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ACLU Slams Senate Push to Crack Down on Campus Criticism of Israel
"The ability to criticize governments and their policies is a critical component of our democracy."
Nov 14, 2024
The ACLU on Thursday sent a letter to U.S. senators arguing that bipartisan legislation which backers claim would combat antisemitism on university campuses would actually be an affront to free speech protections and censor legitimate criticism of the Israeli government as it carries out atrocities in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and Lebanon.
The group's letter comes two weeks after Axiosreported that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) "recently promised Jewish leaders that he would try later this year to pass" the House-approved Antisemitism Awareness Act, or S. 4127.
"Instead of addressing antisemitism on campus, this misguided legislation would punish protected political speech," said ACLU senior policy counsel Jenna Leventoff, who signed the letter with Christopher Anders, director of democracy and technology.
"At a time when civil rights enforcement on campus could not be more critical, this bill risks politicizing these vital protections by censoring legitimate political speech that criticizes the Israeli government," Leventoff warned. "The right to criticize government actions is the most fundamental protection provided by the First Amendment—and this includes the actions of foreign governments. The Senate must continue to block this bill and protect free speech."
"It would likely chill free speech of students on college campuses by incorrectly equating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism."
The letter highlights that "federal law already prohibits antisemitic discrimination and harassment by federally funded entities. S. 4127 is therefore not needed to protect against antisemitic discrimination; instead, it would likely chill free speech of students on college campuses by incorrectly equating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism."
As Israeli forces—armed by the Biden administration and U.S. Congress—have bombed and starved Palestinians in Gaza over the past 13 months, students colleges and universities across the United States have held protests urging their education institutions and government to divest from the assault, which is the subject of a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
Some campus administrations—under pressure from Zionists in Congress—have called in law enforcement to violently crack down on protesters and enacted new policies intended to limit anti-genocide demonstrations by students and faculty.
"The ACLU does not take a position on the conflict between Israel and Palestine, but it does staunchly defend the right of those in the United States to speak out on domestic and international political matters," the organization emphasized. "The ability to criticize governments and their policies is a critical component of our democracy."
As the letter explains:
This bill directs the Department of Education to take the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of "antisemitism" into consideration when determining whether alleged harassment was motivated by antisemitic intent and violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in programs receiving federal financial assistance, including in higher education. The federal government itself has interpreted Title VI to prohibit harassment or discrimination against Jews, Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs as well as others when that discrimination is based on the group's actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics. These existing protections are critically important, particularly in the current environment.
The IHRA working definition, however, is overbroad. It equates protected political speech with unprotected discrimination. Enshrining this definition into regulation would chill the exercise of First Amendment rights and risk undermining the Department of Education’s legitimate and important efforts to combat discrimination. Criticism of Israel and its policies is political speech, squarely protected by the First Amendment.
"The IHRA definition of antisemitism is also unconstitutional," the letter continues, citing a case about Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order directing the state's higher education institutions to craft policies based on the controversial language.
The letter points out that even "the lead author of the original IHRA definition, Kenneth Stern, has himself opposed the application of this definition to campus speech, noting that codifying this definition would lead campus administrators to 'fear lawsuits when outside groups complain about anti-Israel expression, and the university doesn't punish, stop, or denounce it.'"
The ACLU specifically warned that "S. 4127 could result in colleges and universities suppressing a wide variety of speech critical of Israel or in support of Palestinian rights in an effort to avoid investigations by the department and the potential loss of funding, even where such speech is protected and does not qualify as harassment."
"Even where administrators do not take formal action, students and their organizations, faculty, and university staff may be deterred from speaking and organizing on these issues," the group added. The bill would also "likely inspire an increasing number of complaints focused on constitutionally protected criticism of Israel," taking time away from "meritorious" filings.
The Senate majority leader has faced intense pressure to bring the bill to a vote as this session of Congress winds down. Axios noted that Florence Avenue Initiative, a nonprofit that doesn't have to disclose its donors, "has spent about $5 million on an ad campaign blasting Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish lawmaker, for his inaction."
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The Amsterdam 'Pogrom' That Wasn't: Corporate Media Fails To Tell the Whole Story
'The Israeli fans instigated the violence after arriving in the city and attacking Palestinian supporters before the match'
Nov 09, 2024
Thursday night, Israeli soccer fans clashed with Amsterdam residents before and after a Europa League soccer match between their team Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax in Amsterdam.
Clashes occurred outside the Johan Cruyff Arena and across the city on Thursday night. Police on Friday said five people had been taken to hospital, and 62 arrests had been made.
The violence reportedly started when the far-right Israeli soccer hooligans began chanting racist and violent anti-Arab slogans, attacked Arab and Muslim residents, and vandalized houses and businesses with Palestinian flags.
Al Jazeerareported:
In one video, Israeli supporters were heard singing: “Let the IDF win, and f*** the Arabs!” referring to the Israeli army’s offensive on Gaza. Another video captured a fan screaming: “F*** you terrorists, Sinwar die, everybody die,” in reference to the Hamas leader who was killed last month.
The Israeli fans instigated the violence after arriving in the city and attacking Palestinian supporters before the match, an Amsterdam city council member said.
“They began attacking houses of people in Amsterdam with Palestinian flags, so that’s actually where the violence started,” Councilman Jazie Veldhuyzen told Al Jazeera on Friday.
“As a reaction, Amsterdammers mobilised themselves and countered the attacks that started on Wednesday by the Maccabi hooligans.”
Yet the corporate media - both in the US and abroad - portrayed the events as one-sided "anti-semitic" attacks on helpless soccer fans:
US President Joe Biden, his Secretary of State Tony Blinken, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer were quick to echo Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that the events in Amsterdam were unprovoked anti-semitic attacks reminiscent of pogroms or the Kristallnacht.
However many social media posts reported the context of the violence that was missing from corporate media reporting:
@martydoesnotplay On request: a recap of what has been happening in Amsterdam the past few days in which Zionist hooliguns from Tel Aviv attacked people on our streets and sang songs about burning Gaza down. But where only the response from clashes with them were caught up by the media. Placed within a narrative by the devil himself that this was anti-semitism 🍉
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Warren Says Senate Must Use 'Every Minute' Until January 3 to Confirm Federal Judges
"While still in charge of the Senate and the White House, we must do all we can to safeguard our democracy," said the senator.
Nov 08, 2024
In an op-ed on "the plan to fight back" against the incoming Trump administration, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday provided a pep talk to anguished supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris as the nation faces another four years with the far-right MAGA movement at the helm of the government—but she also issued a demand of the Senate before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
"While still in charge of the Senate and the White House, we must do all we can to safeguard our democracy," wrote the Massachusetts Democrat at Time magazine. "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer must use every minute of the end-of-year legislative session to confirm federal judges and key regulators—none of whom can be removed by the next president."
As Law.comreported on Thursday, there are currently four federal appeals court nominees awaiting Senate floor votes, a nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit awaiting a Senate Judiciary Committee vote following a confirmation hearing in July, and 23 district court nominees awaiting floor or committee votes.
The lame-duck session of Congress will begin November 12 and lawmakers will leave for holiday recess December 20. On January 3, the 119th U.S. Congress will convene, with the Republican Party taking control of the upper chamber.
"Given the outcome of the election, the reality is that we now have a rapidly closing window to confirm well-qualified, fair-minded judges who will protect our rights and serve as one of the last guardrails in upholding our nation's laws and the Constitution," said Maggie Buchanan, managing director of Demand Justice. "Even one judge can make a difference. We don't have a minute to lose."
"With the prospect of more Trump judges on the horizon, this will hopefully create the urgency we've needed all along."
Law.com reported that Schumer (D-N.Y.) has filed for cloture on President Joe Biden's nominations of Judge Jonathan Hawley and former assistant U.S. Attorney April Perry, both of whom were nominated for federal trial courts in Illinois. The Senate will likely vote on the two nominees next week.
"We have always been adamant that the Senate must confirm all of President Biden's nominees and fill every possible vacancy, regardless of who wins the election," said Jake Faleschini, program director for Alliance for Justice, in a statement. "With the prospect of more Trump judges on the horizon, this will hopefully create the urgency we've needed all along."
A spokesperson for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Law.com that Durbin "aims to confirm every possible nominee before the end of this Congress."
At Time, Warren wrote that the Harris campaign and the Biden White House have reached out to working people with pro-labor policies and proposals aimed at reducing prices and holding corporations accountable. But the senator acknowledged that "good economic policies do not erase painful underlying truths about our country."
"Americans do not want a country where political parties each field their own team of billionaires who then squabble over how to divvy up the spoils of government," wrote Warren. "Vice President Harris deserves credit for running an inspiring campaign under unprecedented circumstances. But if Democrats want to earn back the trust of working people and govern again, we need to convince voters we can—and will—unrig the economy."
Before Trump takes office, she added, "to resist Trump's threats to abuse state power against what he calls 'the enemy within,' Pentagon leaders should issue a directive now reiterating that the military's oath is to the Constitution."
Looking ahead to the second Trump administration, Warren advised her party to unite "against Trump's legislative agenda" as it did when the Republicans tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017.
"Democrats did not have the votes to stop the repeal," wrote the senator. "Nevertheless, we fought on. Patients kept up a relentless rotation of meetings in Congress, activists in wheelchairs performed civil disobedience, and lawmakers used every tactic possible—late night speeches, forums highlighting patient stories, committee reports, and procedural tactics—to draw attention to the Republican repeal effort. This sustained resistance ultimately shifted the politics of health care repeal. The final vote was a squeaker, but Republicans lost and the ACA survived."
"Trump won the election, but more than 67 million people voted for Democrats and they don't expect us to roll over and play dead," wrote Warren. "We will have a peaceful transition of power, followed by a vigorous challenge from the party out of power, because that's how democracy works."
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