Senator Chuck Schumer is planning a visit to Marin (Book Passage Corte Madera Bookstore on March 22) to promote his book on antisemitism. We are were planning to protest (Book tour cancelled, so no protest), and this is why.
Schumer mis-defines antisemitism to protect Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. This is a tragic crime against Palestinians, Jewish people, and everyone else who supports freedom of dissent against unjust policies of our government and works for a future of universal freedom and justice.
Senator Schumer (as has Congressman Huffman- see H.R.6090) have been staunch supporters of “Antisemitism Awareness Act” a law which falsely conflates critiques of the Israeli government and state with legitimate acts of antisemitism. This law is aimed at dismantling the Palestinian Rights movements and would particularly impact activists on college campuses across the US.
This bill was strongly supported by what perhaps used to be a civil rights organization- now defender of Israel by any means necessary- called the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). ADL is the organization that recently leapt to the defense of Elon Musk who gave what the world saw as two Nazi salutes (they told us it wasn’t… and who are you going to believe, the ADL or your own eyes?) to celebrate Trump’s election victory. The same Elon Musk who supported neo-Nazi political parties vying for power in Germany. That Elon Musk. For the ADL, billionaires who support Israel’s oppression of Palestinians get a pass to say pretty much anything, no matter how odious, no matter how clearly antisemitic, no matter how racist. It is clear the ADL is all about protecting Israel from protest, and nothing about the struggle against antisemitism and racism in U.S. society. This organization is an ally of Trump, Schumer and other who seek to clamp down on protest of Israeli policies in the United States.
Now the Trump regime is using this ideology advanced by both our Congressman Huffman and visiting Senate Minority Leader, along with most of Congress in both parties- taking it to its logical and very dangerous conclusion. Starting with arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, Trump’s threats and actions against universities that were ground zero for protests Israel’s genocidal onslaught in Gaza pose a grave threat to our collective right to dissent from governmental policies.
Both Senator Schumer and Congressman Huffman have made statements (see Huffman’s here) of concern regarding the case of Mahmoud Khalil, though neither has called for the immediate release of Trump’s political prisoner. They may very well be sincere in opposing the extreme lengths President Trump has taken to suppress dissent on our universities. I am sure however, that Senator Schumer if he had his way, would support a “kinder, gentler” and quieter form of repression against university students who are opposed to war and apartheid- perhaps only expulsions from schools rather than actual arrests and deportations, avoiding all the bad publicity Trump’s heavy hand has generated. For too many of our elected Democrats, the only debate with Trump is only to how best to suppress dissent on college campuses, not about supporting our rights. Certainly not about supporting those who opposed the genocidal policies of the Israeli and U.S. governments.
The ADL, for its part is a strong supporter of Trump’s approach, the First Amendment be damned when it gets in the way of protecting Israeli policies.
We do need to resist raising antisemitism (of the real kind) and racism in U.S. society. Rather than the way of the ADL, the Chucks and the Jareds among our electeds, maybe it should be closer to seeing things from the point of view of people like Mahmoud Khalil, for one (and many more of us, Jewish, Arab or otherwise).
Khalil’s words:
“As a Palestinian student, I believe that the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand-in-hand, and you cannot achieve one without the other.”
Jewish Voice for Peace has said this:
“We know that freedom and safety for any of us relies on freedom and safety for all of us.”
Or listen to the words of Rachel Corrie, who was only in 5th grade when she recognized hungry children around the world were just like us. Rachel was killed 22 years ago today by the Israeli military while protecting a Palestinian home from demolition.
“They are us and we are them. “
It’s not too late. We can build a better world, not let the dystopian world of the Trumps and his enablers be our fate. Solidarity is our only hope.
I urge people to also consider signing this petition to remove Senator Schumer from his leadership position.
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