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New Executive Order Defines and Combats Anti-Semitism without Stifling Speech
(JNS) Alyza Lewin - Is it anti-Semitism to support the destruction of the one and only Jewish nation-state - home to approximately half of the Jews in the world today? Is it anti-Semitism to say that Jews do not have a right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland, the Land of Israel? These questions lie at the heart of today's debate over anti-Semitism. The Executive Order on Combating Anti-Semitism signed last week answered these questions in the affirmative by incorporating the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Definition of Antisemitism, which includes as a contemporary example of anti-Semitism "[d]enying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor." The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in programs and activities that receive federal funding. National origin discrimination has been interpreted for years to include discrimination against those who have shared ancestry or ethnicity. What is new is that the Executive Order requires all executive branch agencies and departments charged with enforcing Title VI to apply the IHRA Definition of Anti-Semitism when determining whether unlawful conduct has been motivated by discriminatory intent. It is the "adoption" of this definition of anti-Semitism that is causing the ruckus. There is nothing in either the IHRA Definition or the Executive Order that precludes anyone from criticizing the policies of the government of Israel. In fact, the IHRA definition explicitly states that "criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as anti-Semitic." But opposing Israel's existence as a Jewish homeland is anti-Semitism. It is not unlawful in the U.S. to make racist or anti-Jewish comments. In America, the First Amendment protects your right to express yourself as a bigot. But the First Amendment does not insulate and prevent those who make racist or anti-Semitic comments from being labeled as racists and anti-Semites. The writer is president and general counsel of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.