Anti-Semitism and Free Speech

By Hank Silverberg

I am an American. I was born in the USA. My parents are/were Americans. They too were born in the USA.  My grandparents came from Poland, Ukraine and Russia where, as Jews,  they were not allowed to be citizens. They became naturalized Americans as soon as they were eligible.   

If you ask the more than 6.9 million people who identify as Jews in America, they will say they are American. They have no other nationality.

There are more Jews in America than any other country in the world. Israel has 6.7 million Jews, and if you ask them their nationality, they will tell you they are Israeli.  There are 2.3 million Israelis who are NOT Jewish.

Judaism is a religion. Yes, there is a distinct Jewish culture, but culture is not a nationality. 

So, I was distressed this past week when President Trump decided, with the urging of son-in-law Jared Kushner (an Orthodox Jew) to issue an executive order declaring Jewish to be a nationality.

The reason he said, was to try and stop the rise of Anti-semitism in the United States.

It was aimed at the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) movement, a loosely formed coalition of Palestinians and the radical left, who are calling for a boycott of Israel and Israeli products. It’s an economic and political effort protesting the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and on the West Bank. And the tactics are similar to those used against Apartheid in South Africa at the end of the last century. 
  

The group has been very active on college campuses and has sponsored numerous speakers and protests which have advocated for the destruction of Israel. In doing so, they have attacked Jews, including American Jews, as a whole.

Making Judaism a nationality, the Trump Administration argues, will allow the federal government to withhold federal funds to any college or university that tolerates the BDS movement and radical speakers on its campus. (See below for the First Amendment issue this also raises.) 

 Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the bases of race, color, or national origin for any program (or school) that receives federal funds or other federal assistance. That provision does not include religious discrimination, so the Administration argues they had to make Jewish a nationality to apply that law.  

Many Jewish groups gently support the concept because many of the speakers on the BDS issue have been anti-Semitic in tone with the attacks focusing on Jews as a whole rather than specific Israeli policy. 

But those Jewish groups may have missed the real worry. Calling Jews who live in America a nationality, damages our traditional status as Americans. It encourages those who have always, and falsely, argued that Jews have split loyalty between the USA and Israel. It promotes questions about our loyalty to OUR country which plays right into the hands of the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who have been emboldened by Mr. Trump’s bizarre statements after Charlottesville and elsewhere.

Nationality was used in 1942 to round up thousands of Japanese Americans, place them in internment camps, and accuse them of disloyalty.  It was one of the biggest scars in our history, right up there with slavery and the slow genocide against indigenous peoples. 

Remember when Trump said Jews aren’t loyal? He repeated it again this month at a meeting of the conservative Israeli/American Council, implying that any Jew who votes for a Democrat is disloyal.    
 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/12/donald-trump-anti-semitic-remarks

I am American who practices Judaism. I support Israel’s right to exist but I am NOT Israeli. Jews as a whole have long argued that Israel has at times done things which we as Americans are uncomfortable with, including some of the tactics used in Gaza and elsewhere. The same argument has often split Israeli politics as well. 

But we are Americans, and that is why many of us are also unhappy with the Executive Order and the assault it makes on the First Amendment to the Constitution.
 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

                                                                                 

                

Restricting the right of these pro-boycott groups to speak on a college campus or anywhere else simply because you don’t like the message violates the spirit and meaning of the First Amendment. So does government restrictions on any protest of those speakers or their supporters. The truth always wins out when we have free speech.  

We can not let this slow erosion of our rights to continue. There is likely to be a court challenge to this Executive Order. Let’s hope its implementation is short lived.     

2020 hopes

As promised last week, here are my top 20 hopes for 2020. I have divided them into serious hopes and entertaining wishes.

1.   The end of the Donald Trump presidency: Despite the Articles of Impeachment the House is likely to approve this week, they will go nowhere in the Senate because no Republican has the courage to stand up and do what is right for the country instead of what is right for his party. Therefore, we may have to wait until election day on November 3 to vote him out of office. And it may have to be a landslide to convince him to leave.  

  

2.   A Democrat who inspires:  As I wrote last week, I have yet to see a Democratic presidential hopeful that can inspire voters and lead us out of the darkness of the last three years. 

3.   An end to the 19-year-old war in Afghanistan: The British couldn’t do it in the 19^th Century, the Soviet Union (Russia) couldn’t do it in the 20^th Century, and there is no reason to believe the United States can do it in the 21^st Century. Our reason for going there in the first place, getting Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaida, is done. Let’s leave Afghanistan to the Afghanis and withdraw faster.

4.     Some progress on Climate Change: This will be hard with Trump still in office,but a change in a few votes on Capitol Hill can make a difference. (see 5)

5.    Removal of Mitch McConnell: We are talking about the ballot box here, either by defeat in his election in Kentucky or by Democrats retaking the senate and leaving the Majority Leader’s job to someone else. Remember, this is the guy who swore in 2008 that his main job was to stop ANYTHING proposed by Barack Obama.

6.   The release of all children held in cages: This can be done by Congress, or simply by speeding up the immigration court system so their cases can be heard. The longer this remains the way it is, the more damage is done to the image of America abroad.

7. An infrastructure bill. If you have taken a long road trip anywhere in the last few years, you know our roads and bridges nationwide are in bad shape. But Congress fiddles while the roads continue to crumble.

8.   Good health and a very long life to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  No explanation needed.   

9. The complete and utter destruction of the myths about vaccinations. And the death of the anti-vax movement which has harmed more people than this year’s measles outbreak. 

10. The resurrection of real journalism.  Reporting just the facts on cable news without opinion or partisanship. There is some hope after some recent descension inside Fox News about that network’s lack of objectivity, but so far, it’s only a glimmer of hope.

And now some entertaining  wishes.

  1. Another World Championship  for my beloved Boston Red Sox.

 2. The elimination of the term “Fake News” from the nation’s lexicon. 

  3.  Civility on social media (this one may be impossible, but we can hope).  

  4 .Snow on the ski slopes (for my ski crazy relatives) and MILD weather for the rest of us. 

  5. An announcement that there will be no more "Rocky” Sequels ever. (You know why.)

6.   Another season of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” (and at least one line spoken by the Susie Meyerson character that does NOT include the “F” word).      

7.   Another out of the playoffs finish for that MLB team in the Bronx (just to prove money can’t buy a World Series).

8.   A week on American TV when there are NO reruns of “Friends” being shown anywhere.

9.   An entire year without ANY professional or college athlete being arrested for anything.

10. A quadrupling of the number of people who read “Time to Think,” (this blog which will publish entry #100 next week).

                                     (Happy Holidays)

   (Copies of my book “The Campaign” can still be purchased in time for the holidays at Amazon.com, BN.com or by emailing me directly at hanksilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at reduced price and with my signature.)