{"id":108422,"date":"2023-11-09T18:05:23","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T16:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=108422"},"modified":"2023-11-09T12:57:38","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T10:57:38","slug":"15-05-93","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=108422","title":{"rendered":"Sanctioning Jew-hatred doesn\u2019t conflict with the First Amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Sanctioning Jew-hatred doesn\u2019t conflict with the First Amendment<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

JONATHAN S. TOBIN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Rep. Rashida Tlaib and those cheering for Hamas have the right to say what they want. But institutions should treat them the same way they would neo-Nazis or Klan members.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

.
\nRep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) at a protest in Clint, Texas, in 2019. Credit: Grossinger\/Shutterstock.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Members of the congressional \u201cSquad\u201d are always at their best when playing the victim. In that light, Nov. 7 was a banner day for Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) as she\u00a0tearfully<\/a>\u00a0assumed the mantle of martyrdom when the U.S. House of Representatives voted to\u00a0censure<\/a>\u00a0her for statements \u201cpromoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The ramifications of the censure vote extend far beyond the halls of Congress. A growing chorus of antisemitic invective is being heard on America\u2019s streets and on college campuses. Similar efforts to call out those who call for Israel\u2019s destruction and in favor of terrorist atrocities against Jews are being resisted by those who claim that doing so is an unconstitutional and unethical effort to silence free speech or to enforce a pro-Israel version of cancel culture. Some assert that the anti-Israel protests\u2014even those that clearly cross over into antisemitism\u2014must not only be tolerated but that any effort to punish or subject to public opprobrium those who engage in such vicious behavior is evidence of intolerance of legitimate political opinions. That includes those individuals who feel more than comfortable tearing down posters with the images of men, women and children being held captive in the Gaza Strip by Hamas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Would they tolerate support for lynching?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Nobody is repealing anyone\u2019s First Amendment right to freedom of expression, no matter how hateful. But the right to say whatever you want\u2014as long as it\u2019s not a direct incitement to violence\u2014doesn\u2019t mean that the rest of society is obliged to treat those engaging in open antisemitism as respectable members of society. We have every right to censure or call them out for doing so. And in the wake of Oct. 7, as expressions of hatred for Jews and Jewish safety are becoming so widespread, it is more important than ever that those who are behaving in this fashion are treated in the same way society disdains neo-Nazis or avowed racists like members of the Ku Klux Klan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Had a member of Congress expressed open racism against African-Americans, Hispanics or Asians, as well as supported violence against these groups, there would be no hesitation within either party about not just censuring but expelling them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the fact that some people openly sympathize with the cause of those advocating for the mass murder of Jews is an unfortunate fact. There is no doubt that universities would expel students or fire professors who supported the lynching of African-Americans or some other act of mass murder. And no law firm, corporation or mainstream publication would hire someone with that on their record. Nor would there be any movement within college administrations to help such people make their way in life, let alone be guaranteed the success that a degree from an elite school can bring.<\/span><\/p>\n

But when it comes to those engaging in antisemitism, it appears any thought of public ostracism is controversial. This testifies to the mainstreaming of hatred for Jews not so much in the fever swamps of the far right or far left, but in the very institutions of academia, journalism and business that are the loudest in opposing racism against anyone else.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, mainstream institutions are slow even to acknowledge how this atmosphere has led directly to violence against Jews, including the apparent\u00a0killing<\/a>\u00a0of a 69-year-old Jewish man in California by a pro-Hamas demonstrator. That publications like\u00a0The New York Times<\/em><\/a>\u00a0were reluctant to label this as murder or a hate crime, even after they rushed to assert that the killing of a Muslim boy was the result of Islamophobia, is more evidence of the double standard at play here.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And that is the true scandal about post-Oct. 7 America.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tlaib crosses a line<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Tlaib\u2019s attacks on Israel and President Joe Biden for his support for the Jewish state, in which she embraced the slogan \u201cFrom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free\u201d\u2014a call for the elimination of Israel and those who reside in it\u2014led to the censure. Her smears of Israel as an \u201capartheid state\u201d and false charges that it is committing \u201cgenocide\u201d against Palestinians (which, in context, was clearly intended as a defense of Hamas \u201cresistance\u201d efforts) motivated Republicans to move ahead with the measure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While Tlaib has disingenuously claimed that the \u201criver to the sea\u201d slogan is \u201caspirational\u201d and merely an appeal for freedom, she is a supporter of the antisemitic BDS movement and has repeatedly called for Israel\u2019s elimination.<\/span><\/p>\n

The vote in favor of censure was 234-188 with 22 Democrats breaking party discipline and crossing the aisle to vet to condemn Tlaib while four Republicans bucked their party to oppose it. Three other Democrats and one Republican merely voted \u201cpresent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Given the failure of past attempts to shame Tlaib in this manner, it\u2019s a significant step for the House. Censure has become a largely partisan tool in which both Republicans and Democrats condemn each other\u2019s outliers more to stoke partisan fundraising than any actual outrage. This vote matters because it labels her behavior as being so abhorrent that it forced at least some in her own party to treat it as beyond the pale.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, most Democrats didn\u2019t vote for censure. And only 67 signed on to a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0condemning the use of the \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d slogan as an obvious call for genocide of Israel\u2019s Jews, though without naming Tlaib.<\/span><\/p>\n

The reason for this was partly partisan since in the current political environment, party labels mean far more to most politicians than principles. But according to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who is a popular figure among liberal Jewish Democrats, the real issue was \u201cfreedom of speech.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a similar theme being sounded by those who disagree with efforts to punish students and professors who express support for Hamas and echo Tlaib\u2019s antisemitic libels while also intimidating Jewish students. Similar arguments are heard in defense of those who march in the streets in support of Hamas\u2019s genocidal agenda or who tear down posters with the images of Israelis who have been kidnapped and dragged across the border to the Gaza Strip, where they are being held by Hamas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anti-Zionism is antisemitism<\/strong><\/h4>\n

As\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0columnist Michelle Goldberg, another avowed anti-Zionist,\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0this past weekend, as far as many on the political left are concerned, the question is: \u201cWhen it comes to Israel, who gets to decide what you can or can\u2019t say?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the misnomer here is the false claim that Tlaib or students chanting for an \u201cintifada\u201d are engaging in \u201ccriticism\u201d of Israel\u2019s government. If it were merely criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his policies, there would be no issue. But the anti-Zionists don\u2019t want a different Israeli government or a Jewish state with alternative policies or borders. They want to \u201cdecolonize\u201d Israel, which is to say, destroy it, evict or kill its Jews and replace it with a Palestinian state. And that state would\u2014inevitably, like every other majority Muslim nation in the region\u2014be one where adherents of other religions would, at best, be a discriminated-against minority whose safety would be subject to the whims of Islamists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The reason why anti-Zionists are antisemites, regardless of whether some can claim Jewish ancestry, is that they advocate for treating Jews differently than any other people on the planet. They say that only Jews have no right to life and sovereignty in their ancient homeland, and as such, should be denied the right to self-defense against those seeking to slaughter them. That is what those demanding a ceasefire in Gaza so as to allow Hamas to survive and win the current war are doing, and it\u2019s nothing but discrimination. And let\u2019s be clear: Discrimination against Jews is antisemitism.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is why the Jewish community has every right to demand that those who call for Israel\u2019s extinction be correctly labeled as antisemites. It is equally hateful to claim that antisemites should be tolerated or treated better than those who advocate for discrimination or violence against other minorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The awful atrocities of Oct. 7 were deeply traumatic for all Jews. But that injury has been compounded not just by the indifference of much of the world, including those who\u00a0publicly comment<\/a>\u00a0about any tragedy, but by the way the mass slaughter of Jews has actually encouraged the spread of antisemitism throughout the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem for Jews is that a percentage of Americans support an ideology\u2014left-wing intersectionality\u2014that is squarely behind such discrimination and ready to rationalize, if not openly back, violence against Jews. We can see how this has already led to violence and the creation of an atmosphere in cities and colleges where Jews have good reason to fear for their safety.<\/span><\/p>\n

That means that it is incumbent on institutions\u2014whether they are universities, corporations or Congress\u2014to demonstrate that while people who hold such views have every right to speak, march or publish, they do not have a right to be tolerated or treated as a respectable member of society. As long as they are being told by the arbiters of public opinion, like\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>, that their advocacy for violence against Jews is something that everyone should accept as legitimate and even acceptable discourse, Jews aren\u2019t safe in America \u2026 or anywhere else.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Jonathan S. Tobin<\/strong> is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate). Follow him @jonathans_tobin.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion’68,<\/em>
\nani te\u017c webmastera Blogu Reunion’68, chyba ze jest to wyra\u017anie zaznaczone.
\nTwoje uwagi, linki, w\u0142asne artyku\u0142y lub wiadomo\u015bci prze\u015blij na adres:
\n<\/em>webmaster@reunion68.com<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sanctioning Jew-hatred doesn\u2019t conflict with the First Amendment JONATHAN S. TOBIN Rep. Rashida Tlaib and those cheering for Hamas have the right to say what they want. But institutions should treat them the same way they would neo-Nazis or Klan members. . Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) at a protest in Clint, Texas, in 2019. Credit: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108422"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108422"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108442,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108422\/revisions\/108442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}