"In the face of increasing tensions and protests, state authorities are moving to clamp down on the campuses, intervening to “guide campus discussion” and criminalize criticism of both domestic and foreign policy. Under the guise of criticizing “anti-Semitism” the state government is signaling that the persecution of student protesters will be tolerated or welcomed."
What
are they going to do to Jewish critics of the state of Israel –
accuse them of anti-semitism?!
California
Assembly passes resolution defining criticism of Israel as
anti-Semitism
4
September, 2012
Last
month, the California State Assembly passed a resolution urging state
educational institutions to more aggressively crack down on criticism
of the state of Israel on campuses, which the resolution defines as
“anti-Semitism.” The anti-democratic resolution is the latest
step in the broader campaign to stifle and suppress dissent on
California's increasingly volatile campuses.
The
California State Assembly is the lower house of the state
legislature, consisting of 80 members. The resolution—H.R. 35,
"Relative to anti-Semitism"—was passed by a voice vote,
after 66 members co-sponsored it, including a majority of both
Republicans and Democrats in the Assembly.
The
resolution was drafted by Republican Linda Halderman and passed
without public discussion. The vote on the resolution came when most
students were between semesters and away from their campuses.
The
resolution (available here) uses the classic trick employed by
defenders of Israel’s Zionist regime: lumping together any
criticism of the Israeli state’s policies or the US government’s
support for them with racist attacks on Jews.
The
resolution denounces “swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti in
residential halls, public areas on campus, and Hillel houses,” and
denounces those who accuse “the Jewish people, or Israel, of
inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.”
But
the bulk of the resolution is dedicated to defining criticism of the
state of Israel as “anti-Semitism.” It lists the following as
examples of “anti-Semitism”:
•
“language or behavior
[that] demonizes and delegitimizes Israel;”
•
“speakers, films, and
exhibits” that indicate that “Israel is guilty of heinous crimes
against humanity such as ethnic cleansing and genocide;”
•
describing Israel as a
“racist” or “apartheid” state;
•
“student-and
faculty-sponsored boycott, divestment, and sanction campaigns against
Israel;”
•
“denying the Jewish
people their right to self-determination;”
•
“applying double
standards by requiring of Israel a behavior not expected or demanded
of any other democratic nation;” and
•
“actions of student
groups that encourage support for terrorist organizations such as
Hamas and Hezbollah.”
This
list makes clear that the accusations of anti-Semitism are a red
herring, employed to attack students’ democratic rights and stifle
dissent. The resolution recalls the smear campaign against German
author Günter Grass and his poem “What Must Be Said” earlier
this year.
Defending
the poem, the World Socialist Web Site explained: “Anti-Semitism is
the term used to describe racist hatred aimed at the oppression and
persecution of Jews—and in the case of the Third Reich, the
extermination of Jews. Grass’s criticisms of the war policy of the
Netanyahu government are not directed against Jews, nor against Jews
in Israel. His overwhelming concern is the well-being of both the
Jewish population in Israel and the Iranian people. This is in stark
contrast to the Israeli government.
“The
Israeli regime does not represent the interests of the Jewish
population, but rather a tiny rich and corrupt clique that has always
worked closely with American imperialism.” (See: “Defend Günter
Grass!”)
The
aggressive narrowness of the resolution's definition of acceptable
political discussion, combined with its broad definition of
anti-Semitism, prompted the University of California to distance
itself from the resolution, though without rejecting or denouncing
it. “We think it's problematic because of First Amendment
concerns,” UC spokesman Steve Montiel told the San Francisco
Chronicle last week.
The
resolution does clearly implicate the First Amendment, which
guarantees freedom of speech and political expression. Moreover, it
must be said that the State of Israel is, as a matter of fact, guilty
of crimes against humanity.
To
cite only a more recent example, the 574-page UN Goldstone Report
published in 2010 found that the State of Israel had deliberately
targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza during the
2008-2009 “Operation Cast Lead.” The invasion of Gaza saw 1,400
Palestinians killed, compared with 13 Israelis killed. More than
21,000 buildings, factories, and apartments were damaged or
destroyed.
Under
California H.R. 35, it appears that the Goldstone report is now to be
considered “anti-Semitic.”
The
resolution also contains a denunciation of “suppression and
disruption of free speech that presents Israel's point of view.”
This appears to be a reference to the “Irvine 11” incident last
year, in which 11 students shouted down Israeli ambassador Michael
Oren during his speech at the University of California at Irvine.
The
11 students shouted, “Michael Oren, you’re a war criminal,” and
“You, sir, are an accomplice to genocide.” These students were
later arrested, charged and convicted of the crimes of “conspiracy”
and violating Oren’s rights. (See “University of California
students convicted for protesting Israeli ambassador’s speech.”)
The
resolution goes on to state that the “Assembly recognizes recent
actions by officials of public post secondary educational
institutions in California [e.g., the prosecutions of the Irvine 11]
and calls upon those institutions to increase their efforts to
swiftly and unequivocally condemn acts of anti-Semitism on their
campuses and to utilize existing resources . . . to help guide campus
discussion about, and promote, as appropriate, educational programs
for combating anti-Semitism on their campuses.”
On
California's campuses, as on campuses and workplaces internationally,
explosive class antagonisms are increasingly apparent. Massive
tuition hikes year after year coupled with job losses and
skyrocketing youth unemployment present an entire generation of young
people with an increasingly impossible situation.
State
authorities in California, which is controlled by the Democratic
Party, have watched the large campus protests that took place across
state campuses over the past two years with hostility, consternation,
and fear.
Over
the past year, at the behest of Democratic Party officials,
demonstrating students across the state have been attacked by
paramilitary police squads armed with batons, tear gas, and flash
grenades, with hundreds of students arrested and jailed. The world's
attention was captured when students peacefully protesting tuition
hikes at UC Davis were pepper sprayed by police in cold blood.
In
the face of increasing tensions and protests, state authorities are
moving to clamp down on the campuses, intervening to “guide campus
discussion” and criminalize criticism of both domestic and foreign
policy. Under the guise of criticizing “anti-Semitism” the state
government is signaling that the persecution of student protesters
will be tolerated or welcomed.
The
resolution concludes that “strong leadership from the top remains
an important priority so that no administrator, faculty, or student
group can be in any doubt that anti-Semitic activity will not be
tolerated in the classroom or on campus, and that no public resources
will be allowed to be used for anti-Semitic or any intolerant
agitation.”
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