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Transcripts For CSPAN3 Betsy DeVos Remarks Panel On BDS Mov
Transcripts For CSPAN3 Betsy DeVos Remarks Panel On BDS Mov
Transcripts For CSPAN3 Betsy DeVos Remarks Panel On BDS Movement On College Campuses At Justice... 20240714
[ applause ] thank you so much, john. I appreciate that. Thank you for all being here for this important discussion today. I wish this subject did not need to be discussed at all. Discrimination against anyone on the basis of their faith or ethnicity is always wrong. That we have to repeat that briefing today is troubling. It is even more troubling that too many young people perpetrate that kind of discrimination. This a ministration is committed to stopping it. We stand firmly against the alarming rise of antisemitism, and we acknowledge this reality. Jerusalem is israels world capital. [ applause ] when
President Trump
moved the u. S. Embassy to jerusalem, it was a historic tap step toward peace in the region. And peace in the middle east begins by recognizing israels right to exist. Israel is a light to the region. But we all know it is surrounded by jihadists who embrace evil and who deny israels existence, and violently work to wipe it off the map. I think of my visits to the holy land. A indelible experiences that have shaped me in many ways. In visiting my great uncle and aunt in the netherlands, and seeing where they hid dozens of fleeing behind the sacks in their bakery during the second world war, it also impacted me deeply. The atrocities of the holocaust must ever again occur. Never again. [ applause ] this administration is committed to protecting israel, our strong ally in the middle east. Only democracy. Israel has a committed friend in the white house. Israel has friends at the u. S. Department of education. We are so pleased to have can marcus as our assistant secretary for civil rights and read rubenstein [ applause ] and rage room assign as our acting general counsel. Many of you know both men and their longtime work against discrimination and anti semitism. One of the most pernicious and prevalent examples of anti semitism on campus is the campaign known as bds. These campus bullies claim they stand for human rights. , we all know bds stands for anti semitism. We recently made clear at
Williams College
that these kinds of efforts are unacceptable. Students there are trying to register a pro israel group. After much antisemitic uproar, the
College Council
denied the group recognition. We negotiated a resolution agreement with the college that affords the pro
Israel Student Group
the same rights and privileges as any other
Student Group
. Theres another issue, with duke and unc. I recently directed an investigation of a conference. The may have been funded by taxpayers. We are looking at whether the conference violated grant terms and perpetuated antisemitism. These are just two examples of what the department of education is doing to protect students from discrimination, discrimination based on actual or perceived shared ancestry or at the characteristics. We are intent on ensuring protection for students across the country. We are committed to our ownership with attorney general barr and the department of justice on this important issue. I know this discussion will highlight other examples and offer insight on how to continue combating anti semitism on americas campuses. Faith is personal, but it does not have to be hidden under a bushel basket, to recall scripture. Americans have fought and died for the right to live their faith in all aspects of their life. This administration is and always will be committed to ensuring all believers can live and practice their faith without fear. Thank you, i know this conversation will be useful and important. Thank you very much. [ applause ] can you all hear me . s think you for that kind introduction, john. I am honored to be part of the summit today. In particular, am pleased to be moderating this panel on anti semitism on campus. It has been widely reported. You cannot look at the news without seeing an article about a
Student Group
not being recognized or a student not being given a recommendation to study abroad in israel. Incidents of antisemitism on campus are on the rise. At the very least, i think it is fairly clear from the press, that jewish students feel under threat on campus in a way they have not in the recent past. Our panel today will discuss the state of play. We seeing an increase in anti semitic sentiment on campus or bryson reporting . s what forum does antisemitism take . Looking at what is behind the increase in antisemitism and what can and should be done in response. That is a lot of ground to cover in 90 minutes. Without further ado i will introduce our panels. Jonathan tobin is editorin chief of jewish news syndicate, where he writes a daily, domestic politics, israel and jewish affairs. Is also a regular contributing columnist on national review, then your post, the federalist, among many other national publications. For many years, jonathan wrote a column entitled views from america. Mr. Tobin is a graduate of columbia university. Alisa lewin is with you washington
Litigation Law Firm
under her name. She argued before the u. S. Supreme court. It was a case involving an american citizen born in jerusalem seeking to list israel as a nation of origin on his passport. She was also president of the and i center for human rights and law. It is a
Nonpartisan Group
seeking to advance civil rights for jewish people. Ms. Lewin is a graduate of
Nyu Law School
and princeton university. William jacobson is clinical professor of law and director of the
Securities Law
clinic at cornell law school. Is also currently a contributor to the times of israel, where he blogs on topics related to bdsm boycotts of israel in
Higher Education
. Before joining the faculty at cornell, he spent 23 years in private practice in providence. He litigated business to its in the securities industry. He graduated from
Harvard Law School
and hamilton college. Charles asher small is founding director and president of the institute for the study of global antisemitism and policy. It is a new
York Nonprofit
funding antisemitism studying antisemitism. He served on the faculty of tel aviv university. He is at
Saint Anthonys
college and oxford university. s research focuses on contemporary antisemitism including delay legitimization of israel. Charles small earned his masters degree from mcgill university. We will ask each panelist to speak for 8 minutes on a topic related to the large name. After opening statements, there will be questions to the panel is to get them in dialogue with one another and asked him to comment on
Current Events
. Mr. Tobin, would you please began . Thank you. It is an honor to be here to discuss how best we can combat antisemitism. It is very encouraging that the department of justice has chosen to highlight this issue in this manner. We thank you for that. It is of course a matter of no small irony that
College Campuses
are among the places in this country where anti semitic sentiment has become commonplace. Jewish people feel threatened by a culture of intolerance. Institutions that are supposed to be strongholds of independent inquiry and progressive values have become the beachheads on this continent for the spread of what the state department calls a rising tide of antisemitism that has been sweeping across the globe. It is shocking. For anyone who is paying attention to the academic world and the last generation, it is hardly a surprise. The reason for this boils down to one key fact. The growing popularity of anti zionism and the way that ideology has been used to legitimize antisemitism and to create a hostile atmosphere in
Academic Circles
and on some campuses, where jews field not only marginalized but also intimidated and threatened. Support for the movement to boycott the best in section israel, bds, it has not only gained a foothold in academia, but in
Many University
departments, opposition to its discriminatory goal and tactics mark both dissident academics and students as pariahs to be shunned, shut it down, or worse. s situation that is particularly threatening to jews. In this generation, anti semitism has taken on a new form in which israel has become the substitute for anti semitic, antijewish stereotypes that have been handed down through the ages. In discussing this problem, it is vital that we clarify some ocular misconceptions. What is antizionism . Is it, as many of the less on his advocates, separate and distinct from hatred of jews . Antizionism is a position is opposition to a jewish state. It focuses on activism and advocacy in the
United States
and terrorism in the middle east, for the elimination of the state of israel. It means singling out the single jewish state on the planet for extinction and making it the only existing
National Political
entity of the nearly 200 representatives in the
United Nations
that is the focus of an
International Movement
to erase it from the map. In a postwar world, with various conflicts giving rise to scores of new nations, it is considered an original sin that must be reversed. Just as important, it is to understand the contrary rationalizations put forward by bds advocates and other opponents of israel. Antizionism is not criticism of israel or of the current government and policy. More than 7 million israelis wake up every morning and proceed to criticize their government, just as more than 300 million americans wake up every day and do the same about some aspect of their state, local and federal government. That is life in a democracy. Mere criticism of israel is not opposition to the existence of israel. Nor is it antisemitic. No responsible person would claim that it is. When one seeks to deny the jews the right to a state in their ancient homeland, no matter where the borders might be, to deny the legitimacy to their national movement, and in a way that no other nationalism is delegitimized, to deny them the right not merely to sovereignty, but to the right to live in peace there and the right of selfdefense, that is not mere criticism. It is prejudice. That must be the starting point for any discussion of anti zionism. When antizionists what they seek to do is something that is unique to one people and one country. No other people on the planet are treated in this manner or singled out for opprobrium in the manner that antizionists speak about and seek to treat the one jewish state. It is true, that not every ethnic at the group has achieved sovereign status in their homeland throughout the world. But, there is no other example of an
International Movement
that is dedicated to eradicating an existing sovereign state, dedicated on the notion that is population not only has no right to exert power over its people, but no light to live in the territory. That is the case for jews in israel. To oppose antizionism and to correctly brand it as a form of antijewish prejudice is not necessarily to espouse a particular point of view about the middle east peace process. The conflict between jews and palestinian arabs, which has gone on for more than a century, is complex. It is hardly surprising that those who criticize israels stance on the process ignore the fact that israel has sought several times to offer statehood to the palestinians and a change for peace and and and to the conflict. The palestinians rejected it each time. Those who claim that justice is only to be obtained by denying to the jews the right to statehood over any part of their country , tel aviv, haifa, and not just jerusalem in the west bank, over which these two peoples have contended, when they so readily support many other
Ethnic National
and religious groups, practicing a unique kind of light. Seen in this light, anti zionism and is bds component are not a critique of any israeli policy or politician. Nor is its purpose shifting israels border. Its purpose is as bds advocates, as they make abundantly clear in their literature and website, to deny the jews rights, that no one thinks of denying to others. And the term of art as such, it is a form of discrimination. The term of art for discrimination against jews is antisemitism. While it is possible to make academic critics of israels right to exist that can take on an air of legitimate debate, in practice, on many
College Campuses
, as well as elsewhere, advocacy for antizionism illustrates that it is indistinguishable from traditional forms of anti semitism. The arguments from anti zionists and their bds movement raise not just to erase 71 years of israeli nationhood but to erase thousands of years of jewish history and faith. They single out israeli actions and judge them not merely by double standards apply to know whether democracy, let alone any other middle east country. Asic to maliciously compare it to nazi germany. They treat the one nation that is linked to judaism as a legitimate while ignoring as illegitimate while ignoring the connections between faith and dozens of other sovereign nations. The arguments against israel and particularly his supporters in the
United States
are also straight out of the anti semitic playbook, including themes about jews combining power and congressional support and false accusations of dual loyalty and committing loathsome crimes. They are rooted in a kind of demonization of jews that is all too familiar for students of history. That members of congress as well as academics and activists have employed these themes, testifies to both the growth of this movement, and the unwholesome manner in which it has sought to insinuate its ideas into the national conversation. Moreover, we dont need to look at their literature of the bds movement to know that anti zionists in the bds movement rct and hate. Wherever they raise their banners on
College Campuses
, or anywhere else, antisemitic acts whether in terms of intimidation or even violence, always follow. The hijacking of intersectional ideas in which the struggles of various minorities are seen as linked has enabled some academics and journalists to portray the war against the jewish state as somehow analogous to the struggle for civil rights in this country. This false analogy, which seeks to employ the linkage of human rights in order to legitimize antizionist rhetoric, is rooted in a pulse it. It is those who wish to discriminate against the one jewish state and its people who are spreading heads, not those who seek to defend zionism, which is the
National Liberation
movement of the jewish people, the suspect this form of antisemitic hate claim they are promoting peace. But their position is actually antithetical to the cause of peace as well as prejudice, because it seeks an outcome that could only be achieved by a genocidal war against israel and its people who will not submit to the overthrow of their
Democratic State
or the ethnic cleansing of their country. That is to matter who is spreading this form of hate, whether they are nonjews or in the case of a small focal left is minority, jews. Seeing clearly then, there is no doubt that those whose discourse about israel is anchored in a movement to destroy it and to demonize its people and its diaspora jewish supporters, are not merely criticizing its government or speaking out in favor of peace or human rights, but engaging in any form of hate that is inherently antisemitic. We must proceed from this unavoidable conclusion, to think that it must be the policy of the
United States
, and of decent people everywhere, to oppose anti semitic education agitation and violence, whether it labels itself antizionist or some other set of ideas that masquerades as progressive. But is actually practicing one of the oldest forms of hatred. Antizionism is not merely anti semitism operating under a new false front, and those who deny this are spreading a big lie. It is imperative that we not only uses summit as a springboard for action against a noxious form of hatred and its troubling reappearance within the expense of survivors of the holocaust, but also to deny its appearance, a cloak of legitimacy with which they seek to clothe themselves. That is due on
College Campuses
or anywhere else. But it is especially important that we not let those who seek to educate or to deny those who go to college the right to do so without being immunized, shunned or silenced. Thank you. [ applause ] g good morning. Thank you very much for inviting me to participate in this summit. It is a true honor to be included on this illustrious panel. Most people today are able to recognize traditional or classical antisemitism. The antisemitism that we associate with a swastika or with the nazis. It is more difficult, however, for many to identify antisemitism, the type that jonathan just described, the antisemitism that targets zionism and denies the right of jewish selfdetermination. So, i would like to focus a little bit more on that form of antisemitism. It is not uncommon today to hear people say i am not anti jewish, i am just antizionist. But is that really possible . Is it possible to support jews but oppose zionists . The answer is no. Why . Because zionism is an integral part of jewish identity. Zionism calming the yearning and desire of jews to exercise their right to
Self Determination
and to reestablish a jewish homeland in the land of israel is an inherent, ancestral and ethnic jewish characteristic. Zionism as a
Political Movement
may have originated in the 19th century, but this yearning for zion, the desire of jews to return to their ancestral homeland, doubt is thousands of years old. As old as abraham and the bible. To be a zionists means to support this right of jewish selfdetermination in the ancestral homeland of the jews. If i celebrate the fact that jews have once again return to the land of israel, if i celebrate that the jewish state of israel exists, then i am a zionist. Those who oppose zionism who oppose zionism denied use this right. Today, the father of the journalist daniel pearl, has coined the term for this. He calls it zion a phobia. An irrational fear or hatred of a homeland for the jewish people. The
President Trump<\/a> moved the u. S. Embassy to jerusalem, it was a historic tap step toward peace in the region. And peace in the middle east begins by recognizing israels right to exist. Israel is a light to the region. But we all know it is surrounded by jihadists who embrace evil and who deny israels existence, and violently work to wipe it off the map. I think of my visits to the holy land. A indelible experiences that have shaped me in many ways. In visiting my great uncle and aunt in the netherlands, and seeing where they hid dozens of fleeing behind the sacks in their bakery during the second world war, it also impacted me deeply. The atrocities of the holocaust must ever again occur. Never again. [ applause ] this administration is committed to protecting israel, our strong ally in the middle east. Only democracy. Israel has a committed friend in the white house. Israel has friends at the u. S. Department of education. We are so pleased to have can marcus as our assistant secretary for civil rights and read rubenstein [ applause ] and rage room assign as our acting general counsel. Many of you know both men and their longtime work against discrimination and anti semitism. One of the most pernicious and prevalent examples of anti semitism on campus is the campaign known as bds. These campus bullies claim they stand for human rights. , we all know bds stands for anti semitism. We recently made clear at
Williams College<\/a> that these kinds of efforts are unacceptable. Students there are trying to register a pro israel group. After much antisemitic uproar, the
College Council<\/a> denied the group recognition. We negotiated a resolution agreement with the college that affords the pro
Israel Student Group<\/a> the same rights and privileges as any other
Student Group<\/a>. Theres another issue, with duke and unc. I recently directed an investigation of a conference. The may have been funded by taxpayers. We are looking at whether the conference violated grant terms and perpetuated antisemitism. These are just two examples of what the department of education is doing to protect students from discrimination, discrimination based on actual or perceived shared ancestry or at the characteristics. We are intent on ensuring protection for students across the country. We are committed to our ownership with attorney general barr and the department of justice on this important issue. I know this discussion will highlight other examples and offer insight on how to continue combating anti semitism on americas campuses. Faith is personal, but it does not have to be hidden under a bushel basket, to recall scripture. Americans have fought and died for the right to live their faith in all aspects of their life. This administration is and always will be committed to ensuring all believers can live and practice their faith without fear. Thank you, i know this conversation will be useful and important. Thank you very much. [ applause ] can you all hear me . s think you for that kind introduction, john. I am honored to be part of the summit today. In particular, am pleased to be moderating this panel on anti semitism on campus. It has been widely reported. You cannot look at the news without seeing an article about a
Student Group<\/a> not being recognized or a student not being given a recommendation to study abroad in israel. Incidents of antisemitism on campus are on the rise. At the very least, i think it is fairly clear from the press, that jewish students feel under threat on campus in a way they have not in the recent past. Our panel today will discuss the state of play. We seeing an increase in anti semitic sentiment on campus or bryson reporting . s what forum does antisemitism take . Looking at what is behind the increase in antisemitism and what can and should be done in response. That is a lot of ground to cover in 90 minutes. Without further ado i will introduce our panels. Jonathan tobin is editorin chief of jewish news syndicate, where he writes a daily, domestic politics, israel and jewish affairs. Is also a regular contributing columnist on national review, then your post, the federalist, among many other national publications. For many years, jonathan wrote a column entitled views from america. Mr. Tobin is a graduate of columbia university. Alisa lewin is with you washington
Litigation Law Firm<\/a> under her name. She argued before the u. S. Supreme court. It was a case involving an american citizen born in jerusalem seeking to list israel as a nation of origin on his passport. She was also president of the and i center for human rights and law. It is a
Nonpartisan Group<\/a> seeking to advance civil rights for jewish people. Ms. Lewin is a graduate of
Nyu Law School<\/a> and princeton university. William jacobson is clinical professor of law and director of the
Securities Law<\/a> clinic at cornell law school. Is also currently a contributor to the times of israel, where he blogs on topics related to bdsm boycotts of israel in
Higher Education<\/a>. Before joining the faculty at cornell, he spent 23 years in private practice in providence. He litigated business to its in the securities industry. He graduated from
Harvard Law School<\/a> and hamilton college. Charles asher small is founding director and president of the institute for the study of global antisemitism and policy. It is a new
York Nonprofit<\/a> funding antisemitism studying antisemitism. He served on the faculty of tel aviv university. He is at
Saint Anthonys<\/a> college and oxford university. s research focuses on contemporary antisemitism including delay legitimization of israel. Charles small earned his masters degree from mcgill university. We will ask each panelist to speak for 8 minutes on a topic related to the large name. After opening statements, there will be questions to the panel is to get them in dialogue with one another and asked him to comment on
Current Events<\/a>. Mr. Tobin, would you please began . Thank you. It is an honor to be here to discuss how best we can combat antisemitism. It is very encouraging that the department of justice has chosen to highlight this issue in this manner. We thank you for that. It is of course a matter of no small irony that
College Campuses<\/a> are among the places in this country where anti semitic sentiment has become commonplace. Jewish people feel threatened by a culture of intolerance. Institutions that are supposed to be strongholds of independent inquiry and progressive values have become the beachheads on this continent for the spread of what the state department calls a rising tide of antisemitism that has been sweeping across the globe. It is shocking. For anyone who is paying attention to the academic world and the last generation, it is hardly a surprise. The reason for this boils down to one key fact. The growing popularity of anti zionism and the way that ideology has been used to legitimize antisemitism and to create a hostile atmosphere in
Academic Circles<\/a> and on some campuses, where jews field not only marginalized but also intimidated and threatened. Support for the movement to boycott the best in section israel, bds, it has not only gained a foothold in academia, but in
Many University<\/a> departments, opposition to its discriminatory goal and tactics mark both dissident academics and students as pariahs to be shunned, shut it down, or worse. s situation that is particularly threatening to jews. In this generation, anti semitism has taken on a new form in which israel has become the substitute for anti semitic, antijewish stereotypes that have been handed down through the ages. In discussing this problem, it is vital that we clarify some ocular misconceptions. What is antizionism . Is it, as many of the less on his advocates, separate and distinct from hatred of jews . Antizionism is a position is opposition to a jewish state. It focuses on activism and advocacy in the
United States<\/a> and terrorism in the middle east, for the elimination of the state of israel. It means singling out the single jewish state on the planet for extinction and making it the only existing
National Political<\/a> entity of the nearly 200 representatives in the
United Nations<\/a> that is the focus of an
International Movement<\/a> to erase it from the map. In a postwar world, with various conflicts giving rise to scores of new nations, it is considered an original sin that must be reversed. Just as important, it is to understand the contrary rationalizations put forward by bds advocates and other opponents of israel. Antizionism is not criticism of israel or of the current government and policy. More than 7 million israelis wake up every morning and proceed to criticize their government, just as more than 300 million americans wake up every day and do the same about some aspect of their state, local and federal government. That is life in a democracy. Mere criticism of israel is not opposition to the existence of israel. Nor is it antisemitic. No responsible person would claim that it is. When one seeks to deny the jews the right to a state in their ancient homeland, no matter where the borders might be, to deny the legitimacy to their national movement, and in a way that no other nationalism is delegitimized, to deny them the right not merely to sovereignty, but to the right to live in peace there and the right of selfdefense, that is not mere criticism. It is prejudice. That must be the starting point for any discussion of anti zionism. When antizionists what they seek to do is something that is unique to one people and one country. No other people on the planet are treated in this manner or singled out for opprobrium in the manner that antizionists speak about and seek to treat the one jewish state. It is true, that not every ethnic at the group has achieved sovereign status in their homeland throughout the world. But, there is no other example of an
International Movement<\/a> that is dedicated to eradicating an existing sovereign state, dedicated on the notion that is population not only has no right to exert power over its people, but no light to live in the territory. That is the case for jews in israel. To oppose antizionism and to correctly brand it as a form of antijewish prejudice is not necessarily to espouse a particular point of view about the middle east peace process. The conflict between jews and palestinian arabs, which has gone on for more than a century, is complex. It is hardly surprising that those who criticize israels stance on the process ignore the fact that israel has sought several times to offer statehood to the palestinians and a change for peace and and and to the conflict. The palestinians rejected it each time. Those who claim that justice is only to be obtained by denying to the jews the right to statehood over any part of their country , tel aviv, haifa, and not just jerusalem in the west bank, over which these two peoples have contended, when they so readily support many other
Ethnic National<\/a> and religious groups, practicing a unique kind of light. Seen in this light, anti zionism and is bds component are not a critique of any israeli policy or politician. Nor is its purpose shifting israels border. Its purpose is as bds advocates, as they make abundantly clear in their literature and website, to deny the jews rights, that no one thinks of denying to others. And the term of art as such, it is a form of discrimination. The term of art for discrimination against jews is antisemitism. While it is possible to make academic critics of israels right to exist that can take on an air of legitimate debate, in practice, on many
College Campuses<\/a>, as well as elsewhere, advocacy for antizionism illustrates that it is indistinguishable from traditional forms of anti semitism. The arguments from anti zionists and their bds movement raise not just to erase 71 years of israeli nationhood but to erase thousands of years of jewish history and faith. They single out israeli actions and judge them not merely by double standards apply to know whether democracy, let alone any other middle east country. Asic to maliciously compare it to nazi germany. They treat the one nation that is linked to judaism as a legitimate while ignoring as illegitimate while ignoring the connections between faith and dozens of other sovereign nations. The arguments against israel and particularly his supporters in the
United States<\/a> are also straight out of the anti semitic playbook, including themes about jews combining power and congressional support and false accusations of dual loyalty and committing loathsome crimes. They are rooted in a kind of demonization of jews that is all too familiar for students of history. That members of congress as well as academics and activists have employed these themes, testifies to both the growth of this movement, and the unwholesome manner in which it has sought to insinuate its ideas into the national conversation. Moreover, we dont need to look at their literature of the bds movement to know that anti zionists in the bds movement rct and hate. Wherever they raise their banners on
College Campuses<\/a>, or anywhere else, antisemitic acts whether in terms of intimidation or even violence, always follow. The hijacking of intersectional ideas in which the struggles of various minorities are seen as linked has enabled some academics and journalists to portray the war against the jewish state as somehow analogous to the struggle for civil rights in this country. This false analogy, which seeks to employ the linkage of human rights in order to legitimize antizionist rhetoric, is rooted in a pulse it. It is those who wish to discriminate against the one jewish state and its people who are spreading heads, not those who seek to defend zionism, which is the
National Liberation<\/a> movement of the jewish people, the suspect this form of antisemitic hate claim they are promoting peace. But their position is actually antithetical to the cause of peace as well as prejudice, because it seeks an outcome that could only be achieved by a genocidal war against israel and its people who will not submit to the overthrow of their
Democratic State<\/a> or the ethnic cleansing of their country. That is to matter who is spreading this form of hate, whether they are nonjews or in the case of a small focal left is minority, jews. Seeing clearly then, there is no doubt that those whose discourse about israel is anchored in a movement to destroy it and to demonize its people and its diaspora jewish supporters, are not merely criticizing its government or speaking out in favor of peace or human rights, but engaging in any form of hate that is inherently antisemitic. We must proceed from this unavoidable conclusion, to think that it must be the policy of the
United States<\/a>, and of decent people everywhere, to oppose anti semitic education agitation and violence, whether it labels itself antizionist or some other set of ideas that masquerades as progressive. But is actually practicing one of the oldest forms of hatred. Antizionism is not merely anti semitism operating under a new false front, and those who deny this are spreading a big lie. It is imperative that we not only uses summit as a springboard for action against a noxious form of hatred and its troubling reappearance within the expense of survivors of the holocaust, but also to deny its appearance, a cloak of legitimacy with which they seek to clothe themselves. That is due on
College Campuses<\/a> or anywhere else. But it is especially important that we not let those who seek to educate or to deny those who go to college the right to do so without being immunized, shunned or silenced. Thank you. [ applause ] g good morning. Thank you very much for inviting me to participate in this summit. It is a true honor to be included on this illustrious panel. Most people today are able to recognize traditional or classical antisemitism. The antisemitism that we associate with a swastika or with the nazis. It is more difficult, however, for many to identify antisemitism, the type that jonathan just described, the antisemitism that targets zionism and denies the right of jewish selfdetermination. So, i would like to focus a little bit more on that form of antisemitism. It is not uncommon today to hear people say i am not anti jewish, i am just antizionist. But is that really possible . Is it possible to support jews but oppose zionists . The answer is no. Why . Because zionism is an integral part of jewish identity. Zionism calming the yearning and desire of jews to exercise their right to
Self Determination<\/a> and to reestablish a jewish homeland in the land of israel is an inherent, ancestral and ethnic jewish characteristic. Zionism as a
Political Movement<\/a> may have originated in the 19th century, but this yearning for zion, the desire of jews to return to their ancestral homeland, doubt is thousands of years old. As old as abraham and the bible. To be a zionists means to support this right of jewish selfdetermination in the ancestral homeland of the jews. If i celebrate the fact that jews have once again return to the land of israel, if i celebrate that the jewish state of israel exists, then i am a zionist. Those who oppose zionism who oppose zionism denied use this right. Today, the father of the journalist daniel pearl, has coined the term for this. He calls it zion a phobia. An irrational fear or hatred of a homeland for the jewish people. The
International Holocaust<\/a> alliance has a definition of antisemitism as an example, and i quote denying the jewish people their right to
Self Determination<\/a>, e. G. By coming that the existence of a set of israel is a racist endeavor. The definition recognizes that sign a phobia denying this core jewish repeat belief is de facto antisemitism. My maternal grandmother was a six generation jerusalem i. Her ancestors came to live in jerusalem in the early 1800s, not because there was a modern state of israel, but out of this deep sense that for jews, it was their home. This yearning for zion is the glue that has kept jews for millennia. For centuries, jews have prayed facing jerusalem but have prayed for a return to jerusalem, next year in jerusalem, each year the passover seder include john kapoor, the day of atonement. Do you know that, over half of the 613 commandments in the pentateuch relate to the land of israel and can only be fulfilled in the land of israel . The jewish connection to the land is so strong that for thousands of years, wherever jews have lived, they have prayed for rain, not where they reside, but for rain in the land of israel. But, zionism, this essential component of jewish identity, is now under attack. Those who deny jews the right to selfdetermination, who say jews do not have a right to a jewish state in any borders in the land of israel, their criticism of israel is anti semitic, even if it is cloaked in human rights terminology. Because, if you do not believe the jewish state of israel has a right to exist, you your criticism of israel is not intended to inform the policies of the governments role. It is intended to destroy the jewish state. To accurately identify anti semitism masquerading as anti zionism, we must learn to distinguish between the zionophobe, those who oppose the jewish say, on one hand, and those who generally see coexistence between jew and arab, on the other. Groups like students for justice in palestine, and jewish voices for peace, who believe the jews have no right to
Self Determination<\/a> , no right to a jewish state, are not interested in dialogue or compromise. Their goal is elimination. Make no mistake about it. What is happening to the on campuses and beyond is part of an organized, wellfunded strategy to marginalize coisrael zionists and deny them a place in society. When students for justice in palestine, an organization supported by american muslims for palestine, of the annual conference last november at ucla, they posted their goals on the for the conference on their website. One goal, described the attitude toward zionism. Gold number 2, which was entitled rehearing from mythos to action it says, the aim of this scene is to remind us that zionism is night and insurmountable force. We know that zionism is ethnic cleansing, destruction, mass expulsion, apartheid, and death. The goal went on to say that the reason we can have hope is that zionism is a human ideology and a set of laws that have been challenged and can be destroyed, this is a reminder that the successful challenges to zionism have come from direct action. According to stps tentacle, zionism can be broken down and dismantled. This and portly, however, sjp explains, they will not just discuss theory at the conference but will also focus on developing actionable local and regional campaigns with clear targets. So, i ask you, if you are a
Student Group<\/a> that equates zionism with ethnic cleansing, at destruction, mass destruction, apartheid and death, and your groups stated goal is to destroy and dismantle zionism, and you plan to develop actionable local and regional campaigns with clear targets, i ask you, who are your targets . Pro israel zionists. And whether those campaigns what do those campaigns look like . They look like what was the last year at
New York University<\/a> when 53 student organizations representing the entire
Progressive Community<\/a> on campus pledged not only to support bds and to boycott israel, but to also boycott the pro
Israel Student Group<\/a>s on campus, meaning, they said they would not engage with or dialogue with or cosponsor events with the pro israel students. What message does that convey to a pro israel student at nyu . It is saying to that student , if you want to join our campus community, if you want to be a fullfledged member, and demonstrate with us on climate change, womens rights, lgbtq rights, we will accept you , on one condition check your support for israel at the door. Shed that part of your jewish identity, and you can join us. That is no different than demanding that a student stop observing shabbat or stop giving culture in order to gain admission. It is comparable to demanding a catholic student this about the vatican or a muslims duden shed his or her connection to make up. Excluding an individual in this manner on the basis of his or her identity is determination. This discriminatory conduct is spreading beyond the
College Campuses<\/a>. Not long ago, in washington, d. C. , at the march, organizers of the marked improve informed participants they could wear religious paraphernalia. But items that express support for israel such as the jewish flag, a rainbow flag with a star of david in the middle, were prohibited. The dyje dyke march leaders said they should shed the key component of their jewish identity to participate. No other group was charged such a high price for admission. Our laws are designed to protect individuals from harassment and discretion. The law did not protect you from an opinion you find offensive. In the
United States<\/a>, even hate speech is protected speech. If we want to effectively utilize our legal tools, such as title vi of the civil rights act, we must accurately articulate what is happening as harassment and discrimination. If we fail to do this, we will not be able to use the tools in our toolbox. If we permit administrators and campuses and the general public to perceive the situation as merely a political disagreements, where each side takes offense of the other sides assistance, then we disable our most potent weapon. Ostracizing, marginalizing, and excluding pro israel is zionists is not a speech issue. It is racist and unlawful conduct and must be confronted as such. Students must understand that what they are experiencing is antisemitism and the law can protect them we have to teach students and parents how to utilize the law effectively to come back and sign a phobia zionophobia, and antisemitism. We must educate our children so they do not ally themselves with people who deny jews the right to selfdetermination or deny jews the right to express design as part of their jewish identity. It is imperative that the public understand that this denial is racist, discriminatory, and anti semitic, whether it comes from nonjews or. During our
Panel Discussion<\/a> i hope to share with you what they are changing the climate because if we want to ensure that history does not repeat itself then we must recognize that if you isolate and dehumanize scientists and claim they represent the greatest evil than you are branding with the virtual yellow star of david and then what comes next . Thank you. Thank you, my name is
William Jacobson<\/a> i am a professor at cornell and the founder and chief author at the insurrection website which is covered campus issues specifically with regard to antisemitism and the bds movement almost daily since 2008. I am going to discuss intersection allie. Is a hot topic on campus. I will discuss how it was originally formulated how it has developed into the justification for the isolation of jewish students on campus and zionist. There is a limited amount of detail i can go into and i hope to bring to this presentation my experiences interacting with students both on my campus and many other campuses. You have heard it two very excellent speeches so far presentation so far and the big take away that you need from this presentation and the other visitation is the isolation of jewish students on campus because that is the goal, the methodology and that is the single biggest problem that we face. The statements that have been made comport with my experiences interacting with students and i started my website in 2008 and began covering the bds movement almost immediately. It wasnt until 2010, 2013 timeframe that bds took off in a serious way. At that time there werent many major jewish or proisrael organizations on the ground on campuses so i served as my
First Responder<\/a> and the sense they were being ganged up on was my big take away from the interaction. The term intersectionality is another a rather loosely used term. It is a buzzword it has become something of the
Swiss Army Knife<\/a> of progressive campus politics far removed from its origins. It is often described as victim olympics, the ordering of victim status based on theory various classifications and that is only a part of it and that is probably the more popular part. It provides the intellectual framework and justification for people who would not consider themselves antisomatic or seek the destruction of israel nonetheless to isolate jewish students. The term it has become a toxic mixture of racial and identity politics where antizionism is the feature among many groups who otherwise have very little empowerment. It didnt start this way. The term is widely credited to a 1989 article by my
Law School Class<\/a> make classmate who was a professor and also with columbia and originally authored the concept of intersectionality was meant to address the unique problems in her perspective that black women face in justice in the judicial system that sex
Discrimination Laws<\/a> addressed discrimination against women and the race discrimination law addressed the discrimination against minorities. In her estimation none of those adequately addressed people in her article, black women, who were at the intersection of multiple identities which were suffering. In her words she termed intersectionality as a way of looking at from a judicial and discrimination law perspective how to better liberate, if you will, black women from those two forces of sex discrimination and race discrimination that they uniquely suffer in her words black men did not suffer and white women did not suffer because they did not have that intersecting identity. Whether you accept this framework or not there is nothing about intersectionality as originally framed that involves politics or involves israel. It was a way of looking at how the courts deal with discrimination for people who are in multiple classifications of protected groups. Along the way intersectionality became a buzzword divorced from this original meeting. 2017 critique in the chronicle of
Higher Education<\/a> noted that the word has migrated from womens studies, journals and conference keynotes into everyday conversation turning what was once highbrow discourse into hashtag chatter. Nowhere has the expansion and politicization of it been more aggressive and destructive they have seized on it and with the goal of isolating who support israels right to exist which is the overwhelming majority of. It is hard to pinpoint precisely when this happened and certainly the durban conference and the goal of bringing race into the attack on israel turning it into an apartheid state comparing it to south africa has turned it into not just a judicial approach, but an approach to demonize israel and launch the boycott sanctions movement against israel and you see that terminology used repeatedly by the antiisrael left and anti
Israel Progressive Movement<\/a> and on campus. In january the
Student Network<\/a> issued a statement on intersectionality which read we are committed to support the palestinian struggle against
Israeli Occupation<\/a> apartheid and racism which is bound up with the analysis of the intersection of struggle of students of color. Antijewish bigotry is not equal to the students of color and this is what you here every day on campus where they put together coalitions of students of color, nonwhite
Student Group<\/a>s and they try to use that to isolate proisrael students and zionist students. We thought at cornell in 2014 there is a resolution introduced which didnt get very far. It was tabled before open discussion and in 2019 that was renewed and the organizer spent by their own estimation two years building a coalition of students so when they introduced the resolution there were 20 or 25 students representing virtually every nonwhite
Identity Group<\/a> on campus who were endorsing the resolution the boycott resolution against israel and it was presented that if you want to be supportive of students of color you must endorse this and if you object to the movement you are hostile to racial minorities and that is one example that we see on campus. There are many others and perhaps we can get into some of those and i am happy to speak with people afterwards. Thank you very much, members of the various departments of the u. S. Government and distinguished leaders and it is an honor to be here and today i will discuss a
Research Project<\/a> that is the instituteacademic
Research Center<\/a> and fell into this subject in interesting way about seven years ago. I am happy to be joined by michael bal is a cpa and was a key figure in this seven year project that we engaged in follow the money and i worked with michael and our colleague on this project. She said we are living in a time of great urgency and went on to correct himself and said we are not, we are living in a time of emergency and he said this in 2003. We know that things are becoming significant. He also always taught that anti semitism begins with cues and it never ends with cues that once this form of hatred is unleashed on society it knows no boundaries and attacks not only the but other parts of the population and other citizens and a very
Democratic Institutions<\/a> that we hold onto. Tragically, i am sad to report as my colleagues have also referred to that the university is our becoming a purveyor perhaps the most important is the space in which antisemitism is being pervaded. This project came upon us in an interesting way, one of the
Vice President<\/a> s of a
Top Ivy League<\/a> university apparently worked for a
Pharmaceutical Company<\/a> in cambridge, massachusetts. This
Pharmaceutical Company<\/a> was owned bya known person that was not only in favor of the bds but also had connections to terror. The
Vice President<\/a> of this university hired an assistant who worked right here in washington with none other than. For those who studied these issues we know their connection on antisemitism and political islam, not muslims, but political reactionaries they also had connections to terror and it was these network in this university that not only promoted antisemitism and political islam and also promoted political islam within the university. Thanks to this and i started to do research on my own and in a few months worked with michael and gave a lot of his time and energy a lot of his findings are his and michael for 7 years has come through various sources of information all open source from the department of education and other branches looking at funding and we can see in this document that u. S. Colleges with middle east departments are receiving massive amounts of funding from the gulf states and what is interesting in our research and the most important element is probably missing is that there are many multinational and large corporations in the
United States<\/a> that are also funneling lots of money, billions of money into american universities and this is sort of a hole that needs to be understood. This is a very important document. Groups researching the funding of u. S. Universities by the
Muslim Brotherhood<\/a> and political islam is discovery 300 million summer now speaking 1. 4 million and our
Research Shows<\/a> we have accounted for 1. 9 billion going to american universities and the undocumented report. The amount not reported. That amount is almost 3 billion that we have found and given our lack of resources although we try very hard, giving our limited resources this project and expertise, if we can find 3 billion that is unaccounted for, imagine what is going on. It is interesting that texas a m, for example, their budget they have they did not report over 750 million and their budget and the funding from qatar always match up in michaels research. The foundation as we know is run by and or heavily influenced by the
Muslim Brotherhood<\/a> and in the presentation they are callingshows joseph the head of the
Muslim Brotherhood<\/a> literally calling for all believers, all true believers to finish the work of hitler. This is where the money is coming from and he played an integral role in cofounding islamic studies at oxford so imagine how these ideologies are infiltrating into universities. We can see some of the findings here. Universitybased on our research i think it would be a very
Fair Assessment<\/a> to show that funds are coming from the campus there into the
United States<\/a> of america proper. This is an extraordinary finding thanks to the work of michael past. I would like to very briefly, i know im running out of time, i would like to present some of their findings. Yale university received a 10 million gift fromfor the
Yale Law School<\/a> and offered publicly 10 million. 100,000 has been reported by
Yale University<\/a> to the department of education. Yale university has only reported approximately 2 million even though they received over 150 million from the world from since 1983 to from the middle east sorry. Very quickly, we argue vehemently there needs to be an improvement of the reporting mechanisms to the department of education from gifts from foreign sources and domestic sources. Controls of who is reporting and what they should be reporting in general. Inconsistency in the department of education from foreign operations, why did texas a m only begin to report their donations in the last two years should colleges accept anonymous gifts . This is legal. The law says the country needs to be shown the country of origin needs to be shown, but not the source so it is very easy for countries or individuals or nonprofit organizations to use another country as the origin of their gift to american universities. We call upon them to use the definition of antisemitism at the student level and academic level and ministration level. We call upon all relevant branches of the government, all departments with a stake in the future of our
Education System<\/a> and the future of our democracy to engage in a systematic investigation of the funding of american universities by not only antisomatic sources, but antidemocratic sources. We also call for an investigation into the atmosphere we are talking about the administration, what is taking place in the classroom and we know students care the
Muslim Student<\/a> association have been disturbing the atmosphere on campus and jewish students are experiencing antisemitism at much higher rates than women experience were then witness sexism and africanamericans witnessed or experienced racism. The statistics are office chart and there is a huge discrepancy on age. Older
Jewish Americans<\/a> do not experience antisemitism at the same level as young
Jewish Americans<\/a>. Believe, enclosing that the 6. 5 billion that this
Research Project<\/a> has gathered has to be the tip of the iceberg and if this is the tip of an iceberg we call for a proper investigation of american universities and the funding and vendors of hate that is permeating our most precious institution and our democracy the
Education System<\/a>. Thank you. Thank you for these thought provoking comments. The three sets of questions, one is around what is the phenomenon and what where does it come from and the third is what can be done so maybe we will turn to that first set first. A number of the comments focused on m antisemitism is filtered through antizionism and i thought she contrasted it with what we think of as traditional or classical anti semitism and discrimination against jewish students. Do we also see that kind of antisemitism . Thisi would love to hear from anyone who has thoughts on whether we see that side of the antisemitism or whether it is also on the rise . My experience and observations is that we typically call rightwing anti semitism mostly anecdotal on campuses. There might be a sticker painted. And most cases we dont know who painted it those tend to be anecdotal where as the anti semitism from the left and the islamist antisemitism is more systematic and pervasive and organize and is supported by faculty. A lot of the antizionism on campus and the isolation of students on campus comes under the leadership of faculty and that is just a reality. They are the thought leaders and those who have a continuing presence on campus so in my experience not to say that there havent been specific horrible instances of right wing antisemitism, but that is not the pervasive problem. It is more the antisemitism masking itself as antizionism that is a pervasive problem in my experience and observation. Earlier panel test on the question of free speech. The problem isnt that people come to campus and say offensive things about israel or bad things about , the problem is when such believes whether it is antizionist, bds are institutionalized within colleges themselves that takes partly the role of where curricula and faculty are proactively promoting anti zionism and actively making jewish students in class nevermind in campus clubs feel marginalized. It is tough enough as we know in this city to speak truth to power under any circumstance. It is unreasonable to expect students to speak truth to power to the people who control their grades. It doesnt work that way and also takes the form of privileging antisomatic agitation on
College Campuses<\/a> when
Student Group<\/a>s not merely an act or debate the resolution although, fortunately most have been defeated, but in the course of discourse where jewish students are served with fake eviction notices to highlight false claims about israeli practices where
Israeli Apartheid<\/a> week and apartheid walls and the measure of security against terrorism are made specifically to make jewish students uncomfortable, to make it impossible for them to speak up for israel and retained their standing on campus as people of goodwill. That is the problem where universities prioritize and allow these events to go forward in a way that they would not allow other
Student Group<\/a>s to be victimized in this way. That is the problem, not speech. To build on that, the initiative actually did a study at one point and while there is certainly the more traditional antisemitism on campus which you find is that resonates what impacts the students the most where they feel the marginalization, hostility, the fear, the isolation is more in the antizionism context and what is happening is that you have students for whom this is a part of what it means to be jewish and what they are being told is if you want to belong, if you want to be accepted or function you have to either hide or shed that part of who you are and people have an easier time understanding if you had a university that created a climate that homosexuals came became uncomfortable coming out of the closet because they felt that they would be ostracized, that is what you have now with zionism. They feel like they cannot live in their own skin. I wanted to comment i think there is also her
Research Demonstrates<\/a> in our our research augments and reinforces your research that we found that funding from middle east studies centers at american universities where that is taking place and this type of funding we alluded to takes place that where students there is more activity and anti somatic activity on campus affecting students and scholars and we have to realize that the pressure not just students, not just students finishing degrees or faculty entering into the university and trying to get permanent positions and tenure, there is tremendous pressure not to be perceived as to vileness or proisrael because of the atmosphere and we call this the
Red Green Alliance<\/a> the extreme socalled left i think the left has abandoned left wing agenda but we will put that issue aside and the extreme left that has entered into this antisomatic and unholy alliance that are both close to western hegemony. That is the rhetoric of this and they are opposed to
Everything Else<\/a> they are united and this case cover for a lot of difficult situations and atmospheres on campus and a generation of learning that the best universities that israel is somewhat at the very least a problem to something that needs to be reformed or destroyed and this is mainstream education which is fueling general anti semitism. What do you see in terms of kinds of schools is it smaller or larger schools, if you were a parent you wanted to send your child or encourage them where they were less likely to encounter that would you send them . What i tell my students is i am jewish because my mother is jewish. When we live in a democracy every generation has to stand up and protect democracy, but expand the influence. I would say it is not a question of finding a safe school is a question for all of the communities the rights of , the rights of women and gender identity people and we as a generation and as a
Society Needs<\/a> to stand up and protect our
Education System<\/a> because if we lose it we are in serious trouble. The frightening fact is this is not a restriction to certain type of universities or the universities the dehumanizing of scientists is it has started and we may see it egregiously on the campus, but it is beyond, we see it in our daily lives. I would like to add that there is no way to restrict this. Certainly, there is a lot of antizionist activity. You can note other famous liberal arts college, the problem is wherever middle east studies are taught those departments have become the bailiwick of antizionist to spread some of these negative attitudes and these really false ideas about and israel and that is tough to come back. It gets to the point where all of us ask how do we prepare young to face this kind of dilemma and they have to know the facts and what our midst and what is wrong and they have to be armed with information. When faced with this kind of a situation we have to start with one quality that would resonate for those who grew up in the area era of the soviet movement and that is the courage to speak up. It is hard for people in general society and hard for those of us that do this for a living. It is hard for students and those are the polities that i think those of us who are involved in this have to model and quite frankly it is the message that the
United States<\/a> government, the department of justice and everywhere has to send out. You have to speak up for what is right and hateful stereotypes that seem to target. That goes to your third question. That is one of the things we are doing, we are training our law students we realize the undergraduate students you need to know the history and the information and you need to understand your legal rights and undergraduates dont know their rights and they dont all lawyers. We decided to train law students to work with the undergraduates to give them that confidence and courage to speak up and we have created a curriculum that gives them some of the
First Amendment<\/a> law and information about
Academic Freedom<\/a> and so that they can turn around we call it jigsaw
Justice Initiative<\/a> guiding student activists worldwide and that is what we do to try to help the undergraduates have that confidence and give them the ability to articulate and describe what is happening and how the discrimination is taking place so we can use the legal tools we have and on the administrative side putting together guidelines, essentially administrators explaining to them so they can understand and comprehend what is happening so that they understand this is an attack on zionists and how this is isolating and ostracizing and denying them a place and we are putting together guidelines with concrete steps that universities cams take to address the situation. There was in a lawsuit against
San Francisco<\/a> state they settled that case and one of the first items was a requirement that the
University Issue<\/a> a statement recognizing that vileness him is a key identity of many students on their campus. All universities are on that kind of statement. They are issuing that in order to give the confidence and courage to the students on campus to know that they can express that part of their identity that the university supports them and that they shouldnt feel intimidated or that they have to hide or shed that part. The question was, where is this most prevalent and im not sure there is any identifying seen. It certainly is true that many or most of this activity or much of it takes place at a relatively small number of elite institutions. That is the good news that talking about, we are not talking about the 2000 institutions of
Higher Education<\/a> and we are not talking about 1900, but where it is a problem tends to be the elite which form our opinion makers and get reported in the
New York Times<\/a> or the
Washington Post<\/a> and have an outside influence on the greater culture running through the list of
Student Group<\/a>s who signed that 2016 statement on intersectionality essentially saying they dont get to participate in that. Columbia, vascular, wisconsin, wesleyan, berkeley, claremont, ucla, michigan, ann arbor and illinois, champagne and herb on a. These are elite institutions and in terms of where you will send your children i get that question all the time. I think you need to look into it and you need to investigate the
Campus Culture<\/a> and see how the administration has reacted to things and you need to understand that because if you will send your child to a small 2000
Student School<\/a> which is, you know, taken by antiisrael for her there is not a lot of support systems and not a lot of places to find their own space. If you send it to a larger there may be other communities. Do your
Research Just<\/a> like you would on which school has the best
Chemistry Department<\/a> or anything else. It is amazing how much time people will spend going over those things, but wont look into the culture as it relates to whether a jewish student can express his or her identity on campus. Do your research and clearly there are more problematic campuses than others. I want to add with everything i think we should take notes that the public and intellectual discourse even now in the
United States<\/a> shifted. Antisomatic tropes that were once unimaginable, unimaginable that they would be gracing the most
Important Media<\/a> of record or the most important institutions in our democracy that those are now being discussed on a regular basis. The fact that
Public Discourse<\/a> has shifted so much in such a short period of time reflects issues of education and what people are learning in universities and the threat that we now face in the universities and in the institutions of government and the public debate and i came from the united kingdom, there are several years ahead of us here in the
United States<\/a> and the situation is grave in the uk it is teetering on perhaps a momentous decision in the next 6 to 8 months about a new
Prime Minister<\/a> that is having these views and the
Red Green Alliance<\/a> on his understanding of what israel is and the jewish people and it is alive and well in an old important democracy and that rhetoric is here and that should serve as a tremendous morning to all of us in this room. Some people brought up the concept of administrators and what they should be doing to address the problem and it is not intuitive or easy because we are in a place where all of us think robust discussion on campus are important values and we dont have hate speech barring violence or hate speech laws. Some public universities administrators or state actors in private universities that is not true, but how should an administration be deft in approaching these items. Is it by being a speaker in a debate . Is it being a regulator or a regulator of conduct . What is working and what is not working . What doesnt work is when
University Administrators<\/a> assume a stance of neutrality about hate speech directed at on their campus. That has happened all too often. Go back a decade to what happened at the university of california irvine which was a much discussed case. The message that came through is the university washed its hands of incidents that led to violence against and, sadly the administration of the time similarly washed its hands of it and wouldnt prosecute or wouldnt take it seriously. It cannot, we are not asking them to suppress the speech of those with whom we disagree, we are asking them to speak out as they would on any other human right or issue concerning discrimination against any other group and say this is not what our
University Stands<\/a> for. This is opposed to the value of free inquiry and what we are supposed to be. It is a green light for things to escalate and that is why we talk about instances where jewish students feel marginalized, shunned, silent. If starts from the leadership. I think that is right. The university has to start condemning antisomatic speech the way it is for racism. If you were to have a major demonstration in the
Public Square<\/a> or you have a major demonstration on campus and it is filled with vile, racist antisemitic rhetoric, whats the difference, legally, the speech is eat only protected, but it takes place in the
Public Square<\/a>, the government has no obligation to say anything about the nature of that speech. That is one of the beauties of our
First Amendment<\/a>. It doesnt matter if it is racist. If it happens on the
University Campus<\/a> title vi does put certain requirements on the university. They cant ignore it and the problem we see today is that they will condemn the racist speech but not the antisomatic and part of the problem is we seem to have a difficult time getting their heads around what is antisomatic speech when it comes to the attacks on zionism and i think it doesnt have to be so complicated. The key issue, the crux is whether or not you support the right of jewish
Self Determination<\/a>. That has to be the question. If it is zionophobe you once that gets condemned on campus the way racist speech is condemned the zionist will feel more protected. We shouldnt be squashing freedom of expression. If we are going to protect the
First Amendment<\/a> of the constitution we have to educate ourselves and become fluent and literate on the mind of our enemy and what is at stake. The
Muslim Brotherhood<\/a> and im choosing my words carefully took the protocols of the elders and took antisemitism which was a european phenomenon it was important adopted by the
Muslim Brotherhood<\/a> and they took their version of islam and fused it with european ammonite antisemitism. It advocates the extermination of the and takes the protocol of the elders of zion and at the core of the ideology it is not the military or the extremist. He didnt wake up in a bad mood. This is the core of the ideology. If we are going to confront we have to become fluent and literate in this ideology and understand how to confront it in the
Founding Fathers<\/a> of this nation they warned that citizens need to be educated and i think this is very much a threat to the democratic principles and not just to the
Jewish Community<\/a> on campus. In terms of the question about whether role should administrators play, i certainly dont think they should be the regulators of speech and i think we should be demanding and it seems to be a lot of for administrators is equal treatment and equal enforcement of whatever rules and regulation they have and you could make the argument that a private institution should regulate student speech and many have speech codes. Whether you are for that were against that is one issue and if you are going to have those codes they should be enforced also antisomatic speech. You could make the argument they shouldnt. And what we see and what the problem is is happy made a decision to have that sort of regulation of speech and the conduct is not equally and fairly enforced and that is where the focus needs to be because i would argue that the administration in a more ideal world do nothing other than preserve the free marketplace for ideas on campus and the free marketplace for speech. One of the biggest problems we have is almost any israeli speaker is going to get disrupted and shouted down and many pro israel speakers will get shouted down and disrupted and the schools need to preserve the ability of pro israel students to get their speakers on campus and they need to enforce their codes which they dont make in most cases to prevent others from taking and i think, and a better world we would have administrators have fewer regulations and to the extent they do have regulations in force them equally. I think we need to educate the administrators to be able to distinguish between the groups that genuinely want coexistence so the dialogue that needs to be fostered on campus and encouraged and the dialogue and not the demonization of the zionists once you can make that distinction then you can encourage constructive dialogue as opposed to the type of speech that is antisomatic and looks to ostracize. But why now now people have said there are organized is fun or particular movements that are pushing certain ideologies and actions, is there a reason that all that is happening now and it doesnt have to do it
Current Events<\/a> on policy or does it have to do with the state of religiosity . This is bigger, we are talking about a rising tide of antisemitism that is sweeping over the globe. We are some 74 years since the end of world war ii, the holocaust, is is memory that has dimmed in europe and elsewhere. Things that were unimaginable a few decades ago are now imaginable. Things that were not part of the dialogue, things that you would never expect to see in the
New York Times<\/a> just 20 years ago you see on a regular basis. Things are debatable didnt used to be debatable and part of it is this complex virus the great scholar that spoke of antisemitism being the most successful ideology of the 20th century because it had morphed and attached itself to a number of ideologies, fascism, communism and then radical islam all havenow we are in a moment where radical islam is spreading when it has, there was this
Strange Alliance<\/a> especially in europe between radical islam is and left wing elite who both share a hatred for israel and create an atmosphere in which are marginalized. Fortunately, we live in a country where that is not mainstream dialogue, but the one place where it is mainstream is on
College Campuses<\/a> and that is why we are dealing with this issue. If i could pick up what he said and it is very important, like the totalitarian movements of the past where the was the quintessential and their culture and their race was focusing on the jew and it is focusing on the israelis and focusing on the jew and while everyone is looking over here and afraid to speak out which is problematic, everyone is focused on the sinus, israeli and the jew, look at the world. You could make an argument the contemporary victim are muslims, muslims in the middle east who are engaged in the horrible conflicts throughout the region. Everyone focuses on them and are distracted from the real human rights catastrophe that is taking place as we speak. The totalitarian use the jew as a scapegoat where there are serious issues to be addressed. The issue as why does it seem to be getting worse on campuses does have to do in part with our domestic political situation where anti conservative, antirepublican and antitrump politics on campus as come to dominate and the issue of support for israel has gotten intertwined with that. There is no denying that. Certainly among the student activists groups, those have become intertwined. If you want to bring everybody together on campus you combine antiisrael with antitrump and you automatically have a coalition of a large percentage of the student activists groups so there is something to that whether that is accurate or whether it is justified is a different discussion, but that is a phenomenon that is going on on the campuses where anti trump politics has been exploited by antiisrael groups as a way of building coalitions and that is why things seem to be accelerating. I think this is the reason why now is the modern evolution of the world of antisemitism and the traditional sought to deny the jew his place in society and the new anti semitism is seeking to deny the jewish collective its place in the society of nations. He said the way it works is that in terms the jew in the simple and i think this is what everyone is saying is that the jew becomes a symbol of whatever it is that civilization defines as the most loathsome quality so he says that under christianity and before the holocaust the jew was the christ killer. During the times it was the race polluter and what do we see dow we live in a civilization where and this is a the most loathsome is the greatest offender in the world today was all the beautiful countries is the jewish state. I wanted to end on more of a higher note, but maybe there are very smart people thinking about this and engaged in the problem. Thank you, all of you for being here today. William barr had remarked. He talked about what the agency is doing to combat anti semitism around the world. This is 20 minutes","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia803009.us.archive.org\/3\/items\/CSPAN3_20190720_041700_Betsy_DeVos_Remarks__Panel_on_BDS_Movement_on_College_Campuses_at_Justice...\/CSPAN3_20190720_041700_Betsy_DeVos_Remarks__Panel_on_BDS_Movement_on_College_Campuses_at_Justice....thumbs\/CSPAN3_20190720_041700_Betsy_DeVos_Remarks__Panel_on_BDS_Movement_on_College_Campuses_at_Justice..._000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240716T12:35:10+00:00"}