Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On October 7, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 715 into law, which criminalizes any criticism of Israel as an act of anti-Semitism, punishable by criminal sanctions. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) notes that this bill was opposed by “teachers’ unions, civil rights groups, and education advocates across California,” to silence “marginalized voices in California public schools by shielding a foreign government—Israel—from legitimate criticism and criminalizes honest discussions on Palestine and other global human rights issues.” In his signing message, Newsom acknowledged the problematic “unintended consequences” of this bill, and promised “to work quickly on a follow-up measure next year to continue addressing these issues.” I’m left to discern that Gov. Newsom was troubled by the bill, and reluctantly signed it; under threats of being pegged as “anti-Semitic” by mainstream Jewish organizations. Those groups are unwilling to recognize the dark side of what Israel has become under Netanyahu. Newsom has shown himself to be a great governor and progressive leader, but is a “political animal” after all. This is not about grooming a presidential profile while governing California. It’s what they call “pragmatism.” ALL politicians, journalists and teachers are vulnerable to manufactured charges of anti-Semitism for criticizing Israel’s genocidal actions under AB 715.
Or by check:
Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)
California does not need an “anti-Semitism coordinator.” Questioning or criticizing the genocide in Gaza, the pogroms in the West Bank, or Israeli PM are NOT expressions of anti-Semitism. Nor is calling out Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to prolong and expand Israeli wars as a means of remaining in power. Those unfortunate facts are confirmed by UN investigations, and straight reporting by numerous news organizations. Zionism is a political ideology that evolved in the late 18th Century, to find a safe haven for Jews in the aftermath of 1000 years of pogroms, and the Holocaust. Classical Zionism made no mention of Biblical prophecy, Jewish nationalism or imperialist claims. But it has devolved to where it no longer represents, nor expresses Jewish ideals from the Torah, Midrash and Talmud.
Censoring academic content does nothing to promote “a safe learning environment,” as Newsom’s signing statement concludes. In fact, it fosters a more risky learning environment for objectors to the Israeli genocide, and Trump’s unholy alliance with Netanyahu. CAIR’s statement notes that it will, “Chill instruction and speech in public classrooms, politicize complaints against educators and students, and blur the line between legitimate classroom speech and discrimination by conflating discussions on Palestinian history and critiques of the state of Israel with actionable discrimination and harassment.”
The “anti-Semitism coordinator” would be empowered to, “review the curriculum, and threaten schools with fines and dismissals for refusing to remove material deemed ‘factually inaccurate.’” It would also allow Israeli supporters to file unsubstituted, unvetted complaints about teachers and content with the state Education Department. The Arab-American Anti-American Discrimination Committee (ADC) has filed a legal claim, contesting the legal validity of this bill. The ADC filed a federal claim names Governor Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond as defendants; on behalf of plaintiff Andrea Pritchett, who teaches at a middle school in Berkeley. She is also founder of Copwatch. Ms. Pritchett previously elicited complaints from two students for saying that “settlements in Palestine are an example of colonialism.” Those complaints were dismissed upon investigation, but under AB 715, she could be prosecuted for teaching such facts held as true by most citizens, scholars and journalists. Writer Marjorie Cohn noted that under AB 715, information that is factually accurate could be considered anti-Semitic. The ADC complaint argues that teachers may be prosecuted and sanctioned, ““if they expose their students to ideas, information, and instructional materials that may be considered critical of the State of Israel and the philosophy of Zionism.”
California AB 715 is an eerie echo of convicted felon Donald Trump’s 2019 Executive Order declaring Judaism to be a nationality, which created a pretext for quashing free expression and academic freedom, under the RUSE of guarding against anti-Semitism. This bill is about enabling government censorship of academic content, not protecting Jewish students or communities. It’s the same dynamic as book banning. It’s about quashing free discourse, and protecting a corrupt Israel government from due criticism. It’s about criminalizing certain types of “protected speech,” while US Republicans have tried to hijack the Berkeley-born Free Speech Movement into something it is not – the right to shout “FIRE” in a crowded theatre, and declare Fascist expressions as free speech.
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Trump has been weaponing the Justice Department to prosecute his own personal grievances. The latest salvo is aimed at UC Berkeley over the unfriendly reception given to Turning Point USA, as if they expected a warm reception. This was a calculated move for the last stop on the TPUSA tour to bring a provocative presence into the home of the Free Speech Movement. They’re acting as though TPUSA devotees are a victimized class of people, whose civil rights were violated, though their platform advocates cruel discrimination. TPUSA is not about free speech, a concept which Republicans have been trying to hijack since Trump’s 2019 Executive Order. TPUSA brought its road show to Berkeley to provoke a violent response, and were thusly dignified. For TPUSA devotees, their idea of free speech is protection of fascist, Christian-Nationalist speech, as Trump exuded at Madison Square Garden before the election. They shouted, “Fire” in a crowded theatre, and got the stampede they planned on.
File Photo of San Diego, CA, USA, October 30, 2023, by حسن on Unsplash
Trump and his acolytes are trying to censor valid academic content, to protect uber-Zionist sympathizers from feeling bad about themselves for excusing genocide and pogroms. Republicans have become vigilant and empowered in Trump’s 2nd term to call out any information that conflicts with their fictionalized perception of events, and criminalize free speech. While the bill does not define “anti-Semitism, the inference is that any criticism of Israel is thusly characterized, and teachers presenting it can be sanctioned, sued or fired. Though it is factually accurate to say that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and violations of international law in the West Bank, AB 715 will criminalize any educator who presents these facts in their lessons. This is part and parcel of Trump’s effort to blackmail universities into censoring content, and only teach the MAGA point of view on issues.
Many observant Jews have divorced Zionism from their religious practices, and some synagogues have formally dissociated their congregations from Israel and today’s mutated form of Zionism. Zionism began in the late 19th Century as a socialist agrarian movement with NO pretense of Biblical prophecy. Netanyahu has hijacked the movement, and turned it into a monstrous messianic ideology. Christian Nationalists in the US have similarly perverted Jesus’ teachings into something it is not, using religion as a cudgel to justify hate and conflict, rather than a promoting of love and Oneness. AB 715 in California aims to punish anyone who questions that principle and point of view.
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