More news out of the Berkeley School of Law, where 14 student organizations pledged that they would not invite Zionist speakers to events. That prompted a number of pro-Israel groups to accuse the student orgs (and the school) of antisemitism.
This blatant distortion was first pushed by Kenneth Marcus. He was the assistant secretary for civil rights during the Trump presidency and now he’s back at the pro-Israel Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights. Marcus’s work, in and out of politics, has been primarily devoted to stifling criticism of Israel and pushing the lie that anti-Zionism is antisemitic. His group has sued multiple universities over alleged antisemitism, which generally just means there was some sort of Palestine advocacy taking place at the school.
In a September op-ed in the Jewish Journal Marcus claimed that Berkeley Law was instituting “Jewish-free zones.” Marcus also asserted that, “Anti-Zionism is flatly antisemitic. Using ‘Zionist’ as a euphemism for Jew is nothing more than a confidence trick.”
The piece was shared widely on social media, even by liberal celebrities like Barbra Streisand and Sarah Silverman. Over the last few weeks there has been further fallout over the bylaws, but the actual facts of the situation are seldom cited. Last month Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) gently leaned into Marcus’ anti-Zionism take at a hearing on antisemitism. “Surveys indicate that the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community identifies as pro-Israel,” said the congressman. “So if a student association adopts a policy that has the real world effect of excluding most of the Jewish community. Is it fair to see that as a policy where how anti-Zionism in policy could morph into antisemitism in practice?”
This week Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) put out a statement saying he is “outraged and disappointed” by what’s happened at the school. He declares that the groups have effectively ended “Jewish participation in their organizations,” which is a lie. He also calls on Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky to do more. He acknowledges that he’s called the bylaw “troubling”, but wants the groups’ funding and registered status revoked. “For too long, we have given antisemitism a pass when its proponents label it as anti-Zionism,” he claims.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) has taken things a step further and is calling on the Department of Education to investigate the school. Gottheimer smears the BDS movement as antisemitic in the letter and bemoans that it is “painted as socially progressive.”
“It is important to send a clear message that all students and community members, including those who are Jewish, will not be singled out, penalized, or made to feel unwelcome at UC Berkeley,” reads the letter. “I respectfully ask you to report to Congress on whether and how federal taxpayer dollars are used to discriminate against Jewish and pro-Israel students at UC Berkeley.”
Worth noting that Gottheimer and Sherman are both Democrats. These kinds of attacks are often bipartisan after all.
AIPAC spends on Republican in Summer Lee race
AIPAC has been a lobbying force for years, but in December 2021 it dramatically changed its role in the U.S. election process. The pro-Israel group announced that it was changing its status so that it could financially support candidates through a PAC called the AIPAC Political Action Committee , and a super PAC called the United Democracy Project (UDP).
AIPAC went on to spend millions trying to influence Democratic primaries and they were often successful. UDP alone spent over $26 million on Democratic races during the last primary cycle. $10.5 million of that was spent on attack ads, but UDP never mentioned Israel in any of them.
AIPAC has recalibrated its election strategy again. For the first time ever its spending on a general election race between a Democrat and a Republican. UDP has spent about $80,000 on mailers and nearly $1 million on ads attacking state legislator Summer Lee, the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania’s 12 congressional district. Lee is running against Mike Doyle, a GOP insurance executive.
UDP spent $2.7 million unsuccessfully trying to defeat Lee in the Democratic primary this May. Combined with efforts from its other PAC, AIPAC ended up spending $3,360,675 attempting to deliver an improbable victory to a pro-Israel former Republican staffer named Steve Irwin. They nearly succeeded, as Lee prevailed by less than a point.
AIPAC dubbed Lee as “anti-Israel” because she’s expressed some support for the human rights of Palestinians. “When I hear American pols use the refrain ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’ in response to undeniable atrocities on a marginalized population, I can’t help but think of how the west has always justified indiscriminate and disproportionate force and power on weakened and marginalized people,” Lee tweeted during Israel’s May 2021 attack on Gaza. “The US has never shown leadership in safeguarding human rights of folks its othered But as we fight against injustice here in the movement for black lives we must stand against injustice everywhere. Inhumanities against the Palestinian people cannot be tolerated or justified.”
When asked about the tweet during an April 2022 event organized by the Pittsburgh Jewish Federation, Lee did not back down. “I was seeing, as a black woman, somebody who has also experienced oppression– we as black folks have experienced global oppression– and really looking at the parallels and being startled,” she told the crowd. “That was I believe a year ago, also during Ramadan, where we saw a mosque being raided. Those are folks who are in their most vulnerable point and they’re holding on, praying and breaking fast, and that was an internationally-recognized event that happened that was an escalation unlike we had seen, and what I heard and what I continue to hear was instead of a cry out to say that was not OK… instead what I saw were American politicians rushing to use that phrase that Israel has a right to defend itself.”
“The question was what were they defending themselves against at that moment and I think that that was specifically what that tweet was speaking about,” she continued. “When we are saying that a powerful entity has a right to defend itself, when no one had done anything needing a defense, that was the parallel that was drawn between Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman who instigated it and then saying he had a right to defend himself. And that’s what I was seeing as a black woman and recognizing that parallel and the trauma that comes with it.”
UDP’s primary attack ads on Lee claimed that she was divisive force within the Democratic party and chided her for being unsupportive of President Biden’s agenda. “Summer Lee: more interested in fighting Democrats than getting results,” it declares.
As many people have pointed out, the group that criticized Lee for being insufficiently Democrat is now backing the Republican.
AIPAC has faced increasing criticism from progressives over its backing of over one-hundred insurrectionist Republicans who voted to throw out the 2020 presidential election results. When confronted with this criticism the group has consistently cited its support for a bipartisan pro-Israel alliance in congress.
However, on the subject of spending on Democrats AIPAC’s messaging has been a bit cloudier. After Lee narrowly defeated Irwin in the primary UDP chief executive Rob Bassin told the Jewish Insider that the close race “suggests that [Lee’s] brand of anti-Israel, far-left, out-of-the-mainstream doesn’t resonate with the majority of Democrats.”
This week AIPAC touted its support of Democrats on Twitter. “We oppose Summer Lee because of her dangerous views of the US-Israel alliance,” the group wrote. “AIPAC and our 2 million grassroots members proudly support progressive candidates – including 148 Democrats this cycle – who don’t check their values at the door when it comes to standing with Israel.”
However AIPAC obviously does “check their values” as it spent millions on the Democratic primaries, but never mentioned Israel once. Recent polling indicates that support for Israel is diminishing among Democratic voters. A Brookings/University of Maryland‘s Critical Issues Poll from this summer even suggests that support for the BDS movement is growing among Democrats.
“You oppose Summer Lee because she’s supports equality and justice,” IfNotNow co-founder Max Berger tweeted at AIPAC this week. “Your organization exists to deny Palestinians basic human rights — no matter the consequences. You checked your support for American democracy at the door when you endorsed 109 pro-coup Republicans.”
“AIPAC is an anti-Palestinian organization,” he continued. “They accept huge contributions from billionaires who oppose the progressive shift in the Democratic Party. They use the pro-Trump money to keep working class women of color from gaining political power — all to deny Palestinians rights.”
Odds & Ends
✉️ More than 240 members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish-American community wrote an open letter supporting Summer Lee and condemning AIPAC’s spending on the race.. “All of us in the Jewish community and beyond who are concerned about the survival of democracy in the United States and around the world should do what we can to support candidates like Summer Lee–up and down the ballot–and to make clear that the harmful actions of AIPAC do not speak for us,” it reads.
?? Two U.S. officials told Axios’ Barak Ravid that Biden probably won’t engage with Jewish supremacist politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is slated to become senior minister in the new Israeli government. “The U.S. officials told Axios there is no formal policy decision about Ben-Gvir yet, but the administration’s thinking in recent weeks was that they wouldn’t work with him. It is unclear if the administration is considering making the same decision about Smotrich or other members of their parties.“
?? But here’s State Department spokesman Ned Price talking about what might be Israel’s most right-wing government ever: “We are just not going to speculate on a government that hasn’t emerged yet. This is a process that will play out within Israel. We will see as the government emerges over the coming days. But regardless, we have a close and enduring relationship with Israel. It’s a relationship, as I said before, that’s based on those shared interests and those shared values, and certainly that will continue.”
? Kyrie Irving has finally taken responsibility for linking to an antisemitic movie on Twitter. “I oppose all forms of hatred and oppression and stand strong with communities that are marginalized and impacted every day,” he said. “I am aware of the negative impact of my post towards the Jewish community and I take responsibility. The kicker here is that Irving put out the statement with the pro-Israel ADL and says that he will donate $500,000 to the group.
It’s a big week for the anti-Palestinian organization as ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt also met with Elon Musk to talk about combating hate on Twitter. “What I heard was very encouraging, and I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Greenblatt. I wonder if his belief that anti-Zionism is antisemitism came up.
?? November 2 was the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. “No member of the press should be threatened, harassed, attacked, arrested, or killed for doing their job,” tweeted Secretary of State Blinken. “On the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, we vow to continue protecting and promoting the rights of a free press and the safety of journalists.”
It’s been six months since Shireen Abu Akleh was killed and the Biden administration has yet to launch an independent investigation into her death.
?️ In Maryland, the Montgomery County Council passed a resolution adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which includes some criticisms of Israel. The move was opposed by a broad coalition of social justice organizations, activists, and concerned citizens.
“We reject the false choice between standing up against anti-Palestinian racism and antisemitism,” read an open letter from the coalition. “Fighting against anti-Palestinian racism and antisemitism go hand in hand, and to mislead policymakers into this false choice threatens our collective safety. Rejecting IHRA is a necessary first step to stop right-wing racism and bigotry from being codified into law, harming our communities, and to reorient towards coherent anti-racist, anti-discriminatory policy.”
“By wrongfully conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, the IHRA definition chills constitutionally protected speech. If the Council adopts the IHRA definition, there are constituents in Montgomery County who are very likely to be targeted because of their human rights activism or simply because they are Palestinians who are vocal in sharing their personal narrative. We are also concerned about the very real possibility that such a resolution could result in censorship in the county’s public schools, such as within school curriculums.”
Stay safe out there,
Michael
