In the first 30 days of the new year, Proclaiming Justice to The Nations (PJTN) has been engaged on the forefront in the passage of the “The Antisemitism Awareness Act” in both Ohio and Tennessee, two states that we have been very active in setting the groundwork by educating state legislators on the importance of this important bill becoming law and motivating them to take action. With Florida and South Carolina leading the way, PJTN is committed on our watch to see this important legislation adopted in all 50 states.
The legislation being introduced adopts the U.S. State Department’s definition of antisemitism. It will serve to put on notice the punishment of anti-Semitic attacks and incidents within the states, including those committed on college and university campuses where failure to rein in these unlawful acts may result in the risk of private lawsuits and the greater threat of loss of federal funding.
By enacting the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, the Education Departments in all states where passage is secured will be able to apply not only the federal definition of antisemitism but to investigate any violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 while at the same time protecting the individual right of free speech enshrined in the US and Tennessee state constitutions.
What makes this crucial? We must confront the growing problem of antisemitism head-on. America’s college campuses, in particular, are a breeding ground for the next generation of hatred for Israel and the Jewish people. Already in the early weeks of 2020, members of organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Muslim Students Association (MSA) on campuses nationwide have literally deluged social media in peddling the age-old anti-Semitic conspiracies and tropes against Jews.
PJTN is continuing to call for organizations like SJP and MSA to be closely monitored by authorities. These groups who serve as the arm of the Muslim Brotherhood on higher-ed campuses have often used violent attacks and intimidation tactics to push Jewish and Christian-Zionists into submission, thus silencing them and diminishing their right to a safe and secure educational environment as well as their Constitutional rights of free speech.
Antisemitism has a definite growing identity in both the open violence seen in today’s headlines, as well as a “trickle-down” effect in K-12 education. Is the growing antisemitism in America’s education system due to the indoctrination of our children in our K-12 textbooks? Our research at PJTN says it is, and the reality is, we cannot afford to lose our children to hatred or wait until anti-Semitic vitriol and incitement spills over into violence and bloodshed on our university campuses and beyond into the open community.
President Trump’s Executive Order against antisemitism, introduced in December 2019, recognized that anti-Zionism is a contemporary form of antisemitism. Although hate speech is protected under the Constitution, the antisemitism infesting our educational system goes far beyond the exercise of the First Amendment.
‘Constitutional rights’ must not be used as a cover for hatred. Antisemitism must not be allowed to hide behind the mask of freedom of speech. I am a defender of free speech, but the First Amendment cannot give reign to anti-Semitic acts that are designed to harm people solely because they are Jews. Much of this hatred against Jews and Israel is financed and orchestrated by anti-Semitic or terrorist groups seeking to turn college campuses into war zones and our next generation of American leaders into foes of Israel. We cannot permit this hatred to continue. Past history reveals where this will end if antisemitism continues unchecked.
I am this week actively urging the elected officials of the Ohio and Tennessee legislatures to join Florida and South Carolina in establishing a law to stop the hate!
PJTN‘s mission is to educate Christians about their biblical responsibility to stand with their Jewish brethren and defend the State of Israel. Laurie Cardoza Moore is the founder and President of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations.
–Originally published by PJTN.
