The Antisemitism Awareness Act is bad for American Jews — here’s why 

Public attention remains focused on ongoing ceasefire negotiations and Israeli military operations in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. operation Rapha and its sequel control About the pro-Palestinian student demonstrators. But the sticking point is a dangerous new anti-Semitism bill that threatens the safety of American Jews.

The law in question is the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act. passed it It passed the House last Wednesday with majority support from both Republicans and Democrats. While nominally harmless, the bill threatens First Amendment rights and strengthens ties between Jews and Zionism in ways that are at odds with the interests of American Jews. It is the Senate’s duty to reject the bill accordingly.

The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act seeks to address anti-Semitism on school campuses.To do so, we first define anti-Semitism and then define it in the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). ability to pause Funding will be provided if the school determines that it will not take action against students who violate that definition. Essentially, the bill would give the Department of Energy new tools to threaten and punish schools that don’t take seriously the department’s definition of anti-Semitism.

But here’s the problem. In giving the DOE these new powers, the bill codifies a definition of anti-Semitism that is hostile to both Palestinian rights and Jewish safety.

This bill adopts the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. criticized For “Conflat”[ing] Judaism with Zionism, which assumes all Jews are Zionists. ” Indeed, many scholars in Jewish studies (and related fields) have since proposed alternative definitions of anti-Semitism. Jerusalem Declaration on Anti-SemitismIts purpose is to “strengthen the fight against anti-Semitism by clarifying what anti-Semitism is and to protect a forum for open discussion on thorny issues regarding the future of Israel/Palestine.”

The passage of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act could be a significant victory for those who consider anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism to be synonymous and seek to use the IHRA definition to undermine opposition to the State of Israel. be. However, this new bill is opposed by the public. ACLU, which is rightly considered an attack on First Amendment rights. This is what the leaders of America’s Jewish establishment think, even if they disagree with this view. request For some pro-Palestinian student demonstrators, their support for Israel, especially in the context of the Palestinian situation, may be less than their support for American democracy. Era of rising authoritarianism.

Instead, established Jewish organizations such as Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and President’s meeting He praised the bill.And played expertly by Slate’s Emily Tamkin. show, Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO, has argued more broadly that “anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are conflated, and this conflation is central to ADL’s work.” Although not focused on the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, Tamkin argues that Greenblatt’s approach destroys the safety of Jews who do not sympathize with Zionism.

But the law is concerning for Jewish Americans who take their American and Jewish identities seriously.

One of the implications of the bill is to strengthen legal ties between Jews and Zionism, building on a decades-old process that scholar Shor Majid has called “legal ties.” “The Zionization of American Jewry.” Here, American Jewish identity is increasingly tied to the state of Israel. As Tamkin’s analysis suggests, making connections with the state of Israel, which is important to American Jewish identity, may be exactly what some American Jewish leaders want. However, these members of the Jewish community seriously believe that such efforts, especially when legally enshrined, risk compromising the community’s standing in the United States and, by extension, our security. I don’t think it is.

To collapse Jewishness into Zionism is to tacitly accept the precept that being Jewish is a nationality, and by extension the precept that Israel is a Jewish state. (codified in the 2018 Israeli Code of Laws) nation state law). Assuming that all Jews are Israeli citizens or Israeli citizens-in-waiting, the attempt to make Jews and Zionism synonymous with This risks calling into question the idea that people have no real loyalty to their country. Given the long history of anti-Semitism, the Jewish community is very wary of supporting any kind of legislation that suggests, no matter how far, the idea that Jews are not truly Americans. It should be.

In the past, major American Jewish organizations such as the American Jewish Committee took a non-Zionist position This is precisely because they rejected the premise that the Jews were a nation. In Jeffrey Levin’s book review, new book Majid on Jewish American opposition to Israel. I am making a note of This position meant that the AJC “does not oppose the state of Israel in principle, even if it harshly criticizes the treatment of the Palestinian minority within Israel.” However, the organization opposed Jewish nationalism as the raison d’être of American Jews. ” The Jewish leaders of the establishment would do well to remember those positions and return to them now.

As a graduate student studying race and citizenship in American and Jewish politics, I am concerned that so many in our community refuse to distinguish between Jews and Zionism. Masu. This refusal is scary because it means supporting Israel. horrible assault About the Palestinians in Gaza. It also raises the risk that at some point, Jews may no longer be seen as true or equal Americans in the eyes of their neighbors, no matter how remote.

I know this may sound misguided or alarmist. However, those who support the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act need to understand the assumptions behind their position and identify themselves with a country (Israel) in which we do not live, are not citizens, and in which we do not live. It would be better to ask deeper questions about the risks associated with permanent identification. It is currently engaged in a horrific campaign of mass violence against Palestinians.

I have seen firsthand how frightened some people are by the pro-Palestinian protests happening on campus. But supporting clearly illiberal legislation that strengthens ties between Jews and Zionism will not make us safer. Instead, we should renew our alliance with non-Jewish Americans and seek an equitable partnership with the Palestinians.

The security of our communities in the United States is closely tied to the security of our neighbors, not the state of Israel. I hope our community recognizes this and tells their senators to oppose the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act.

Miko Zeldes-Roth is a doctoral student in Jewish American political theory who studies the intersection of race, sovereignty, and citizenship in American and Jewish politics.