Here at No Dem Left Behind we have a team that travels all over America. We travel to DC to meet with our leaders and representatives, but we’re also in boonies of Wisconsin and the concrete canyon of New York. We know rural, and we know urban, and we see the way people become wrapped up in the perspective they see around them day to day.
The common fight, the good fight, is always against hatred and violence. Most folks around the country agree, even if they don’t see eye to eye on how we get there.
The trouble comes when there are baddies. Men like Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu – groups like Hamas – have the capacity to unleash vast amounts of evil, and often we can’t help but fight fire with fire. Bad men must be stopped.
That is why we are speaking out against the new house antisemitism bill, the Antisemitism Awareness Act. Far from preventing antisemitism, this bill would misidentify criticism of Israel with antisemitism. This is unthinkable. Our government wishes to curb our free speech in service of a dictator, in service of a foreign government.
This is unthinkable, undemocratic, and as un-American as anything the House has ever passed. This bill would prevent Jewish people from criticising a state committing genocide in their name, curbing their right to autonomy and self expression.
But don’t take it from us. The ACLU has condemned the bill, saying it “would likely chill free speech of students on college campuses by incorrectly equating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism.”
The Jewish-led group, Americans for Peace Now, have said that the lawmakers behind this bill “aren't interested in protecting Jews. They are interested in supporting right-wing views and narratives on Israel and shutting down legitimate questions and criticisms by crying 'antisemite' at everyone, including Jews.”
This bears out: Mary E Miller (R-IL), who oversaw debate on the antisemitism bill as pro tempore speaker, once said in a speech at the Capitol, “Hitler was right on one thing.” These people have no interest in stopping antisemitism.
This bill is wrong, and presents a real threat to our freedom of speech. How is it that we are allowed to be more critical of our own government than Israel?
