Republicans push a bill to suppress campus speech for Palestinian rights

IMEU Policy Project Memo #6

Tomorrow Republicans will bring to a vote H.R.6090, a bill which is designed to suppress constitutionally protected speech on college campuses in support of Palestinian rights.

It’s no coincidence that Republicans are bringing this bill to a vote in the midst of an unprecedented display of campus solidarity with the Palestinian people, as students on dozens of campuses across the country peacefully protest for an end to US complicity in Israel’s attacks against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. 

This bill seeks to shut down campus speech and advocacy for Palestinian rights under the pretext of protecting students against antisemitism. To be clear: antisemitism, like all forms of hatred, bigotry, and violence directed against people based on their identity, is abhorrent. 

However, as the ACLU noted: “Federal law already prohibits antisemitic discrimination and harassment by federally funded entities. H.R. 6090 is therefore not needed to protect against antisemitic discrimination; instead, it would likely chill free speech of students on college campuses by incorrectly equating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism.”

H.R.6090 would chill free speech in support of Palestinian rights by codifying into law that the Department of Education “shall take into consideration” the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) inaccurate definition of antisemitism when determining if a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act has occurred.

The IHRA definition of antisemitism and its accompanying contemporary examples of antisemitism conflate First Amendment-protected political speech critical of the policies of the Israeli government with antisemitism. 

As Jewish Voice for Peace stated: “The controversial IHRA definition does not serve the fight against antisemitism or other forms of racism. It does not differentiate between systemic and individual antisemitism, nor does it help identify the different forms of beliefs, tropes, speech, acts, microaggressions, discrimination, property damage, and violence that racism and antisemitism may take. It also fails to identify white supremacy as a root cause of antisemitism. Instead, the IHRA definition’s primary focus is branding criticism of the Israeli government and state as antisemitic, making it a tool to silence Palestinians and shield the Israeli government from accountability.”

IHRA’s definition of antisemitism is considered so controversial that, in 2020, a group of scholars of Holocaust history, Jewish studies, and Middle East studies launched the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism as an alternative to IHRA. It currently has more than 350 signatories. According to these scholars, examples of speech which are not antisemitic include: 

• Supporting the Palestinian demand for justice and the full granting of their political, national, civil and human rights, as encapsulated in international law.

• Criticizing or opposing Zionism as a form of nationalism, or supporting a unitary democratic state for Palestinians and Israeli Jews.

• Evidence-based criticism of Israel as a state, including its institutions, founding principles, policies and practices, and systematic racial discrimination.

• Boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns for Palestinian rights. 

Members of Congress should not cherry-pick one controversial definition of antisemitism and require the Department of Education to take it into consideration when determining if a Title VI violation of the Civil Rights Act has occurred. 

Especially at a time when college students are raising their voices in unprecedented numbers to protest US complicity in Israel’s attacks against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Members of Congress must see this Republican effort for what it actually is: an attempt to stifle and suppress the growing support on college campuses for Palestinian freedom, justice, and equality.

For more background and analysis, please see IMEU Policy Analysis #9: IHRA Definition Silences Speech for Palestinian Rights from our affiliated organization.

Photo credit: Alisdare Hickson/Flickr. Creative Commons License.