JEWISH WORLD

JEWISH WORLD • NOVEMBER 18-24, 2022 19 a right to exist. This is not view- point discrimination. The clubs that have adopted these bylaws are excluding Jews. They are actively denying Jews a space at their speaker podium. T oday, students who believe that Israel has a right to exist in any borders are being called “racist,” “colonialists,” “oppres- sors.” They are told they are re- sponsible for “apartheid,” “geno- cide” and “ethnic cleansing.” It is no longer sufficient for a student to express support for a “two-state solution.” Today, students must deny the right of Jewish self-deter- mination and deny Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. Israel has become the litmus test. Don’t get me wrong. Hostili- ty towards Israel is not the only anti-Jewish sentiment we see on campus. Sadly, there is still plen- ty of the traditional, historic an- ti-Semitism. Random swastikas, hateful fliers circulated by white supremacists containing traditional anti-Semitic tropes and mezuzahs that are torn down. All of it is dis- turbing. The difference, however, is that when students complain about the traditional anti-Semitism, the administrators seem to understand. They recognize the swastikas and white supremacists as anti-Semitic and they usually act. But when the discrimination in- cludes the words “Israel” or “Zionist,” university administrators mistakenly think that what they are witnessing is a good faith political debate. Rath- er than pick a side or risk silencing anyone’s speech, the administrators remain silent and do nothing. By failing to even condemn the harassment and discrimination that is taking place, universities permit it to fester and grow. One of the challenges we face on college campuses today is that university administrators — and the general public — don’t un- derstand contemporary anti-Sem- itism. Anti-Semitism may be so- ciety’s oldest hatred, but it is the most difficult form of bigotry to recognize, because it looks differ- ent in each generation. It morphs. The one constant, however, is that anti-Semitism always takes whatever that generation’s greatest evil is, whatever that society views as its misfortune, and pins it on the Jew. The Jew becomes the scape- goat. The Jew is to blame. The implication is the world would be a better place without Jews. Jews have beenmaligned as theChrist-kill- er, the capitalist and the race polluter. Today, when racism, apartheid and settler colonialism are viewed as so- ciety’s greatest evils, there are those who label all Jews as “white, colo- nialist oppressors.” Traditional anti-Semitism sought to deny individual Jews their place in society. The Nazis required Jews to wear a yellow Star of David so that the public could identify them and treat them as pariahs. Today, in addition to individual Jews, we have a Jewish collective — the Jewish nation state of Israel. And so today there are those who claim that the country which is the worst offender when it comes to the world’s greatest evils is not China with the Uyghurs, Russia with Ukraine, North Korea or Iran. Rather, they say the world’s worst offender is the Jewish state, Israel, the sole democracy in the Middle East, where all races, gen- ders, faiths and ethnicities are equal under the law — that is the coun- try they blame for this generation’s greatest evils. And that is the only country in the world — the one and only Jewish state — that they claim has no right to exist. This is contemporary anti-Semitism, and yet most of the world still does not recognize it as anti-Semitism. T hroughout history, there have been members of society (in- cluding some Jews), who have had difficulty accepting that Jews are not only a religion but also a peo- ple. Today, Jews are once again be- ing pressured to shed our sense of Jewish peoplehood. We are being told that to be accepted by society we must abandon this key compo- nent of Jewish identity; namely, the shared ancestry and collective memory that binds us together as Jews. Our historic link to the Land of Israel is denied and erased. This is not a new phenomenon. It happened in Europe when Jews were offered emancipation and equal rights for the first time. In 1789, when the French Nation- al Assembly debated whether the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen should apply to Jews, Count of Clermont Ton- nerre said, “The Jews should be denied everything as a nation, but granted everything as individuals.” The Jews of France were told that if they did not pledge alle- giance only to France, they would be expelled. With a choice like that, many Jews complied. They announced, “France is our Zion!” The situation was repeated sev- en years later in 1796 before the Dutch Parliament. There, they debated the question of how they could they give Dutch citizenship to a Jew if he felt connected to Jews in England, France or Ger- many. One of the Dutch parlia- mentarians proposed that the Jews take an oath that began: “I, so-and- so, declare that I do not belong to any other people, nor any part of a people, but solely and only to the people of the Netherlands.” For many Jews, Zionism is as integral to their Jewish identity as observing the Sabbath or keeping a kosher diet. It is true, not all Jews are Zionists. At the same time, not all Jews are Sabbath observers. But ask anyone who incorporates any type of Shabbat observance into their life why they do it, and they will tell you it is an expres- sion of their Jewish identity. By the same token, for many Jews the connection to the Land of Israel is also integral to their Jew- ish identity. It is an expression of pride in the Jews’ shared ancestry and ethnicity, a celebration of Jew- ish heritage and the Jewish people’s connection to one another and to the Jews’ ancestral homeland. Demanding that a Jew shed their Zionism as the price of admission is comparable to demanding that a Catholic disavow the Vatican or a Muslim shed their connection to Mecca. It is discriminatory, biased and immoral. T he law is the most effective tool we have to combat anti-Semi- tism and protect individuals from harassment and discrimination. If we want to effectively utilize our legal tools, such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the first thing we must do is accurately articulate what is happening as harassment and discrimination. If we fail to do that, if we continue to misdiagnose the situation and treat it as a politi- cal debate, then we will disable our most potent weapon. Ostracizing, marginalizing and excluding Jews on the basis of the Zionist compo- nent of their Jewish identity is not a “speech” issue. It is discriminatory and unlawful conduct and must be confronted as such. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires universities (and all entities that receive federal funds) to protect students from ha- rassment and discrimination based on race, color or national origin. Although Title VI does not men- tion religion, according to sub-reg- ulatory guidance, members of re- ligious groups including Jews, Sikhs and Muslims are protected by Title VI when they are harassed or discriminated against on the basis of their actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnicity. The Department of Education is currently investigating several uni- versities, including the University of Southern California, the University of Vermont and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in response to Brandeis Center complaints that have advanced this legal argument. As members of a Jewish bar as- sociation, you instinctively under- stand the challenges of our current moment. You read and hear about the rise in anti-Semitism and know that the law is our most effective tool. So, I am here tonight to ask for your help. You — Jewish lawyers and ju- rists — are uniquely situated to help stem this growing scourge. You, with your knowledge and understanding of both the law and Jewish identity, can help effective- ly address today’s anti-Semitism. Here’s how: First, remember that the best anti- dote to harassment and discrimination is self-confidence and pride. Don’t let anyone make you feel insecure or For Justice Brandeis, Zionist and American ideals were united as one. Today, some falsely claim that they can’t coexist together. They categorize Zionism as evil. A Jewish student lost access to a club’s social media accounts and documents because she had a pro-Israel expression on her Instagram. continued on page 21