The authoritarian abductions, detention and attempted deportations of Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi have become the symbols of the Trump administration’s attack on students and universities, yet they are only the most visible.
Since taking office, Trump revoked the visas of more than 6,000 immigrant students and threatened the funding of at least 60 universities. His primary justification for this assault is that he claims to be combatting “widespread antisemitism.” In doing so, Trump is drawing on the decades-long effort by pro-Israel groups to equate any criticism of the state of Israel with the real problem of antisemitism.
Right-wing ploy
Fortunately, students, their legal advocates and universities across the country are fighting back because they recognize that Trump’s attacks are not about protecting Jewish students, but are actually a right-wing weaponization of antisemitism that seeks to curtail academic freedom and silence speech around Palestine.
Yet here in California, some lawmakers are seeking to enshrine Trump’s weaponization of antisemitism into law through AB 715, a bill that would encroach on K-12 educators’ ability to teach about Palestine and limit their academic freedom. The bill’s proponents claim this bill is necessary to combat antisemitism; however, the fundamental problem is that it would require that schools adopt a distorted definition of antisemitism, one where virtually any criticism or opposition to Israeli policy or actions are branded as antisemitic.
Specifically, AB 715 has as its basis the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which has been widely rejected globally over its use to stifle speech and critical education about Palestine or Israel. Even its original author has come out against its use by rightwing groups. It should not be surprising to us then that the Trump administration found the IHRA definition appealing and adopted it in his first term through an executive order.
In response to this order, the Southern Poverty Law Center stated that “the mandate to use the IHRA definition of antisemitism was chosen by the Trump administration as a tool by which it could restrict or punish speech and lawful pro-Palestinian activities it dislikes.”
The detrimental impacts AB 715 will have on educators cannot be understated.
Teachers could face complaints, investigations, discipline or even be fired simply for doing their job. This is precisely why every major educational association across the state has come out in strong opposition to this bill, including the California Teachers Association, the California Faculty Association, the California School Boards Association and the Association of California School Administrators.
The primary proponent of this effort to redefine antisemitism in order to silence discussion of Palestine in schools is the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California (JPAC), a pro-Israel coalition of organizations who have worked to stifle criticism of Israel through policy. In making its case for AB 715, JPAC provides the following as an example of what it describes as antisemitism: “a map that draws false equivalencies between the colonization of Native American land in the United States with Palestinian ‘land loss’ in the Middle East.”
In the same vein, the Jewish Community Relations Council, a pro-Israel group based in the Bay Area and one of the members of the JPAC coalition, published a guide to identify rhetoric it deems problematic and antisemitic; the guide labels phrases such as “Free Palestine,” “75 years of (Israeli) occupation,” “Israel is an apartheid state,” and any statements that accuse the state of Israel of committing genocide or ethnic cleansing as inherently harmful to all Jews.
Never mind that something like Palestinian land loss has been recognized as an ongoing violation of international law by human rights organizations and international bodies such as the United Nations.
Reasonable to worry
Now, because of this pending law, it’s quite reasonable to worry that teachers who merely mention that the world’s highest court – the UN’s International Court of Justice – called Israel’s presence in occupied Palestinian territories “unlawful” and tantamount to “apartheid,” would be branded antisemitic and even punished.
Given the intentionally loose language of this bill, describing objective facts like that might very well ruin one’s career, if not much worse.
Educators and students alike, especially those who are immigrants, Arab, Muslim or people of color, already have much to fear under this Trump presidency. If there were any time for state legislators to stand up for our schools, our youth and their academic freedom, it’s right now.
Rather than towing Trump’s line and enshrining his playbook into law, California decision makers should safeguard California schools.
They must reject the attempts of lobby groups hellbent on shielding Israel from critical speech as it commits genocide. They must vote against AB 715.
Mohamed Shehk is the Organizing Director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.