US Jews to Trump: Stop using Antisemitism Charges to Repress Dissent and Undermine Liberty

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https://www.juancole.com/2025/04/antisemitism-charges-foreign.html


US Jews to Trump: Stop using Antisemitism Charges to Repress Dissent and Undermine Liberty

H. SCOTT PROSTERMAN
04/25/2025

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Featured) – On April 15, the venerable Jewish Council on Public Affairs (JCPA) issued an eloquent statement stating their objections to, “the false choice between confronting antisemitism and upholding democracy.” antisemitismhas traditionally been used as a right-wing tool to appeal to a primitive, nativist sense of exclusion. Now the motivations are more varied and complex. Many on the left fail to distinguish between Judaism, the religion; and Zionism; the political dynamic that led to the creation of Israel in the aftermath of the Holocaust, preceded by a 1000 years of pogroms. antisemitism has been convicted felon Donald Trump’s guise and cover for suppressing academic freedoms, and deporting politically active students, faculty and organizers. Thankfully, this consortium of thoughtful Jewish organizations has countered this travesty with a united effort and lucid arguments.

These organizations represent a broad spectrum of Jewish Americans, and includes the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, National Council of Jewish Women, American Conference of Cantors, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Rabbinical Assembly, Reconstructing Judaism, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, and the Union for Reform Judaism. The only branch of Judaism not represented in this consortium has been the Orthodox community. While many Orthodox Jews endorse the JCPA point of view, their voices are often suppressed and intimidated in their congregations.

That 10 major Jewish organizations came to agreement on anything is a semantic and polemical miracle, when one considers the diversity of social and spiritual divisions among American Jews. The notion of so many Jews agreeing on ANYTHING is so ludicrous, it’s become a basis of satire and dark humor. The myth that Jews were capable of controlling things by a conspiracy was always as silly as the notion of Jewish space lasers. The notion was fictionalized to support tropes, stir fear and resentment.

The JCPA statement says, “In recent weeks, escalating federal actions have used the guise of fighting antisemitism to justify stripping students of due process rights when they face arrest and/or deportation, as well as to threaten billions in academic research and education funding. Students have been arrested at home and on the street with no transparency as to why they are being held or deported, and in certain cases with the implication that they are being punished for their constitutionally-protected speech. Universities have an obligation to protect Jewish students, and the federal government has an important role to play in that effort; however, sweeping draconian funding cuts will weaken the free academic inquiry that strengthens democracy and society, rather than productively counter antisemitism on campus.” They conclude, “These actions do not make Jews—or any community—safer. Rather, they only make us less safe,” as they bring additional sources of resentment against Jews.

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