill’s answer—both from those who wished to see her commit to banning legal but offensive anti-Semitic speech and from those who pointed out Penn’s consistent record of punishing professors for much less offensive expression—culminated in her resignation on Saturday.

While First Amendment advocates have expressed hope that these recent controversies would show just how easily abused anti “hate speech” rules on college campuses are, many administrators seem to be taking the opposite position, advocating for more censorship, not less.

On Sunday, Claire O. Finkelstein, who is a member of Penn’s Open Expression Committee and chairs the law school’s committee on academic freedom, took to the pages of The Washington Post in an article titled “To fight antisemitism on campuses, we must restrict speech.”

In it, Finkelstein farcically argued that “the value of free speech has been elevated to a near-sacred level on university campuses,” adding that, “as a result, universities have had to tolerate hate speech.”

The idea that free speech is treated as “near-sacred” on college campuses is beyond absurd. Far from being treated as sacrosanct, free speech and free expression are constantly under fire at American college campuses, elite colleges most of all. 

As the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) CEO Greg Lukianoff points out, over the past decade, “we know of more than 1,000 campaigns to get professors punished for their free speech or academic freedom. Of those, about two-thirds succeeded in getting the professor punished.” 

The most disturbing detail? Lukianoff says that almost 200 of these professors were fired, “nearly twice the number estimated for the Red Scare.”

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Trans child of Connecticut deputy associate attorney general arrested over antisemitic felony hate crime

The 28-year-old trans child of Connecticut’s deputy associate attorney general was arrested on Thursday over a felony antisemitic hate crime incident in Newtown. 

Sarah Stofko, who goes by the alias “Isaac,” was arrested on Dec. 7 by the Newtown Police Department following an investigation into the vandalism of an Israeli flag that had been cut down. According to the police report, a witness reported the incident to law enforcement and police were able to obtain a vehicle description and registration belonging to Stofko. The report lists Stofko’s sex as “m” though she is an adult female.

Stofko, an alumna of Hunter College in New York City, is facing charges of third-degree intimidation based on bigotry or bias, a felony, and third-degree criminal mischief. Stofko is the child of Deputy Associate Attorney General Carolyn Signorelli, a Democrat and liberal activist. Stofko’s arrest record shows an address belonging to her mother, confirming she was living with the high-level state attorney in their 2,000-square-foot house in the state’s wealthiest county when she allegedly committed the hate crime.

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The House of Representatives Rules That Anti-Zionism Is Antisemitism

The House of Representatives seemed to achieve its summit of cynical grandstanding today, with debate over a resolution proclaiming that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. That measure is not only a kind of photographic negative of the 1975 UN resolution condemning Zionism as racism (revoked in 2019); it also is founded on the antisemitic equation of Zionist sentiment with Jewish identity, even though many Orthodox Jews, and secular dissenters, remain opposed to Zionism. New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler raised that crucial objection, among others, in an impassioned dissent to the resolution, but the measure will likely be endorsed in a majority vote this week—not least because its language leaves ample room for anyone voting “no” to be branded an antisemite. Sure enough, the resolution passed by a resounding 311-14 margin, with 92 representatives voting “present.” 

As a kind of calisthenic warm-up for that pending floor vote, the House Education and Workforce committee conducted a marathon hearing on the spread of antisemitism on American college campuses—in part, no doubt, because the long-running right-wing culture war on the American university is such an inviting rhetorical proving ground. This is not to deny that antisemitic rhetoric and harassment aren’t distressingly apparent on many college campuses, and that universities should do more to ensure the safety and well-being of Jewish students. But it is to note that reckoning with these issues entails a good deal more than enlisting a trio of elite university presidents as ideological foils for future electioneering, which was the clear objective of the panel’s inquiry. The game was given away in the committee’s own advance news release; the title of the hearing was “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism” but the document bore the red-meat sobriquet “College Presidents to Answer for Mishandling of Antisemitic, Violent Protests.” 

The same rhetoric opened the committee’s proceedings, as committee Chair Virginia Foxx of North Carolina—whose last tour of media renown occurred when she graciously yelled “Shut up!” to a reporter questioning newly appointed House Speaker Mike Johnson on his election-denying record—sternly lectured the committee’s witnesses on the “moral rot” and “poisonous fruits” of their agenda of curricular subversion. Diversity, equity, and inclusion divisions were rapidly namechecked, as were course offerings that mentioned settler colonialism in the context of the Middle East. And true to reactionary form, she threw an obligatory “social justice” into the bargain. “This moment is an inflection point,” she concluded. “It demands leaders of moral clarity with the courage to delineate good from evil, and right from wrong.”

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Reporter details rise of ‘white supremacy’ in US by highlighting antisemitic rhetoric from fired black high school teacher

Recently, a California Bay Area high school teacher was fired following an extensive investigation into his alleged anti-Semitic lectures, which were said to include performing Nazi salutes in class. 

Shortly after those incidents took place, a leftist reporter by the name Emily Schrader took the opportunity to blame the occurrence on ‘anti-Semitic white supremacy’ in an article titled, “Under attack: White supremacists lead antisemitic charge in U.S.” 

Nowhere in Schrader’s article does she mention that the fired teacher she references, Henry Bens, is black. 

Schrader contacted The Post Millenial to say that she did not write the article’s headline and has requested for it to be changed.

“The article’s examples are mostly not white supremacy but radical left with ethnic studies curriculum and DEI initiatives that actively exclude Jews,” she explained.

The second paragraph of Schrader’s story notably states, “American Jews are now at a crossroads as far-right antisemitism is also on the rise from white supremacist groups in the United States.”

No examples of this supposed far-right antisemitism by white supremacist organizations are provided in the story. 

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ROGER WATERS ANSWERS THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ANTISEMITISM

Earlier this month the Campaign Against Antisemitism contacted me about a film they have made. They gave me seven days to respond to multiple questions about matters dating back to 2002 and 2010. Initially I took the view that their attacks on my character did not deserve a response. However, now that the attacks are in circulation, I want to put my response on record.

All my life I have used the platform my career has given me to support causes I believe in. I passionately believe in Universal Human Rights. I have always worked to make the world a better, more just and more equitable place for all my brothers and sisters, all over the world, irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, from indigenous peoples threatened by the US oil industry to Iranian women protesting for their rights.

That is why I am active in the non-violent protest movement against the Israeli government’s illegal occupation of Palestine and its egregious treatment of Palestinians.

Those who wish to conflate that position with antisemitism do a great disservice to us all.

People need to know about the CAA, the organisation that made this film. Following complaints to the Charity Commission the CAA is facing scrutiny. Its core purpose is waging partisan political campaigns against critics of the state of Israel. So I knew their questions were not asked in good faith.

Truth is, I’m frequently mouthy and prone to irreverence, I can’t recall what I said 13 or more years ago. I’ve worked closely for many years with many Jewish people, musicians and others.  If I have upset the two individuals who appear in the film I’m sorry for that. But I can say with certainty that I am not, and have never been, an antisemite – as anyone who really knows me will testify. I know the Jewish people to be a diverse, interesting, and complicated bunch, just like the rest of humanity. Many are allies in the fight for equality and justice, in Israel, Palestine and around the world.

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Anti-Defamation League Launching Hollywood Watchdog to Monitor Anti-Semitism in Entertainment

The Anti-Defamation League — the left-wing political organization whose mission increasingly appears to be censoring conservatives and other non-leftists who disagree with its agenda  — is launching a new institute that will serve as a Hollywood watchdog to monitor for anti-semitic stereotypes in entertainment.

ADL leaders said the Los Angeles-based institute will work with industry leaders as well as other nonprofit organizations, including the left-wing Common Sense Media.

“It’s not uncommon to see Jews in movies and television, but it is most common to see Jews boxed into stereotypes and tropes that create a narrow — and often negative — impression of the Jewish people,” ADL CEO and national director Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement issued Tuesday.

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BIDEN EMBRACES ANTISEMITISM DEFINITION THAT HAS UPENDED FREE SPEECH IN EUROPE

DURING A GRADUATION speech at the City University of New York’s law school last month, Fatima Mousa Mohammed, a Yemeni American student, criticized “Israeli settler colonialism” and advocated for “the fight against capitalism, racism, imperialism, and Zionism.”

Her words, which the university administration condemned as “hate speech,” kicked off a new round of public debate about the distinction between criticism of Israel and antisemitism. Republican members of Congress responded by introducing legislation that would deny federal funding to academic institutions that “authorize Anti-Semitic events.”

The bill cites a definition of antisemitism that the Israeli government and its supporters have been pushing in the United States and elsewhere, one that conflates prejudice toward Jews with criticism of Zionism and the state of Israel. And it comes on the heels of President Joe Biden nodding to the definition in the White House’s national strategy to combat antisemitism, released in late May.

In the 60-page document, the Biden administration referred to the IHRA definition — named after the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which promotes it — as the “most prominent” of several definitions of antisemitism and one the administration has “embraced.” But it emphasized that it has no legal value and does not supersede existing laws or constitute binding guidance for public agencies and local government.

Still, by providing neither a rejection nor a full endorsement of the definition, the Biden administration left room for further lobbying for its adoption. Indeed, conservative and pro-Israel groups hailed the strategy as a victory, even as the single reference fell far short of what they had lobbied for: a full-throated endorsement of the IHRA framework as the “sole definition” of antisemitism and as the foundation for federal policy.

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State Department Falsely Accuses Roger Waters of Antisemitism

The State Department has falsely accused rock legend Roger Waters, a co-founder of Pink Floyd, of antisemitism over a recent performance in Germany.

Waters has come under criticism for a May 17 show in Berlin where he donned an outfit that resembled a Nazi uniform, part of a performance of the legendary Pink Floyd album “The Wall.”

In response to the criticism, Waters released a statement that said the elements of the show he was criticized for are “quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice, and bigotry in all its forms.”

“Attempts to portray those elements as something else are disingenuous and politically motivated. The depiction of an unhinged fascist demagogue has been a feature of my shows since Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ in 1980,” Waters said.

Due to his history of being supportive of Palestinian rights and his critiques of the Israeli government, footage of Waters’ concert was taken out of context on social media in an effort to smear him as an antisemite. Deborah Lipstadt, the US special envoy to combat antisemitism, joined in on the smears on Twitter, accusing Waters of “despicable Holocaust distortion.”

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Are Americans More Antisemitic Than They Were Four Decades Ago?

At the end of 1980, under the headline “Survey Finds Sharp Rise in Anti-Semitic Incidents,” The New York Times reported that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) had counted “377 cases of assaults and vandalism…against properties” that year, plus “112 bodily assaults or harassments.” By comparison, the ADL had reported “129 property incidents” in 1979. But Nathan Perlmutter, then the organization’s director, “said that part of the 1980 increase might have reflected improved procedures introduced this year in collecting and evaluating information.”

That sort of caveat is conspicuously missing from this year’s ADL audit and from the Times story about it. “The number of antisemitic incidents in the United States last year was the highest since the Anti-Defamation League began keeping track in 1979,” the Times reports. But there is a difference between “the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States” and the number counted by the ADL, whose annual tally relies on reporting by “victims, law enforcement, the media and partner organizations.”

In addition to actual changes in antisemitic incidents, the ADL’s numbers are apt to be affected by changes in reporting behavior and in the organization’s efforts to collect information. Those factors don’t mean the ADL’s narrative of rising antisemitism in the United States, which is supported by recent survey data, should be dismissed out of hand. But they do complicate the picture in ways that the ADL and the Times fail to acknowledge, especially when it comes to the implicit claim that anti-Jewish bigotry is more prevalent today than it was four decades ago.

Per capita, the ADL counted more than five times as many antisemitic incidents in 2022 as it did in 1980. It does not follow that Americans are five times as likely to hate Jews as they were 43 years ago.

The ADL’s survey data do not support that inference. In 2022, it reports, 20 percent of Americans at least “somewhat” believed “six or more anti-Jewish tropes,” compared to 29 percent in 1964 and 20 percent in 1992. That number has gone up and down over the years, and it rose by 82 percent, from 11 percent to 20 percent, between 2019 and 2022.

During the same period, the number of ADL-reported antisemitic incidents rose by 75 percent, which is consistent with the premise that the organization’s tallies reflect a real trend. But these two sets of numbers do not always track each other so neatly. Between 1992 and 1998, for example, the measure of antisemitic attitudes fell by 40 percent, while the number of incidents that the ADL counted fell by just 7 percent. Between 1998 and 2002, when survey-measured antisemitism rose by 42 percent, the number of reported incidents dropped by 3 percent.

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Is The Left Harnessing Fake Antisemitic Attacks To Silence Americans’ Speech?

“Speech, expression and assembly” represent the triumvirate for truth.  Short of breaking existing laws around physical violence and incitement to physical violence, the more we have of all three, the closer we come to that more perfect union, offering the most freedom for the most people with the least government interference.  But in an age of internet technology with deep fakes, bots, hacks, and myriad pathways to craft and deliver mis- and dis-information, radical left-wingers can abuse and use those liberties to tarnish conservatives, desensitize our communities to certain phenomena, and squelch our freedoms.  It behooves individuals, our government, and even watchdog organizations to pause before reacting to information from somewhere on the internet.  

As an example, did you know that, on February 25, America’s neo-Nazi and White Supremacist groups sponsored a national “Day of Hate”? You probably didn’t hear anything about it unless you are Jewish and your inbox was inundated with emails from various Jewish organizations, synagogues, and even local condo boards, warning of “an online campaign by domestic violence extremists, calling for an anti-Semitic “Day of Hate.”

As it turned out, despite the terror this announcement caused in Jewish households and houses of worship across the country and as far away as Israel, the “Day of Hate” passed without incident, as reported in The Forward, a progressive Jewish publication.

It’s good that nothing happened. The last thing anyone wants, including this skeptic, is more violence. But anti-Semitism is on the march, and we must monitor and be aware of it no matter the source—white supremacists, non-white supremacists, Antifa, or Islamic extremists. The problem for Jews and non-Jews alike, as evidenced by the “Day of Hate” that never happened, is that America’s politicians, journalists, and activists are only concerned with anti-Semitism coming from white people.

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