June 6, 2023
Biden’s plan to fight antisemitism is a deception—protecting, rather
than defeating the enemy
Dear Friend of Israel, Dear Friend of FLAME:
Rather than an effective roadmap to prosecute and prevent hateful attacks on
Jews and Israel, the Biden Administration's new National Strategy to Combat
Antisemitism is actually a smokescreen designed to protect many of
the most vicious antisemites in America—including those in the President's
own party.
On May 25th, President Biden laid out his strategy for fighting
antisemitism in the US, at a time when the latest statistics show attacks
against Jews make up 63% of reported religiously motivated hate crimes,
though Jews represent just 2.4% of the US population.
Biden’s new strategy first fails to define the antisemitism that it opposes,
since its definitions of antisemitism contradict one another, creating more
confusion than clarity. Ultimately, the strategy is little more than a ruse
designed to excuse some of the worst antisemitism that exists in the
U.S. today: Anti-Zionism.
Biden’s antisemitism strategy also endorses the involvement of a
virulently antisemitic organization
with ties to Islamist terrorists—the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR).
Finally, the President’s strategy does not treat antisemitism singularly,
but instead, dilutes the offense by lumping it with other forms of
hatred, even though Jews suffer from hate crimes far more than any other
group.
In short, Biden’s National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism is simply a
public relations attempt to convince Jews and other humanitarians that the
government opposes hate crimes, while ignoring a huge swath of haters
.
The whole strategy is a deception: While it purports to recommend and take
various actions against Jew-hatred, it instead offers a
mishmash of definitions
that above all leave the extremely prevalent anti-Zionist form of
antisemitism free from censure.
To its credit, one definition of antisemitism endorsed by Biden’s strategy
is that used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA),
which has been adopted almost universally—by 36 other countries, the
European Union, the Organization of American States, the Council of Europe
and 26 individual U.S. states, not to mention hundreds of institutions
around the world. This definition includes anti-Zionism, appropriately, as a
form of antisemitism.
But bizarrely, President Biden’s strategy endorses other, problematic
definitions—specifically the Nexus Document and the Jerusalem Declaration on
Antisemitism (JDA)—neither of which includes anti-Zionism as
a form of antisemitism. This flaw is egregious, which is why many major
Jewish organizations have criticized the inclusion of these deficient
definitions of antisemitism.
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), for example, in a letter to
President Biden, said, “The JDA and the Nexus Document are . . . dangerous, wrongly shielding
antisemites who try to mask their hatred of Jews by expressing it
as hatred for the Jewish state.”
Similarly, B’nai Brith, issued a statement saying that they are
“disappointed in the document’s mention of the Nexus definition of
antisemitism,” adding, “we believe that definition allows the more
invidious of Israel’s nemeses to hide their animus behind
‘strident criticism’ of Israel.”
Anti-Zionism is one of the most prevalent manifestations of antisemitism. It
is the form of antisemitism found on most American universities, in
the United Nations and on the American left generally, including growing
numbers in the U.S. Congress—mostly Democrats, like Representatives Ilhan
Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
Omar famously tweeted “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” implying that
Jews were buying political support for Israel, a classic antisemitic
trope. Rashida Tlaib has said that people “cannot claim to hold progressive
values yet back Israel’s apartheid government,” inferring that Jews cannot
be progressive if they support Israel (which in fact does not
practice apartheid).
Anti-Zionism is also the predominant form of antisemitism expressed by most
Palestinians and by their supporters in the US. Their position denies
self-determination of the Jewish people, insisting that
Israel be expelled
from occupying “Arab” land—“from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean]
Sea”—in other words, the entire Jewish state.
Perhaps most outrageously, President Biden’s antisemitism strategy
specifically names as an ally an organization
notorious for its anti-Zionism: CAIR. According to Biden’s National Strategy, the organization will
educate faith groups about how to protect their places of worship, forge
inter-faith relationships, and maintain open lines of communication with law
enforcement.
But CAIR is an organization known for spewing antisemitic vitriol and
having ties to the Islamist terrorist group, Hamas. CAIR’s leadership has
accused “Zionist synagogues” and Jewish organizations of being responsible
for Islamophobia in the U.S. In short, to include CAIR in a major policy
initiative fighting antisemitism is an affront—the group discredits Biden’s
entire strategy.
No wonder that CAIR’s national deputy director Edward Ahmed Mitchell
applauded the fact that the IHRA definition of antisemitism was not
the sole definition endorsed by Biden’s strategy. He’s no doubt delighted
that anti-Zionist campaigns like BDS can continue without
hindrance—proof that Biden’s strategy is little more than a deception
designed to shield leftist anti-Zionists from accusations of antisemitism.
The President’s new antisemitism strategy also deceives by lumping
antisemitism with other forms of hatred. It repeatedly mentions antisemitism
in the context of other forms of hate. In fact, the first paragraph of the
document’s Overview section begins by mentioning several other forms of hate
before even mentioning antisemitism. Despite the fact that millennia-old
antisemitism is considered by most scholars a unique phenomenon, the
Overview asserts “The hatred of Jews shares much in common with other
forms of hate, such as racism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and
misogyny.”
There are, of course, many forms of hate in the US. Nevertheless, failing to
address antisemitism on its own additionally proves that President Biden is
not serious about combatting antisemitism.
Rather, Biden simply wants voters to believe he’s serious . . .
without riling his left-wing base. That’s the reason his strategy mentions
only one specific type of antisemite—white supremacists—
ignoring all the antisemitism
of the left. After all, you don’t bite the hand that keeps you in office.
Please make the point when speaking with family, friends, colleagues—or in
letters to the editor—that if President Biden were really serious about
fighting antisemitism, he would have created a strategy that includes
only
the IHRA definition of antisemitism, addressed antisemitism singularly, and
ensured that his strategy targets all forms of antisemitism no matter
their source on the political spectrum.
I hope you'll also take a minute, while you have this material front and
center, to forward this message to friends, visit FLAME's lively
Facebook page
and review the P.S. immediately below. It describes FLAME's new
hasbarah
campaign—"Demand Justice for Jewish Students”—which exposes rising attacks
on Jewish college students’ identity and how these acts of antisemitism can
be defeated.
Best regards,
Jason Shvili, Contributing Editor
Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)
P.S. |
You’ve surely seen headlines describing increasing attacks on
Jewish students—in the classroom and in the public square—by
radical anti-Zionist students, as well as faculty members. So far,
university administrators have failed to prevent this kind of antisemitism
on campus. At the heart of this discrimination, Israel’s enemies
outrageously claim that Zionism is not part of being Jewish. No
wonder more and more Jewish students are hiding their Jewish identities on
campus. I think you’ll agree that we supporters of Israel need to
speak out. FLAME’s new hasbarah—explanatory message—“Demand Justice for Jewish Students”—tells how recent law suits based on Title VI anti-discrimination
laws are putting pressure on college administrators to protect Jewish
students from such attacks. I hope you'll review this convincing,
fact-based editorial, which FLAME recently published in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, Star Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Newsmax. This piece will also be
sent to all members of Congress, Vice President Harris and President Biden.
If you agree that this kind of public relations effort on Israel's behalf
is critical, I urge you to
support us.
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at no charge every week. If you're not yet a subscriber, won't you join us
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