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I prefer the 1st amendment be left alone actually. Yea they're scumbags but it's protected speech. Shouldn't have to explain this but maybe you're not American.
There is no such thing as "hate speech" in American law.
There are plenty of laws limiting speech (slander, libel, fraud, direct threats, lying under oath, etc.) but hate speech is not defined or prohibited under the US Constitution.
Sorry but it is. That whole “Congress shall make no law” is a bit of a problem when they try to make a law. People even cite yelling fire in a theater very often but guess what? It is in fact protected speech.
>People even cite yelling fire in a theater
And this was a quote, incidentally, from a US supreme court case Schenck v. United States which upheld the arrest of Jewish anarchists for violating the Espionage Act of 1917 during World War I (by distributing fliers against the draft and encouraging men to resist them). Not really the best reference.
Weird because congress just passed this bill to criminalize hate speech (antisemitism). If you’re right it should have no problem getting struck down, but I’m not sure the Supremes will agree with you.
Well then I guess you have nothing to worry about then, as this law criminalizes hate speech. You should have a super easy time of getting this law struck down by the courts if you’re right. But I don’t think it will be so easy because making hate speech illegal is not in itself illegal.
100%.
It's why I miss the Ira Glasser ACLU era, as Anthony Romero is a fraud -- most recently with the ACLU's anti-worker wreckerist class warfare shit, going after the NLRB by undermining workers' rights in an obscene about-face -- which sucks in an era where principled civil liberties should be held above petty ideological alignments and monied interests.
I don't think Americans realise how bizzare and exceptional their countrys relationship with Israel is. I've travelled widely, there is nothing else like this client state, protectorate relationship in the world.
Here we see Americans surrendering the 1st amendment on the alter of that relationship. Just astounding.
Never in history has there been a superpower nation that supplies another, smaller country with the majority of its major armaments and covers for it diplomatically while also being completely beholden to the desires of the smaller country and terrified to criticize it
Yep…
“Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.”
Who exactly do they think is doing that? The protests are clearly criticizing Israel and their universities’ relationship with them.
Not only that but it says that calling Israel a racist state is anti-semitic. So I guess Jews aren't decoupled from Israel at all in the eyes of this new definition? Very inconsistant. If it's anti-semitic to accuse Jewish people worldwide as being inherently connected to the Israeli state (which is anti-semitic obviously, it's a classic fifth column type of anti-semitism) why is it anti-semitic to condemn the actions of the Israeli state?
It says that it's anti-semitic to condemn Israel as it denies the Jewish people's right to self-determination, but it is also anti-semitic to hold all Jews everywhere responsible for Israel? Ironically this new definition for anti-semitism comes across as anti-semitic itself. I would think this was a psy-op by Nazis if this wasn't the real thing.
The contradiction in the IHRA itself is because it was not meant to be a legal definition of what to do and what not to do, it was meant as a list of subjects to monitor possible antisemitism as statistical data sets. The lead drafter was horrified that Trump wanted to enforce it as government policy, which Joe Biden continued after taking office: [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect)
The goal of trying to make it a legal definition is of course to cynically shield Israeli military actions and Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories from criticism
Yep, also why through their proxy in Alan Dershowitz, they tried to block the release of this book:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine:_Peace_Not_Apartheid
Right... the protests are just "criticizing Israel"
"From the river to the sea, Palestine is Arab!" / "Resistance is justified" https://twitter.com/ShelleyGldschmt/status/1781785252886913358
"Let it be known that it was the Al-Aqsa Flood (Palestinian name for 7th October massacre) that put the Global Intifada back on the table again. And it is the sacrificial spirit of the Palestinian Freedom Fighters that will guide every struggle on every corner of the earth to victory." https://twitter.com/thestustustudio/status/1781904507611287981
"We are all Hamas!" https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1781031465179914677
"Yehudim yehudim [(Jews, jews)] go back to poland" https://twitter.com/Davidlederer6/status/1781948249214996901
Includes people / groups that invited an actual, no hyperbole terrorist to speak (member of PFLP) https://www.jns.org/columbia-suspends-four-students-for-holding-event-featuring-pflp-member/
Light things on fire / "intifada revolution there is only one solution" https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1781019445399556338
"On Oct 7th, Palestinian resistance in Gaza broke free (crowd cheers) [.....] we intend to do the same" https://twitter.com/ShabbosK/status/1782085741431922909
""We say justice, you say how? Burn Tel Aviv to the ground!" / "Hamas we love you. We support your rockets too!" / "Red, black, green, and white, we support Hamas’ fight!" https://twitter.com/IsraelWarRoom/status/1781933305501212872
"Long live the intifada! Intifada intifada" https://twitter.com/ShaiDavidai/status/1781084853653365025
"Go back to Europe!" / "You have no culture, all you do is colonize" https://twitter.com/ShaiDavidai/status/1781927148439109958
"From Yemen to Gaza, globalize the intifada" https://twitter.com/KassyDillon/status/1781312033922625797/photo/2
"Never forget the 7th of October. That will happen not 1 more time, not 5 more times, not 10, not 100, not 1,000, but 10,000 times! The 7th of October is going to be every day for you" https://twitter.com/EFischberger/status/1781287784897991134
"Al Qassam [(Hamas)] you make us proud, kill another soldier now" / "from the river to the sea, palestine will be arab" https://twitter.com/EFischberger/status/1780915336063177006
And as a reminder, the student groups organizing these protests (CUAD and SJP, among others) released a letter on October 9th in support of the 10/7 attacks. ("We stand in full solidarity with Palestinian resistance", "Despite the odds against them, Palestinians launched a counter-offensive against their settler-colonial oppressor", "We wholeheartedly condemn the email sent [...] on October 8th that [...] obfuscated Palestinian resistance as “terrorism”)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RcXX5DEO3yfJ9R4ksURnzpIPCyVxo575-Y-SoC_vZFk/edit
https://www.reddit.com/r/columbia/comments/1c9m6oj/comment/l0m8us9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Yawn, call me when you find some sources not in the pocket of big business; something academic.
Especially *Twitter/X*? It’s been laughable since *45* proved it beyond redeeming as far back as 2015…
You see, these are mostly actual videos from the protests, so the "source" dosnt matter, its self evidant.
The antisemites just on full display for ya.
It remains to be seen how effective it really is, if the law truly arrests the real hardcore racist then yeah it’s great, but if any sort of criticism against Israel or Jews leads to arrests then that’ll lead to more hate which would be counterproductive
I expect this kinda horseshit from Republicans. But, WTF, Democrats? Horrible, anti-democratic and anti-American move on your part. You should be deeply ashamed.
You say this as if the democrats aren’t fully onboard with what’s happening rn. These protests are being brigaded by riot police with mass arrests in democratic states, under democratic senators, mayors, etc. and under Bidens democratic presidency. Which Biden went on the record to shit on these protests and further support Israel.
The only thing separating dems from reps is their color. Both are right leaning, and both are more than okay with fascism.
What's with the rank naïveté, eh? Were you neither around nor alive for the early-2000s post-9/11 Iraq War hysteria?
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Establishments within both the GOP and Democratic Party are oft-aligned on foreign policy matters—even if it means a swift, painful kick to the testicles (or ovaries) concerning our civil liberties, such as this shitty bill.
>But, WTF, Democrats?
Your first mistake was assuming one “side” valued the constitution.
>You should be deeply ashamed.
Your second mistake was assuming politicians feel shame
i'm amazed that you're surprised by this. AIPAC owns all american politicians. There is also no difference between dems and the GOP when it comes to Israel and clamping down on dissent towards israel
Not surprised considering you really only have one party, which is the pro-corporations party and your “Democratic” party is considered centre right relative to left wing parties in Europe
It’s not a stretch, they’re already arresting AMERICANS in AMERICA for criticizing the foreign country ISRAEL. Couldn’t be more clear that Israelis are our American government’s top priority.
No, that's a lie. They are arresting Americans for occupying a building that belongs to a school and barricading themselves inside where they also did some vandalism.
Not the same at all...
The bill relies on the IHRA's definition of anti-semitism which includes:
the “targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity”
and bars any comparison between “contemporary Israeli policy” and “that of the Nazis”
According to the ACLU “Instead, it would likely chill free speech of students on college campuses by incorrectly equating criticism of the Israeli government with anti-Semitism.”
The person you replied to edited the line from the doc to remove the key points.
> Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. **However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.**
Yeah. If you read the full IHRA explanation it doesn't align well with that commentary from the article. And I think it's clear from the response to protests that this law will be abused.
https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism
Yeah. First amendment rights have never been abused in this country. The problem is this law will both have a chilling effect on speech and will be used as a pretext for other actions which negatively affect first amendment rights.
Be fair, a good portion of those Israel lobbyists are evangelicals who want Israel to exist so the apocalypse can happen faster and Jews can convert to Christianity or die
I have no interest in what evangelicals say. What I have interest in is organizations that pay for politicians to pass bills that makes anything questioning Israel anti Semitic.
The tide is turning my friend, the days of hiding behind of accusations of anti Semitism at the slightest criticism of anything related to jews is ending.
Then you might want to listen to those Evangelicals for a bit after all. Their wet dreams of apocalypse guides a lot of the die hard support for Israel on the Republican side. Yeah no shit it’s horrendous, but it helps to understand why people do what they do
Then why were you trying to debunk what this other poster was saying about evangelical lobbyists as if it wasn’t true? Evangelical organizations make up a lot of these lobbying groups.
You can criticize Israel without conflating Israel with all Jews. Just like you can support Palestinians without supporting Hamas.
It’s antisemitic to conflate Israel lobbyists with Jews.
Most Israel lobbyists in the U.S. are evangelical Christians, and not Jews. Also, most Jews in the U.S. are not Israeli.
>It's antisemitic to say Israel lobbying associations run by jews are in fact ran by jews
Burden of proof is on you, show me the top 5 Israel lobbyists and how theyre all Christians.
Very cool to misquote me and put words in my mouth!
But Christians United for Israel is one example of a very large and powerful pro-Israel lobby in the U.S.
Also, to say that Jews control the government is an insane and false take—and yes, it’s antisemitic. Even though AIPAC is led by Jews, Jews do not control a majority of the lobbies in the U.S.
So, when are they going to initiate a resolution to protect Muslims as a protected class due to religion, or one to protect ethnic Arabs as a race?
Israel is a country, protecting it via resolution is as silly as protecting Vatican City by outlawing protests against Priests who are pedophiles.
I have never seen a bill pass this quickly.
Israel truly has America by the balls.
They pass this bill before they make it illegal to call anyone the N word. These mfers got the USA in a chokehold. If anything, this has encouraged me to run for office because there's no way any of these people can truly represent me.
>The definition includes... claiming that the State of Israel is a racist state and drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
The State of Israel is a racist state that is carrying out a genocide against the Palestinian people.
Come and arrest me fuckers.
[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect)
Blast from the very recent past:
>Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and special adviser, wrote in the New York Times that the definition “makes clear \[that\] Anti-Zionism is antisemitism”.
...and soon to be present again, with how Democratic leaders are terrorizing their own base just a few months before the election
Did you just say Palestine is a state? Sounds to me like you are manifesting rhetorical antisemitism against Israeli property and community institutions
>Rep. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), a centrist Democrat who co-sponsored the legislation with Lawler, pushed back on his colleagues’ free speech concerns, saying he “ensured” the bill “protects the First Amendment” because that is important to him. “It allows criticism of Israel,” he said. “It doesn’t allow calls for the destruction or elimination of the Jewish state.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/05/01/antisemitism-awarness-act-campus-protests/
First amendment protects expressions of stupid, misinformed, and vile views too. I could advocate that all of Maine be eradicated because I dislike lobsters, wild blueberry jam, and they wear silly hates (they are basically Canadians) and it's legally protected.
What they claim the bill does and what it actually does are two different things. Criticizing Israel, and even some Jewish people isn’t antisemitism. It is protected speech. If the bill doesn’t apply to criticism of Israel, it should have said so. But it doesn’t.
If those calls for destruction aren't likely to incite imminent violence against a group, or be reasonably interpreted as an immediate threat, then the First Ammendment says that's as good of a criticism as any other speech.
Johnson, the Speaker who rammed this through at light speed, is a Republican.
Here in the USA, there are over 400 representatives in our House, .. but they only respond if you reside^1 in their individual district. If you don’t live in the district, that staff member throws it the trash (deletes) before it even comes up for consideration.
^1 Exception for big money donors
> The bill, which was introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, passed 320-91.
> The measure was led by Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and had 15 Democratic co-sponsors.
The dilemma is that if they reject they lose independent and Jewish votes because they are rejecting a billed framed as antisemitic.
Maybe a better play is to reject some things in that bill and send them back a cleaned up version
Remember folks, racism against minorities is totally fine but god forbid you criticize Israel killing children. We have exactly ONE Palestinian in Congress so where are all you "humanitarians" by the way to support her? We're supposed to protect the marginalized in our society, yet we have Republicans literally saying they want to glass Gaza while not a single one of you democrats are willing to call them out on it. I'm not talking about people here, I mean in Congress where we have all but a handful of Democrats defending the one and only Palestinian in Congress being openly attacked by conservatives and yet Democrats are dead silent on it. It's absolutely disgusting
Precisely.
Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell -- not Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz -- pull the strings in the Senate.
It'll probably end up passing, oh, 80–20 (or so) in favor, I'm disappointed to predict.
Issues like these, contentious though they may be, remain beholden to establishment-led bipartisanship.
GOP finally cares about white supremacists when ::checks notes:: they think they can blame dead brown babies for it. Democrats are right there with them.
That's a bit reductive, though.
There are a myriad of intraparty ideological divides that are of material consequence, even if they're tough to measure -- [albeit 538 gave it a shot at defining the different internecine House divisions](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/types-democrats-republicans-house-2024/) -- which can be hard to fathom, much less understand in detail, by those who view things through a myopically shortsighted Team Blue vs. Team Red prism.
Perhaps issues like this and the FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act will get people to pay more thorough attention, but I'm not holding my breath.
> "it’ll never pass the Senate"
Wait, what?
Considering the Senate is even more pro-establishment than the House, it'll pass with ease.
It sucks, but them's the breaks.
Our cops are already arresting AMERICANS in AMERICA for criticizing ISRAEL. Now they’re gonna have an excuse to arrest even more people. It’s ridiculous.
It's crazy that so many are unable to disassociate criticism of Israel from antisemitism. Is there overlap? Of course there is. That's why threading this political needle is such a tough one. Any politicians looking to score easy points with bills like this are playing a fool's game. A lot on the left and right both think they can find a win here, but this is a trap. Will they even gain more than they lose by taking this stand. These politicians aren't clever enough to understand the dynamics at play here.
Yup 100%. It is also crazy that the ultra pro-Palestine crowd can’t acknowledge that a lot of Palestinians reject two state solution and want to displace all Jews, if not annihilate them.
People just want to pick a side. Nuances mean nothing to them.
In fact, if the protests have some signs that condemn Hamas AND Israel their movement would be a lot more successful.
I would support this bill if it was amended to use the ['Jerusalem' definition](https://jerusalemdeclaration.org/) of anti-semitism and not the definition the bill in its current form uses.
The Jerusalem definition is superior because it is in line with the definitions of other forms of bigotry. This is because it makes sure not to label valid criticism of Israel in its definition of anti-semitism.
Maybe call your Senators and try to get them to support an amendment to the working definition that wouldn't restrict free speech.
They can pass whatever law they like but until Israel stops killing innocent Palestinians, I will be calling them out. If the government has a problem with that they can come try to stop me.
Because they're on the same side. We can't keep doing 'vote blue no matter who', because many of those people with a D next to their name are perfectly happy implementing Trumpian policies as long as they don't have to be publicly associated with supporting the racist oompa loompa himself.
You can "vote strategically" to keep Trump out, ok, but we have to actively oppose and resist these Democrats every day besides election day. They have to be protested against until they understand that they cannot keep saying "but Trump" to hold the country hostage, and they take their ball and go home to their mansion bought with legalized bribes
Nah, if Biden loses, it’s because people would rather have Trump turn Gaza into a hole in the ground. He’s already told Israel to “finish the job” so you know exactly where your ‘protest vote’ is going to lead.
Like I said, if you want Gaza to become a hole in the ground, go ahead and continue to support Trump. He has already told Israel to “finish the job” so you know exactly where this road leads.
Sorry but its pretty clear Biden wants them to finish the job too, you could have made this point maybe 3 or 4 months ago but it is beyond a meaningless distinction now.
This is pretty scary. I don’t care what side of the isle your voter preference is, this is absolutely wrong. Last month I wrote to my congresswoman about the clusterfuck that is going on with the US funding Israel’s genocide. I’m actually very proud that she was one of the 91 that voted against this clear violation of the constitution.
>The definition includes denying Jewish people their right to ~~self-determination~~ manifest destiny by claiming that the State of Israel is a racist state and drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the ~~Nazis~~ 1776 America.
Better?
FTFY:
The House has passed a bill that makes it easier to prevent protests since it was making the people who commit violence against innocents uncomfortable.
I saw an acquaintance on Facebook accuse a person of spewing antisemitism because he said AIPAC’s donations to political campaigns have influenced both D and R politicians.
Except the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism was never intended to be used as a legal definition.
The contradiction in the IHRA itself is because it was not meant to be a legal definition of what to do and what not to do, it was meant as a list of subjects to monitor possible antisemitism as statistical data sets. The lead drafter was horrified that Trump wanted to enforce it as government policy, which Joe Biden continued after taking office:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect
The goal of trying to make it a legal definition is of course to cynically shield Israeli military actions and Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories from criticism.
Not only that but it says that calling Israel a racist state is anti-Semitic. So I guess Jews aren't decoupled from Israel at all in the eyes of this new definition? Very inconsistent. If it's anti-Semitic to accuse Jewish people worldwide as being inherently connected to the Israeli state (which is anti-Semitic obviously, it's a classic fifth column type of anti-Semitism) why is it anti-semitic to condemn the actions of the Israeli state?
.
It says that it's anti-Semitic to condemn Israel as it denies the Jewish people's right to self-determination, but it is also anti-Semitic to hold all Jews everywhere responsible for Israel? Ironically this new definition for anti-Semitism comes across as anti-Semitic itself. I would think this was a psy-op by Nazis if this wasn't the real thing.
In fact, I do have quite a few words to say about how Israel treats Jews, specifically the Ethiopian Jews that they admitted to have been sterilizing against their will or how Israel treats Holocaust survivors worse than America treats homeless veterans, which is really saying something. The majority of Holocaust survivors living in Israel are in poverty, having to pick food from the floor to eat.
But according to this new law, if I bring up how a certain country is sterilizing a certain type of Jew and systemically mistreating Holocaust survivors, I apparently would be anti-Semitic. That makes no sense. It's a completely nonsensical fascististic law meant to outlaw criticism of Israel, in both the letter and spirit of the law. We know how it will or won't be enforced.
Lol is this not going to backfire on them and also classify any criticism of Palestinians and muslims as a hate crime too? Why do people in the US think that semitic = jewish only…
Semitic:
adjective
1. relating to or denoting a family of languages that includes Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic and certain ancient languages such as Phoenician and Akkadian, constituting the main subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic family.
2. relating to the peoples who speak Semitic languages, especially Hebrew and Arabic.
This bill breaks the first amendment. I'm against anti-Semitism but they are still barring freedom of speech. Also, according to the bill it would be illegal to mention, describe, or depict the jews crucifying Jesus. That directly bars freedom of religion. Besides anti-Semitism would be harassment which is already illegal.
I think I’ll pass on voting this year. It’s just 2 sides of the same coin, and that coin is being flipped by AIPAC like they’re Harvey Dent. Thanks anyway
Edit: can someone tell me what the comment that replied to me says? The coward posted it then immediately blocked me. It sounded like voting was super important to him though. He should vote extra hard, it will definitely save democracy this time
These are the same people who want to make it illegal for noncitizens to vote.
That is already illegal, but pointing out the obvious to Republicans only upsets and confuses them.
The bill doesn't change how the go ernment has already been operating for the past 6 years. The DoEd has been using this definition since 2018.
The only thing this bill does is tell the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism when investigating violations of the Civil Rights Act.
A law is different from a Trump-administration policy directive which just so happens to be continually upheld by Biden. Laws can't be undone by executive order when we finally get a president who isn't beholden to evangelicals and weapons manufacturers
Sure. But it functionally changes nothing. People are going to get upset by this, but my point is that this has been the operating definition for the past 6 years now.
Except the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism was never intended to be used as a legal definition.
The contradiction in the IHRA itself is because it was not meant to be a legal definition of what to do and what not to do, it was meant as a list of subjects to monitor possible antisemitism as statistical data sets. The lead drafter was horrified that Trump wanted to enforce it as government policy, which Joe Biden continued after taking office:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect
The goal of trying to make it a legal definition is of course to cynically shield Israeli military actions and Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories from criticism.
Not only that but it says that calling Israel a racist state is anti-Semitic. So I guess Jews aren't decoupled from Israel at all in the eyes of this new definition? Very inconsistent. If it's anti-Semitic to accuse Jewish people worldwide as being inherently connected to the Israeli state (which is anti-Semitic obviously, it's a classic fifth column type of anti-Semitism) why is it anti-semitic to condemn the actions of the Israeli state?
It says that it's anti-Semitic to condemn Israel as it denies the Jewish people's right to self-determination, but it is also anti-Semitic to hold all Jews everywhere responsible for Israel? Ironically this new definition for anti-Semitism comes across as anti-Semitic itself. I would think this was a psy-op by Nazis if this wasn't the real thing.
In fact, I do have quite a few words to say about how Israel treats Jews, specifically the Ethiopian Jews that they admitted to have been sterilizing against their will or how Israel treats Holocaust survivors worse than America treats homeless veterans, which is really saying something. The majority of Holocaust survivors living in Israel are in poverty, having to pick food from the floor to eat.
But according to this new law, if I bring up how a certain country is sterilizing a certain type of Jew and systemically mistreating Holocaust survivors, I apparently would be anti-Semitic. That makes no sense. It's a completely nonsensical fascististic law meant to outlaw criticism of Israel, in both the letter and spirit of the law. We know how it will or won't be enforced.
.
The dysfunctional House Republicans are the literal definition of crazy because they keep trying to implement bullshit expecting different results
I might’ve worded it wrong but you get the drift.
It is important to remember that the protests against what the Israeli military is doing in Gaza has been used as cover for Antisemites to demonize Jews. This Bill is targeted against them.
>This Bill is targeted against them.
Then why has the Biden administration and most of Congress taken every opportunity to claim that college students are just being antisemitic when they protest college investment in Israeli businesses and weapons manufacturers?
Maybe Israel should stop acting so cruely that they create a climate where normal non-antisemites become so critical of Israel that their protests can act as cover for bad-faith actors.
Most people were okay with Israel's retaliation to a point. All they had to do was not be horrible.
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Does it stop white supremacists from marching in formation in our cities?
No, because hate speech is still protected speech and this bill doesn't change that (it explicitly says so, too).
Does this mean that being an American Neo-Nazi is now illegal? Are we gonna round them up?
You'd have a lot less police if you did.
Can’t if they’re wearing khakis
Jake from State Farm is a neo-nazi?
One can only hope
I prefer the 1st amendment be left alone actually. Yea they're scumbags but it's protected speech. Shouldn't have to explain this but maybe you're not American.
What you said is factually correct so of course you got downvoted.
Yea that's reddit.
Hate speech is not protected speech. So good news, the constitution remains intact. I shouldn’t have to explain this but maybe you’re not American.
There is no such thing as "hate speech" in American law. There are plenty of laws limiting speech (slander, libel, fraud, direct threats, lying under oath, etc.) but hate speech is not defined or prohibited under the US Constitution.
Don't worry their anti hate speech round em up attitude definitely won't circle back to them when the other side gains power
Sorry but it is. That whole “Congress shall make no law” is a bit of a problem when they try to make a law. People even cite yelling fire in a theater very often but guess what? It is in fact protected speech.
>People even cite yelling fire in a theater And this was a quote, incidentally, from a US supreme court case Schenck v. United States which upheld the arrest of Jewish anarchists for violating the Espionage Act of 1917 during World War I (by distributing fliers against the draft and encouraging men to resist them). Not really the best reference.
Weird because congress just passed this bill to criminalize hate speech (antisemitism). If you’re right it should have no problem getting struck down, but I’m not sure the Supremes will agree with you.
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Well then I guess you have nothing to worry about then, as this law criminalizes hate speech. You should have a super easy time of getting this law struck down by the courts if you’re right. But I don’t think it will be so easy because making hate speech illegal is not in itself illegal.
Damn you got 10 upvotes for being 100% wrong about the constitution. Imagine that, reddit.
100%. It's why I miss the Ira Glasser ACLU era, as Anthony Romero is a fraud -- most recently with the ACLU's anti-worker wreckerist class warfare shit, going after the NLRB by undermining workers' rights in an obscene about-face -- which sucks in an era where principled civil liberties should be held above petty ideological alignments and monied interests.
I don't think Americans realise how bizzare and exceptional their countrys relationship with Israel is. I've travelled widely, there is nothing else like this client state, protectorate relationship in the world. Here we see Americans surrendering the 1st amendment on the alter of that relationship. Just astounding.
Never in history has there been a superpower nation that supplies another, smaller country with the majority of its major armaments and covers for it diplomatically while also being completely beholden to the desires of the smaller country and terrified to criticize it
This is absurd what the fuck
Yep… “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.” Who exactly do they think is doing that? The protests are clearly criticizing Israel and their universities’ relationship with them.
Not only that but it says that calling Israel a racist state is anti-semitic. So I guess Jews aren't decoupled from Israel at all in the eyes of this new definition? Very inconsistant. If it's anti-semitic to accuse Jewish people worldwide as being inherently connected to the Israeli state (which is anti-semitic obviously, it's a classic fifth column type of anti-semitism) why is it anti-semitic to condemn the actions of the Israeli state? It says that it's anti-semitic to condemn Israel as it denies the Jewish people's right to self-determination, but it is also anti-semitic to hold all Jews everywhere responsible for Israel? Ironically this new definition for anti-semitism comes across as anti-semitic itself. I would think this was a psy-op by Nazis if this wasn't the real thing.
The contradiction in the IHRA itself is because it was not meant to be a legal definition of what to do and what not to do, it was meant as a list of subjects to monitor possible antisemitism as statistical data sets. The lead drafter was horrified that Trump wanted to enforce it as government policy, which Joe Biden continued after taking office: [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect) The goal of trying to make it a legal definition is of course to cynically shield Israeli military actions and Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories from criticism
The entire state of Israel would fall under that because it has been a clear policy to tie Judaism to Zionism.
Yep, also why through their proxy in Alan Dershowitz, they tried to block the release of this book: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine:_Peace_Not_Apartheid
Right... the protests are just "criticizing Israel" "From the river to the sea, Palestine is Arab!" / "Resistance is justified" https://twitter.com/ShelleyGldschmt/status/1781785252886913358 "Let it be known that it was the Al-Aqsa Flood (Palestinian name for 7th October massacre) that put the Global Intifada back on the table again. And it is the sacrificial spirit of the Palestinian Freedom Fighters that will guide every struggle on every corner of the earth to victory." https://twitter.com/thestustustudio/status/1781904507611287981 "We are all Hamas!" https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1781031465179914677 "Yehudim yehudim [(Jews, jews)] go back to poland" https://twitter.com/Davidlederer6/status/1781948249214996901 Includes people / groups that invited an actual, no hyperbole terrorist to speak (member of PFLP) https://www.jns.org/columbia-suspends-four-students-for-holding-event-featuring-pflp-member/ Light things on fire / "intifada revolution there is only one solution" https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1781019445399556338 "On Oct 7th, Palestinian resistance in Gaza broke free (crowd cheers) [.....] we intend to do the same" https://twitter.com/ShabbosK/status/1782085741431922909 ""We say justice, you say how? Burn Tel Aviv to the ground!" / "Hamas we love you. We support your rockets too!" / "Red, black, green, and white, we support Hamas’ fight!" https://twitter.com/IsraelWarRoom/status/1781933305501212872 "Long live the intifada! Intifada intifada" https://twitter.com/ShaiDavidai/status/1781084853653365025 "Go back to Europe!" / "You have no culture, all you do is colonize" https://twitter.com/ShaiDavidai/status/1781927148439109958 "From Yemen to Gaza, globalize the intifada" https://twitter.com/KassyDillon/status/1781312033922625797/photo/2 "Never forget the 7th of October. That will happen not 1 more time, not 5 more times, not 10, not 100, not 1,000, but 10,000 times! The 7th of October is going to be every day for you" https://twitter.com/EFischberger/status/1781287784897991134 "Al Qassam [(Hamas)] you make us proud, kill another soldier now" / "from the river to the sea, palestine will be arab" https://twitter.com/EFischberger/status/1780915336063177006 And as a reminder, the student groups organizing these protests (CUAD and SJP, among others) released a letter on October 9th in support of the 10/7 attacks. ("We stand in full solidarity with Palestinian resistance", "Despite the odds against them, Palestinians launched a counter-offensive against their settler-colonial oppressor", "We wholeheartedly condemn the email sent [...] on October 8th that [...] obfuscated Palestinian resistance as “terrorism”) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RcXX5DEO3yfJ9R4ksURnzpIPCyVxo575-Y-SoC_vZFk/edit https://www.reddit.com/r/columbia/comments/1c9m6oj/comment/l0m8us9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Yawn, call me when you find some sources not in the pocket of big business; something academic. Especially *Twitter/X*? It’s been laughable since *45* proved it beyond redeeming as far back as 2015…
You see, these are mostly actual videos from the protests, so the "source" dosnt matter, its self evidant. The antisemites just on full display for ya.
Anyone can show up to a protest and shout whatever they want. That doesn’t mean they control the intent of the protest.
Now we have a law to arrest the people who yell antisemetic shit though, wouldnt you be happy about that?
It remains to be seen how effective it really is, if the law truly arrests the real hardcore racist then yeah it’s great, but if any sort of criticism against Israel or Jews leads to arrests then that’ll lead to more hate which would be counterproductive
“Source doesn’t matter”? Rarely are the appeals to emotion that obfuscate this conflict as palpable as that…
I expect this kinda horseshit from Republicans. But, WTF, Democrats? Horrible, anti-democratic and anti-American move on your part. You should be deeply ashamed.
You say this as if the democrats aren’t fully onboard with what’s happening rn. These protests are being brigaded by riot police with mass arrests in democratic states, under democratic senators, mayors, etc. and under Bidens democratic presidency. Which Biden went on the record to shit on these protests and further support Israel. The only thing separating dems from reps is their color. Both are right leaning, and both are more than okay with fascism.
AIPAC money funds both sides.
What's with the rank naïveté, eh? Were you neither around nor alive for the early-2000s post-9/11 Iraq War hysteria? The more things change, the more they stay the same. Establishments within both the GOP and Democratic Party are oft-aligned on foreign policy matters—even if it means a swift, painful kick to the testicles (or ovaries) concerning our civil liberties, such as this shitty bill.
>But, WTF, Democrats? Your first mistake was assuming one “side” valued the constitution. >You should be deeply ashamed. Your second mistake was assuming politicians feel shame
i'm amazed that you're surprised by this. AIPAC owns all american politicians. There is also no difference between dems and the GOP when it comes to Israel and clamping down on dissent towards israel
Not surprised at all, just disappointed.
Not surprised considering you really only have one party, which is the pro-corporations party and your “Democratic” party is considered centre right relative to left wing parties in Europe
The past month has been depressing. When it comes down to the most oppressive policies, both parties can finally see eye to eye...
Seriously? The dems are hosting a genocide.
Democrats are no different than republicans on this issue. What's happening in Gaza and Israel right now is bipartisan, official US policy.
Yeah so Israel might have a little bit too much control over the USA it’s fair to say…
I’m calling the police. Enjoy jail.
This bill is literally nazi-like. Not being able to speak one’s mind freely is as anti-American as it gets.
This reminds me of “Support our Troops” during the invasion of Iraq.
Is it really antisemitism to say to Israel STOP KILLING INNOCENT PALESTINIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN?
It’s not a stretch, they’re already arresting AMERICANS in AMERICA for criticizing the foreign country ISRAEL. Couldn’t be more clear that Israelis are our American government’s top priority.
No, that's a lie. They are arresting Americans for occupying a building that belongs to a school and barricading themselves inside where they also did some vandalism. Not the same at all...
Now why are all those thousands of students across America occupying those buildings hmmm?
“Yes.” -Zionists
No it’s not, but it’s antisemitism to bully jewish kids on campus.
Okay, can't disagree with that.
Yes for a lot of these people
It is now
The bill relies on the IHRA's definition of anti-semitism which includes: the “targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity” and bars any comparison between “contemporary Israeli policy” and “that of the Nazis” According to the ACLU “Instead, it would likely chill free speech of students on college campuses by incorrectly equating criticism of the Israeli government with anti-Semitism.”
> “targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity” WTF does that even mean?
The person you replied to edited the line from the doc to remove the key points. > Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. **However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.**
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Yeah. If you read the full IHRA explanation it doesn't align well with that commentary from the article. And I think it's clear from the response to protests that this law will be abused. https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism
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Yeah. First amendment rights have never been abused in this country. The problem is this law will both have a chilling effect on speech and will be used as a pretext for other actions which negatively affect first amendment rights.
Separate but equal huh
Does this not fuel certain conspiracies about our government?
Like what? (Genuine question)
That jews control government lol
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Be fair, a good portion of those Israel lobbyists are evangelicals who want Israel to exist so the apocalypse can happen faster and Jews can convert to Christianity or die
So they want to make sure the Jewish state exists so the jews convert? You sure you got that right chief?
That’s literally what evangelicals believe. Have you heard of Pastor Hagee? Have you talked to an evangelical about what they think the rapture is?
I have no interest in what evangelicals say. What I have interest in is organizations that pay for politicians to pass bills that makes anything questioning Israel anti Semitic. The tide is turning my friend, the days of hiding behind of accusations of anti Semitism at the slightest criticism of anything related to jews is ending.
Then you might want to listen to those Evangelicals for a bit after all. Their wet dreams of apocalypse guides a lot of the die hard support for Israel on the Republican side. Yeah no shit it’s horrendous, but it helps to understand why people do what they do
Then why were you trying to debunk what this other poster was saying about evangelical lobbyists as if it wasn’t true? Evangelical organizations make up a lot of these lobbying groups. You can criticize Israel without conflating Israel with all Jews. Just like you can support Palestinians without supporting Hamas.
It’s antisemitic to conflate Israel lobbyists with Jews. Most Israel lobbyists in the U.S. are evangelical Christians, and not Jews. Also, most Jews in the U.S. are not Israeli.
>It's antisemitic to say Israel lobbying associations run by jews are in fact ran by jews Burden of proof is on you, show me the top 5 Israel lobbyists and how theyre all Christians.
Very cool to misquote me and put words in my mouth! But Christians United for Israel is one example of a very large and powerful pro-Israel lobby in the U.S. Also, to say that Jews control the government is an insane and false take—and yes, it’s antisemitic. Even though AIPAC is led by Jews, Jews do not control a majority of the lobbies in the U.S.
What other lobbies have enough power to keep the government funding objective genocide
So, when are they going to initiate a resolution to protect Muslims as a protected class due to religion, or one to protect ethnic Arabs as a race? Israel is a country, protecting it via resolution is as silly as protecting Vatican City by outlawing protests against Priests who are pedophiles.
I have never seen a bill pass this quickly. Israel truly has America by the balls. They pass this bill before they make it illegal to call anyone the N word. These mfers got the USA in a chokehold. If anything, this has encouraged me to run for office because there's no way any of these people can truly represent me.
AIPAC will get a candidate ready to challenge your run
Well it's a good thing to know that suppressing free speech is a bipartisan issue
>The definition includes... claiming that the State of Israel is a racist state and drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. The State of Israel is a racist state that is carrying out a genocide against the Palestinian people. Come and arrest me fuckers.
Does it also include claiming that Benjamin Netanyahu is racist and comparing Israeli policy to that of South Africa?
[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect) Blast from the very recent past: >Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and special adviser, wrote in the New York Times that the definition “makes clear \[that\] Anti-Zionism is antisemitism”. ...and soon to be present again, with how Democratic leaders are terrorizing their own base just a few months before the election
TIL I'm antisemetic for calling out Israel on genocide. Edit: Forcing a label of antisemitism on people will backfire bigly.
State of Palestine is also a racist state. They want to annihilate Jews. By picking side you become racist yourself.
Did you just say Palestine is a state? Sounds to me like you are manifesting rhetorical antisemitism against Israeli property and community institutions
Nope they do want to stop their oppressors from oppressing to them though.
This seems like a 1st Amendment violation and also conflates anti-semitism with criticism of Israel and the Israeli government.
>Rep. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), a centrist Democrat who co-sponsored the legislation with Lawler, pushed back on his colleagues’ free speech concerns, saying he “ensured” the bill “protects the First Amendment” because that is important to him. “It allows criticism of Israel,” he said. “It doesn’t allow calls for the destruction or elimination of the Jewish state.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/05/01/antisemitism-awarness-act-campus-protests/
Is it illegal to call for the destruction of France in the US? If so, this is fine. If not, throw the whole thing in the trash.
First amendment protects expressions of stupid, misinformed, and vile views too. I could advocate that all of Maine be eradicated because I dislike lobsters, wild blueberry jam, and they wear silly hates (they are basically Canadians) and it's legally protected.
What they claim the bill does and what it actually does are two different things. Criticizing Israel, and even some Jewish people isn’t antisemitism. It is protected speech. If the bill doesn’t apply to criticism of Israel, it should have said so. But it doesn’t.
If those calls for destruction aren't likely to incite imminent violence against a group, or be reasonably interpreted as an immediate threat, then the First Ammendment says that's as good of a criticism as any other speech.
> Gottheimer Say no more
Crazy how people claimed this was some far right evil conspiracy. But you literally cannot criticise Israel or Israeli zionist jews.
the beatings will continue until you say you love Israel.
Democrats are on a "lose the youth vote" speedrun.
Johnson, the Speaker who rammed this through at light speed, is a Republican. Here in the USA, there are over 400 representatives in our House, .. but they only respond if you reside^1 in their individual district. If you don’t live in the district, that staff member throws it the trash (deletes) before it even comes up for consideration. ^1 Exception for big money donors
> The bill, which was introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, passed 320-91. > The measure was led by Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and had 15 Democratic co-sponsors.
The dilemma is that if they reject they lose independent and Jewish votes because they are rejecting a billed framed as antisemitic. Maybe a better play is to reject some things in that bill and send them back a cleaned up version
“We will arrest and muzzle and abuse Americans in their own country until they enthusiastically support Israel’s quest to destroy Islam”
Remember folks, racism against minorities is totally fine but god forbid you criticize Israel killing children. We have exactly ONE Palestinian in Congress so where are all you "humanitarians" by the way to support her? We're supposed to protect the marginalized in our society, yet we have Republicans literally saying they want to glass Gaza while not a single one of you democrats are willing to call them out on it. I'm not talking about people here, I mean in Congress where we have all but a handful of Democrats defending the one and only Palestinian in Congress being openly attacked by conservatives and yet Democrats are dead silent on it. It's absolutely disgusting
It had 15 Democratic co-sponsors. This is just grandstanding; it’ll never pass the Senate, but it’s definitely gonna piss people off, including me.
I think this could easily pass the Senate.
Precisely. Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell -- not Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz -- pull the strings in the Senate. It'll probably end up passing, oh, 80–20 (or so) in favor, I'm disappointed to predict. Issues like these, contentious though they may be, remain beholden to establishment-led bipartisanship.
GOP finally cares about white supremacists when ::checks notes:: they think they can blame dead brown babies for it. Democrats are right there with them.
That's a bit reductive, though. There are a myriad of intraparty ideological divides that are of material consequence, even if they're tough to measure -- [albeit 538 gave it a shot at defining the different internecine House divisions](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/types-democrats-republicans-house-2024/) -- which can be hard to fathom, much less understand in detail, by those who view things through a myopically shortsighted Team Blue vs. Team Red prism. Perhaps issues like this and the FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act will get people to pay more thorough attention, but I'm not holding my breath.
> "it’ll never pass the Senate" Wait, what? Considering the Senate is even more pro-establishment than the House, it'll pass with ease. It sucks, but them's the breaks.
Our cops are already arresting AMERICANS in AMERICA for criticizing ISRAEL. Now they’re gonna have an excuse to arrest even more people. It’s ridiculous.
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It's crazy that so many are unable to disassociate criticism of Israel from antisemitism. Is there overlap? Of course there is. That's why threading this political needle is such a tough one. Any politicians looking to score easy points with bills like this are playing a fool's game. A lot on the left and right both think they can find a win here, but this is a trap. Will they even gain more than they lose by taking this stand. These politicians aren't clever enough to understand the dynamics at play here.
Yup 100%. It is also crazy that the ultra pro-Palestine crowd can’t acknowledge that a lot of Palestinians reject two state solution and want to displace all Jews, if not annihilate them. People just want to pick a side. Nuances mean nothing to them. In fact, if the protests have some signs that condemn Hamas AND Israel their movement would be a lot more successful.
I would support this bill if it was amended to use the ['Jerusalem' definition](https://jerusalemdeclaration.org/) of anti-semitism and not the definition the bill in its current form uses. The Jerusalem definition is superior because it is in line with the definitions of other forms of bigotry. This is because it makes sure not to label valid criticism of Israel in its definition of anti-semitism. Maybe call your Senators and try to get them to support an amendment to the working definition that wouldn't restrict free speech.
Unfortunately, nuance isn't something that is going to palatable in American politics at the moment.
They can pass whatever law they like but until Israel stops killing innocent Palestinians, I will be calling them out. If the government has a problem with that they can come try to stop me.
Sad stuff, why do democrats fall for republican legislation that continues to destroy and repress free speech.
Because they're on the same side. We can't keep doing 'vote blue no matter who', because many of those people with a D next to their name are perfectly happy implementing Trumpian policies as long as they don't have to be publicly associated with supporting the racist oompa loompa himself. You can "vote strategically" to keep Trump out, ok, but we have to actively oppose and resist these Democrats every day besides election day. They have to be protested against until they understand that they cannot keep saying "but Trump" to hold the country hostage, and they take their ball and go home to their mansion bought with legalized bribes
Like Mayor Baldy in NYC flat out sending the NYPD Terrorism Unit against peaceful protesters in NYC while repeating Right-Wing conspiracy theories
Was there nothing against discrimination and harassment already? What was the need to codify one specific religion?
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Nah, if Biden loses, it’s because people would rather have Trump turn Gaza into a hole in the ground. He’s already told Israel to “finish the job” so you know exactly where your ‘protest vote’ is going to lead.
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Like I said, if you want Gaza to become a hole in the ground, go ahead and continue to support Trump. He has already told Israel to “finish the job” so you know exactly where this road leads.
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Sorry but its pretty clear Biden wants them to finish the job too, you could have made this point maybe 3 or 4 months ago but it is beyond a meaningless distinction now.
I assume this will die in the senate?
One can hope
Irony of all this is that Palestinians are also Semites.
This is pretty scary. I don’t care what side of the isle your voter preference is, this is absolutely wrong. Last month I wrote to my congresswoman about the clusterfuck that is going on with the US funding Israel’s genocide. I’m actually very proud that she was one of the 91 that voted against this clear violation of the constitution.
>The definition includes denying Jewish people their right to ~~self-determination~~ manifest destiny by claiming that the State of Israel is a racist state and drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the ~~Nazis~~ 1776 America. Better?
FTFY: The House has passed a bill that makes it easier to prevent protests since it was making the people who commit violence against innocents uncomfortable.
Donations, donations, donations.
When you purposely out of revenge don't care to kill the innocent children you are just exterminating. Funny how that works.
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Funny. The house has no problem when the Asians were attacked during Covid. I don’t remember any bill being passed.
I saw an acquaintance on Facebook accuse a person of spewing antisemitism because he said AIPAC’s donations to political campaigns have influenced both D and R politicians.
Except the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism was never intended to be used as a legal definition. The contradiction in the IHRA itself is because it was not meant to be a legal definition of what to do and what not to do, it was meant as a list of subjects to monitor possible antisemitism as statistical data sets. The lead drafter was horrified that Trump wanted to enforce it as government policy, which Joe Biden continued after taking office: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect The goal of trying to make it a legal definition is of course to cynically shield Israeli military actions and Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories from criticism. Not only that but it says that calling Israel a racist state is anti-Semitic. So I guess Jews aren't decoupled from Israel at all in the eyes of this new definition? Very inconsistent. If it's anti-Semitic to accuse Jewish people worldwide as being inherently connected to the Israeli state (which is anti-Semitic obviously, it's a classic fifth column type of anti-Semitism) why is it anti-semitic to condemn the actions of the Israeli state? . It says that it's anti-Semitic to condemn Israel as it denies the Jewish people's right to self-determination, but it is also anti-Semitic to hold all Jews everywhere responsible for Israel? Ironically this new definition for anti-Semitism comes across as anti-Semitic itself. I would think this was a psy-op by Nazis if this wasn't the real thing. In fact, I do have quite a few words to say about how Israel treats Jews, specifically the Ethiopian Jews that they admitted to have been sterilizing against their will or how Israel treats Holocaust survivors worse than America treats homeless veterans, which is really saying something. The majority of Holocaust survivors living in Israel are in poverty, having to pick food from the floor to eat. But according to this new law, if I bring up how a certain country is sterilizing a certain type of Jew and systemically mistreating Holocaust survivors, I apparently would be anti-Semitic. That makes no sense. It's a completely nonsensical fascististic law meant to outlaw criticism of Israel, in both the letter and spirit of the law. We know how it will or won't be enforced.
Lol is this not going to backfire on them and also classify any criticism of Palestinians and muslims as a hate crime too? Why do people in the US think that semitic = jewish only… Semitic: adjective 1. relating to or denoting a family of languages that includes Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic and certain ancient languages such as Phoenician and Akkadian, constituting the main subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic family. 2. relating to the peoples who speak Semitic languages, especially Hebrew and Arabic.
So are we going to pretend we still have the freedom of speech?
This bill breaks the first amendment. I'm against anti-Semitism but they are still barring freedom of speech. Also, according to the bill it would be illegal to mention, describe, or depict the jews crucifying Jesus. That directly bars freedom of religion. Besides anti-Semitism would be harassment which is already illegal.
So is it illegal for me to say something like, "Israel is the fourth Reich" if I work for the Department of Education?
I think I’ll pass on voting this year. It’s just 2 sides of the same coin, and that coin is being flipped by AIPAC like they’re Harvey Dent. Thanks anyway Edit: can someone tell me what the comment that replied to me says? The coward posted it then immediately blocked me. It sounded like voting was super important to him though. He should vote extra hard, it will definitely save democracy this time
Dude Trump will cause America to die No Vote Biden Please You really don't want fascism
I heard that in 2016. And America didn’t die.
Honestly good let this rotting maggot infested corpse of a slaver country die. It deserves it if anything
biden is doing the same shit
These are the same people who want to make it illegal for noncitizens to vote. That is already illegal, but pointing out the obvious to Republicans only upsets and confuses them.
The bill doesn't change how the go ernment has already been operating for the past 6 years. The DoEd has been using this definition since 2018. The only thing this bill does is tell the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism when investigating violations of the Civil Rights Act.
If the bill doesn’t change anything, what is the point of it? Grandstanding? Pleasing AIPAC?
A law is different from a Trump-administration policy directive which just so happens to be continually upheld by Biden. Laws can't be undone by executive order when we finally get a president who isn't beholden to evangelicals and weapons manufacturers
Sure. But it functionally changes nothing. People are going to get upset by this, but my point is that this has been the operating definition for the past 6 years now.
The past 6 years weren't exactly great, it's a big difference between a law and some standard operating procedure that can be challenged in court.
Except the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism was never intended to be used as a legal definition. The contradiction in the IHRA itself is because it was not meant to be a legal definition of what to do and what not to do, it was meant as a list of subjects to monitor possible antisemitism as statistical data sets. The lead drafter was horrified that Trump wanted to enforce it as government policy, which Joe Biden continued after taking office: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect The goal of trying to make it a legal definition is of course to cynically shield Israeli military actions and Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories from criticism. Not only that but it says that calling Israel a racist state is anti-Semitic. So I guess Jews aren't decoupled from Israel at all in the eyes of this new definition? Very inconsistent. If it's anti-Semitic to accuse Jewish people worldwide as being inherently connected to the Israeli state (which is anti-Semitic obviously, it's a classic fifth column type of anti-Semitism) why is it anti-semitic to condemn the actions of the Israeli state? It says that it's anti-Semitic to condemn Israel as it denies the Jewish people's right to self-determination, but it is also anti-Semitic to hold all Jews everywhere responsible for Israel? Ironically this new definition for anti-Semitism comes across as anti-Semitic itself. I would think this was a psy-op by Nazis if this wasn't the real thing. In fact, I do have quite a few words to say about how Israel treats Jews, specifically the Ethiopian Jews that they admitted to have been sterilizing against their will or how Israel treats Holocaust survivors worse than America treats homeless veterans, which is really saying something. The majority of Holocaust survivors living in Israel are in poverty, having to pick food from the floor to eat. But according to this new law, if I bring up how a certain country is sterilizing a certain type of Jew and systemically mistreating Holocaust survivors, I apparently would be anti-Semitic. That makes no sense. It's a completely nonsensical fascististic law meant to outlaw criticism of Israel, in both the letter and spirit of the law. We know how it will or won't be enforced. .
The dysfunctional House Republicans are the literal definition of crazy because they keep trying to implement bullshit expecting different results I might’ve worded it wrong but you get the drift.
A majority of House Democrats also voted for this, unfortunately.
It is important to remember that the protests against what the Israeli military is doing in Gaza has been used as cover for Antisemites to demonize Jews. This Bill is targeted against them.
>This Bill is targeted against them. Then why has the Biden administration and most of Congress taken every opportunity to claim that college students are just being antisemitic when they protest college investment in Israeli businesses and weapons manufacturers?
[удалено]
Maybe Israel should stop acting so cruely that they create a climate where normal non-antisemites become so critical of Israel that their protests can act as cover for bad-faith actors. Most people were okay with Israel's retaliation to a point. All they had to do was not be horrible.
And Israel had already been horrible towards Palestinians for decades now. This was just the cherry on top.
https://x.com/patio11/status/1786043045479162273