{"id":299124,"date":"2024-11-23T06:54:05","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T06:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=299124"},"modified":"2024-11-25T08:27:21","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T08:27:21","slug":"the-antisemitism-awareness-act-is-the-death-knell-for-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=299124","title":{"rendered":"The Antisemitism Awareness Act Is the Death Knell for Free Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Whitney \u2013 The Unz Review Nov 21, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Freedom of speech is the principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins\u2026.Ben Franklin<\/p>\n

The Antisemitism Awareness Act is a wrecking ball designed to pulverize the First Amendment. <\/strong>While the alleged intention of the bill is to make Jewish students feel safer on campus, the real purpose is to put an end to the anti-genocide demonstrations that have broken out across the country and to prevent the criticism of Israel. The proposed bill invokes a dodgy legal mechanism to derail the protests and to silence Israel\u2019s critics. By using a broad and ambiguous definition of antisemitism, the bill compels university administrators to crackdown on free speech invoking sketchy claims of discrimination. <\/strong>Political analyst Paul Craig Roberts summed it up like this: \u201cif universities \u2026don\u2019t suppress student protests against Israel\u2019s massacre of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon they will lose their accreditation and federal financial support.\u201d In short, universities are being encouraged to quash the free expression of political ideas to preserve their federal funding.<\/strong> This helps to illustrate how Zionist lobbyists are now engaged in a full-throated assault on constitutionally protected civil liberties, namely free speech.<\/p>\n

The bill\u2014which already passed the House with a sizable majority\u2014shows how the charge of antisemitism can be used as a coercive political tool to silence Israel\u2019s critics. <\/strong>That is why civil liberties organizations\u2014like the ACLU, PEN America, the Alliance Defending Freedom and even Jewish groups like Bend the Arc and T\u2019ruah\u2014strongly oppose the bill based on free speech grounds. Even so, this attack on constitutionally protected rights has a good chance of passing the senate due to the arm twisting of powerful interest groups that have their tentacles wrapped tightly around both houses of congress. Here\u2019s a brief summary from political analyst Guy Christensen:<\/p>\n

The House just passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act which will shut down college protests against Israel and silence all future criticism of the state of Israel.<\/strong> The law literally redefines antisemitism as criticizing the state of Israel and makes it a violation of Title 6 to do so. The purpose of this is to allow politicians to pull federal funding from colleges who don\u2019t stop these college protests and let their students continue to criticize Israel. <\/strong><\/p>\n

We must speak out against the Antisemitism Awareness Act. This is insanity. These people are full-on Zionists trying to silence free speech here in America, trying to silence criticism of the oppression of the Palestinians, criticism of the state of Israel that murdered 14,000 children.<\/p>\n

Like I said, the guy who wrote the bill, Mike Lawler, is funded by AIPAC $180,000 (he said to NBC News when talking about this bill.) When you hear \u201cRiver to the sea, Palestine will be free\u201d that is calling for the eradication of the Jews in the state of Israel. (They are) Literally trying to make it illegal to criticize Israel.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t know how Title 6 works, all federally funded programs and institutions must follow it or they won\u2019t receive any more federal funding. This includes US colleges and K through 12 schools who are very strict about following Title 6 because they need that funding. They can\u2019t go without it. So, if we let this become law, it would force US colleges to shut down all these protests immediately.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This contends for the most outrageous bill for Israel the government has ever tried to pass. I will not vote or say a kind word about any politician who voted in favor of this bill\u2026. (your representative ) care more about Israel than they care about your free speech. What they are doing is incredibly dangerous. Zionists are scared because American public opinion is changing. Students across the country are protesting against Israel. You know they\u2019re scared because this is one of the boldest things they\u2019ve ever tried to do\u2026..AIPAC and the pro-Israel lobby is behind all of this. Ban AIPAC Stop the Antisemitism Awareness Act. We have to protect our free speech and our right to protest against evil. YourFavoriteGuy@guychristensen_<\/a><\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, President Donald Trump\u2014whose campaign was given $100 million by a strident Zionist donor\u2014confirmed that he will aggressively implement the blatantly unconstitutional law<\/a> by cancelling the funding of any college that tolerates the anti-genocide protests. He further stated that he will prosecute the universities for, what he calls, \u201cviolations of the civil rights law.\u201d In other words, it is not the tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians that have been killed by Israel who are the victims, but the Jewish university students who feel \u201cunsafe.\u201d (Note\u2014Trump refers to the protestors views as \u201cantisemitic propaganda\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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Under the new bill, the U.S. Department of Education will be required to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance\u2019s working definition and contemporary examples of anti-Semitism when enforcing anti-discrimination laws on college campuses<\/strong>. But, as human rights activist Sofia Lopez points out, \u201cthe IHRA definition was never intended to be used for legal purposes, and it covers a broad swath of expression the First Amendment protects. <\/strong>Requiring schools to use it would not help address discrimination at institutions of higher education; it would merely pressure them to punish people who are expressing their own political views.<\/p>\n

In order to grasp the absurdity of this bill, we must know how congress defines antisemitism. (because the definition will decide whether there has been a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.) This is from an article by Joe Cohn at fire.org. The definition reads:<\/p>\n

The definition targets \u201ca certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews\u201d \u2014 a description so broad that it allows for the investigation and punishment of core political speech, such as criticism of Israeli policy. Anti-Semitism Awareness Act continues to threaten free speech on campus,<\/a> fire.org<\/p>\n

Repeat: \u201cA certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews\u201d??<\/p>\n

Is that not sufficiently vague?<\/p>\n

Yes, it is. And, by the way, isn\u2019t hate speech protected under the first amendment? (Note\u2014We are NOT inferring that the anti-genocide protesters express hatred towards Jews. They most certainly do NOT.)<\/p>\n

Indeed, hate speech is protected. This is from the University of Milwaukee:<\/p>\n

Hate speech may be offensive and hurtful; however, it is generally protected by the First Amendment. <\/strong>One common definition of hate speech is \u201cany form of expression through which speakers intend to vilify, humiliate or incite hatred against a group or a class of persons on the basis of race, religion, skin color, sexual identity, gender identity, ethnicity, disability or national origin.\u201d Courts have ruled that restrictions on hate speech would conflict with the First Amendment\u2019s protection of the freedom of expression<\/strong>. Since public universities are bound by the First Amendment, public universities must adhere to these rulings. However, universities also have an obligation to create a safe, inclusive learning environment for all members of the campus community.<\/p>\n

With these considerations in mind, courts in the United States have found that expression generally cannot be punished based on its content or viewpoint. Thus, although hate speech, alone, receives constitutional protection, any expression that constitutes a true threat, incitement to imminent lawless action, discriminatory harassment or defamation can be punished by UWM for those reasons<\/strong>. What is hate speech, and is it protected by the First Amendment?<\/a>, University of Milwaukee<\/p>\n

So, our representatives in congress know that hate speech is protected but they pushed through a bill based on the \u201cperception of hatred towards Jews\u201d? Does that make any sense? (Once again, the protestors are not threatening Jews by opposing Israel\u2019s genocide<\/strong>. They are expressing their political views which are protected speech.)<\/p>\n

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And it gets worse, because they adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance\u2019s definition of antisemitism which provides a list of examples to illustrate the kinds of speech it says \u201cmay\u201d constitute antisemitism<\/strong>. These include:<\/p>\n

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.
\nApplying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
\nUsing the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
\nDrawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
\nThe Wrong Way to Fight Campus Antisemitism,<\/a> PEN<\/p>\n

So, saying that Netanyahu\u2019s policies in Gaza are similar to those of Nazi Germany is the same as denying a black man a job or a house because he is black? (one is a comparison while the other is blatant discrimination.)<\/p>\n

Can you see how ridiculous this is?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting, that the author of the IHRA definition, Kenneth Stern, has \u201cstated that using the definition as enforceable policy is \u201cboth unconstitutional and unwise\u201d and \u201cthe worst way to address\u201d antisemitism on campus<\/strong>.\u201d He even said that \u201censhrining a particular definition of something that\u2019s inherently involving political speech into law\u201d in this way is \u201ca total travesty.\u201d fire.org<\/a><\/p>\n

It is a travesty, but that hasn\u2019t stopped Trump or our AIPAC-controlled congress from trying to impose it on the American people. No, they are determined to pass this liberty-eviscerating abomination into law. God help us.<\/p>\n

Video<\/strong> 1:30 min\u2026 Jewish Action explains why Jews should oppose the Antisemitism Awareness Act<\/p>\n

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Today the House votes on the gag legislation they’re calling the “Antisemitism Awareness Act”.<\/p>\n

Antisemitism is a serious problem, but codifying a legal definition could have dangerous implications for free speech.<\/p>\n

\uf9f5pic.twitter.com\/lU0YhyO3EH<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) May 1, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n