Trump Reportedly Takes Aim At Palestinian Activism At Colleges In New Executive Order
UPDATE: Dec. 11 ― A leaked draft of the order’s text contradicts earlier reports that Judaism would be interpreted as “as a race or nationality,” Jewish Insider first reported. The order makes no such definition. Initial reports about the order sparked concerns that it was authored more with the intent of chilling anti-Israel speech than suppressing anti-Semitism.
PREVIOUSLY:
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order this week which would empower the Department of Education to withhold funding from any college or educational program that fails to take action the administration deems sufficient to tackle anti-Semitism on campus, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
If it goes into effect, the order would allow a government agency the ability to interpret Jewish identity as a race or national identity, not just a religious affiliation. As the Times noted, the Education Department ― under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ― has the authority to withhold funding from colleges that discriminate “on the ground of race, color, or national origin,” but not on the basis of religion.
The order, news of which sparked backlash on social media Tuesday, would “have the effect of embracing an argument that Jews are a people or a race with a collective national origin in the Middle East, like Italian Americans or Polish Americans,” the Times reported.
Critics of the bill expressed concerns about the order being potentially too broad — and one that could encroach on free speech and silence opposition to Israel’s policies towards Palestinians.
“This executive order ... appears designed less to combat anti-Semitism than to have a chilling effect on free speech and to crack down on campus critics of Israel,” Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of Jewish advocacy group J Street, said in a statement.
Many echoed Ben-Ami’s views on social media.
This is not “protecting Judaism under civil rights law.” This is using Jews and Judaism as a shield to go after Palestinians and anti-authoritarian professors and student activists. We’re #NotYourShield, @realDonaldTrump.https://t.co/JUNGeWGbFU
— Sophie Ellman-Golan (@EgSophie) December 10, 2019
it is impossible to overstate how serious of an escalation this is against the Palestine solidarity movement. Trump is circumventing Congress to officially equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism and force universities to treat BDS as a hate crime https://t.co/pAjbZCXh3S
— Kumars Salehi (@KumarsSalehi) December 11, 2019
I’ll need to consider the full ramifications of this. But I’m very hesitant and scared of the notion of Donald Trump legally defining the meaning of Judaism. https://t.co/yIrj0r1pjx
— Bryan Behar (@bryanbehar) December 11, 2019
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) urged Republicans to “please let Jews speak for themselves.”
″So the idea that a college campus would have its views on Israel regulated by the federal Department of Education? Oy Gevalt,” he wrote in a tweet.
Hey Republican politicians: Please let Jews speak for themselves. Thanks so much.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) December 11, 2019
We Jews like to argue. About Israel even. Actually, ESPECIALLY about Israel. So the idea that a college campus would have its views on Israel regulated by the federal Department of Education? Oy Gevalt.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) December 11, 2019
Some argued that Trump was echoing an anti-Semitic argument peddled by white supremacists like David Duke who have referred to Judaism as a “nationality.”
Through executive order Trump has just advanced an anti-semitic argument pushed by David Duke and Richard Spencer: Judaism is not a religion, but a nationality, separate from Americans. They use this argument to push for a white-only ethnocentric America. https://t.co/B8Z20sxHSz
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 10, 2019
Anyway, Hitler kicked off the Holocaust with the Nuremberg Laws that, among other things, declared German Jews weren't of German nationality. So Trump signing an executive order declaring Judaism it's own nationality is....well not great for us descendants of Holocaust survivors.
— Erin Biba (@erinbiba) December 11, 2019
Nope. This does not fight antisemitism, this is just another way of othering Jews. Judaism is my religion, not my race or ethnicity. You know who defined Jews as a race? Nazis. https://t.co/M8ERHV8p5c
— lisa hendricks (@MsLisaHendricks) December 11, 2019
Halie Soifer, the executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, lambasted the measure as a merely “symbolic” gesture that politicizes Israel and uses “Jews as political pawns.”
“If President Trump truly wanted to address the scourge of anti-Semitism he helped to create, he would accept responsibility for his role emboldening white nationalism, perpetuating anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and repeating stereotypes that have led to violence targeting Jews,” Soifer said in an email statement to HuffPost. “Instead, President Trump continues to view Israel and anti-Semitism solely through a political lens, which he attempts to use to his political advantage.”
Some supporters of the measure have lauded it as an important step towards battling a rising scourge of anti-Semitism on college campuses. The Times said Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, was among those who applauded the move.
“Of course we hope it will be enforced in a fair manner. But the fact of the matter is we see Jewish students on college campuses and Jewish people all over being marginalized,” Greenblatt told the paper. “The rise of anti-Semitic incidents is not theoretical; it’s empirical.”
Some on Twitter welcomed the order as a “positive move.”
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While this does not undo Trump's history of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, racism, homophobia, and other bigotries (including the white nationalist rhetoric leading to the Tree of Life massacre nor his recent remarks), this is a shockingly welcome and positive move. https://t.co/13YQUbrvJm
— Michael Safyan 🌎🇺🇸✡️❤🗽🌊 (@michaelsafyan) December 10, 2019
The measure is similar to legislation that’s garnered bipartisan support but has stalled in Congress that targets the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement.
BDS is an international non-violent campaign to boycott Israel in an effort to pressure its leaders to end occupation of the West Bank, recognize “full equality” to Palestinian citizens of Israel and allow Palestinian refugees to return to the homes from which they were displaced after Israel’s establishment in 1948.
Trump, who was criticized just this weekend for making anti-Semitic remarks at a Florida event, is expected to sign the executive order on Wednesday.
Ryan Grenoble contributed reporting.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.