The New York Timesfirst reportedthat Trump would sign the order, which would compel colleges receiving federal money to more aggressively police anti-Semitism on campuses under Title VI of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.
While theTimesdescribed the order as reclassifying Judaism, in the government’s view, as a nationality or race, a draft text of the orderleaked on Wednesdayahead of the signing showed otherwise. The text stated that it would direct federal authorities to refer to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’sworking definition of anti-Semitism.
Accordingto the Associated Press, “Trump will broaden the federal government’s definition of antisemitism … [and] is expected to tell the Department of Education to consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism — which can include criticism of Israel — when evaluating discrimination complaints under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.”
However, the definition also stipulates “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”
The almost immediate reaction to Trump’s executive order, both pro and con, underlines a paradoxical tension in his presidency: While he has closely aligned himself with Israel’s current conservative government, he has also provoked ire for his tepid criticism of white supremacists in the U.S., including after a deadly rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
Last week, Trump faced backlash for seeming to invoke an ugly stereotype about Jewish people as more wealthy than moral. He told attendees at the Israeli American Council National Summit in Florida that they would vote for him in 2020 even if they disliked him because “you’re not going to vote for the wealth tax.”
President Donald Trump at the Israeli American Council National Summit in Hollywood, Florida, on Saturday.Noam Galai/WireImage
The order will also mean the Trump administration is wading into a larger, thornier debate about where criticism of Israel falls and the difference between criticism of Israel’s political actions and its people.
Some see the executive order as a way to combat the BDS movement, which has gained greater support in progressive circles in campuses across the country.
BDS stands for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. A pro-Palestinian movement in the ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and Israel, BDScontends“Israel is occupying and colonising Palestinian land, discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel and denying Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes.”
BDS opponents say it offers a nominal face to anti-Semitism rather than being legitimate political protest.
One government official, speaking anonymously, contended to the AP that the order was not meant to limit anti-Israeli speech such as the BDS movement.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, told theTimesthe group welcomes the executive order in hopes that it “will be enforced in a fair manner.”
The group, Greenblatt said, recorded its third-highest level of anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. last year.
“The fact of the matter is we see Jewish students on college campuses and Jewish people all over being marginalized,” he said. “The rise of anti-Semitic incidents is not theoretical; it’s empirical.”
Donald Trump.Noam Galai/WireImage
But others said they worried the executive order would thwart speech, meaning pro-Palestinian views on college campuses would be silenced.
A spokesperson for the American Jewish Committee, a global Jewish advocacy group, releaseda statementon Wednesday in support of the order.
“We trust that a careful application of this directive will enable university administrators to avoid running afoul of free speech protections as they seek to root out antisemitism on their campuses,” AJC CEO David Harris said.
The statement continued on to say the situation for Jewish students in the U.S. is “most worrisome” and that it doesn’t consider the executive order to be designed to silence “rational” criticism against Israel and its policies.
The AJC was among the Jewish advocacy groupscriticizing the presidentfor his remarks in Florida last weekend.
The Jewish Democratic Council of America was quick to label Trump’s executive move as “the height of hypocrisy” on Wednesday ina statementof its own.
“It is the height of hypocrisy for President Trump to sign an executive order (EO) that he claims will combat anti-Semitism,” the organization said. “President Trump is more interested in symbolic gestures that politicize Israel and use Jews as political pawns than actually doing something meaningful to ensure our security and that of Israel.”
Trump is scheduled to host a Hanukkah reception at the White House on Wednesday.
source: people.com
