It’s now generally understood that McCarthyism was a dark and shameful aspect of our history. Oppenheimer made $953 million at the U.S. box office this summer and the bulk of Christopher Nolan’s film isn’t about the bomb, but the Red Scare attacks that destroyed the physicist’s reputation.
Political repression might get pilloried in films these days, but you can still hear the faint echo of the Wisconsin Senator’s accusations in any number of policies being pushed throughout the country. One of the most glaring examples is the GOP’s ongoing war on libraries.
However, that crusade is mainly waged by just one party. The war on Palestine activism that has emerged since October 7th is a bipartisan affair. Just look at what’s happened in recent days.
Josh Gottheimer wants to shut down a panel on Palestine at Rutgers. Marco Rubio wants Biden staffers who signed a letter calling for a ceasefire investigated for “supporting pro-Hamas policies.” The presidents of Harvard, MIT, and Penn were grilled on Capitol Hill by the House Education committee for not sufficiently cracking down on pro-Palestine students.
GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx said that the administrators were being given a chance to answer and “atone” for what went on at their schools. Harvard president Claudine Gay (who is the school’s first black woman leader) received the most scorn.
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik called for Gay’s resignation and claimed that the school ranks last in protecting Jewish students.
“You are president of Harvard, so I assume you’re familiar with the term ‘Intifada,’ correct?” Stefanik asked Gay. “Then you understand that the use of the term ‘intifada,’ in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict, is indeed a call for violent armed resistance against the State of Israel, including violence against civilians and the genocide of Jews?”
Of course, that isn’t actually true, but it’s not like Stefanik cares. The idea that the congresswoman is deeply motivated by antisemitism is hard to take seriously. If that were true she would have condemned the former president for hosting a Holocaust denier. What she cares about is Israel and therefore she has a vested in pushing the lie that criticism of Israel is somehow anti-Jewish.
To that end, the House passed H.R. 894 this week, a resolution that falsely states anti-Zionism is antisemitism and attacks common protest chants like, “Palestine Will Be Free.” 95 Democrats voted in favor of the bill. The final tally was 311-14, with 92 present votes from Democrats.
The only Republican to vote against the resolution was Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie. Here’s the 13 Democrats who rejected it: Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Gerald Connolly, Jesús Garcia, Raúl Grijalva, Pramila Jayapal, Summer Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Delia Ramirez, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
You’ll notice that even some House members who criticize Israeli policy, like Betty McCollum and Mark Pocan, didn’t vote against the measure.
“Taken together, it’s obvious from these clauses that the intention behind this bill is more than a show of support for Jews,” writes Mitchell Plitnick on our site. “The absence of any concomitant mention of anti-Arab and Islamophobic attacks—despite the fact that we have seen a Palestinian American child stabbed to death in Illinois, three young Palestinian American men shot in Vermont, and a Palestinian student run over with a car in California, among a huge rise in anti-Arab hate crimes along with antisemitic ones—makes it clear that this is not about protecting religious minorities.”
“Rather, it’s intended to lay the foundation for future legislation and actions that are based on the equivalence between anti-Zionism and antisemitism,” he continues. “And with the passage of this bill, a bipartisan group of extreme pro-Israel lawmakers moved to seize the moment.”
Perhaps people will begin to recognize the threat when the House Un-American Activities Committee is rebooted for the modern age and guess what? There are lawmakers committed to making that happen!
Take a look at H.R. 6578, or the Commission to Study Acts of Antisemitism in the United States Act. This is another bipartisan affair, introduced by Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Maria Elvira Salazar, Josh Gottheimer, Max Miller, and Jared Moskowitz. It already has a number of cosponsors: Reps. Lance Gooden, Anthony D’Esposito, Guy Reschenthaler, Troy Balderson, Juan Ciscomani, Joe Wilson, Randy Feenstra, Mark Amodei, Jeff Van Drew, Tracey Mann, Brian Fitzpatrick, John Rose, Vern Buchanan, Thomas Kean, Michael Guest, Rudy Yakym, and Brad Schneider.
“With the rise in antisemitic violence and brazen attacks on our Jewish communities in the United States, it is important, now more than ever, that we find the cause of these alarming acts of antisemitism and work to protect our communities and religious institutions,” said Miller-Meeks in a statement. “I am proud to introduce this legislation that would establish a commission to study the circumstances surrounding the uptick in heinous acts of antisemitism and work to find solutions to keep our communities safe.”
That presumably all sounds perfectly reasonable to someone who follows current events casually but, again, it’s hard to believe this is actually about antisemitism. Foundation for Middle East Peace’s Lara Friedman sums the issue up succinctly on Twitter:
And for folks who say, “antisemitism is surging – this is necessary” – I’d note..
(1) the intent behind this bill is EXCLUSIVELY to target criticism of Israel & Zionism. This is clear from the whereas clauses (100% about Oct 7 & its aftermath) and from the press release.he intent behind this bill is EXCLUSIVELY to target criticism of Israel and Zionism. This is clear from the whereas clauses (100% about Oct 7 & its aftermath) and from the press release.
(2) The agenda behind this bill is clear from the fact that nothing like this was introduced during the Trump era or since to deal with surging antisemitism in the form of open activities by white supremacists & literal NAZIS in the US.
(3) The Biden Admin has produced a massive initiative to fight antisemitism. The Admin doesn’t need advice from a Congressional commission designed to showcase (more) grandstanding, anti-Palestinian & anti-free speech campaigners & to subject US citizens to witch hunts.
It’s no surprise that the ADL is backing this bill. On Twitter, they shared news of the legislation and claimed that antisemitism is up 300%. Of course, the organization consistently and purposely conflates antisemitism with anti-Zionism. That’s the whole idea.
Are you now, or have you ever been, a critic of Israel?
Charges Against Seven Chicago Protestors Arrested in Jan Schakowsky’s Office Have Been Dropped
In October, seven protesters were cited for trespassing after occupying the office of Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) over her support for Israel’s assault on Gaza. Their charges were just dropped. Mondoweiss special correspondent Khadija Quadri Al Jilani has written a story on the development that we are running in today’s newsletter. Khadija Quadri Al Jilani is a writer, photographer, and graduate student in sociology.
Seven pro-Palestinain protestors had been arrested at Jan Schakowsky’s office on Thursday, October 19, and in a court date set for December 5, all charges were officially dropped.
Demonstrators had staged a sit-in in Jan Schakowsky’s office and demanded she sign the HR 786 to end Israeli crimes in Gaza. The congresswoman, who is also Jewish, has refrained from signing Cori Bush’s resolution and avoided interactions with her constituents.
Since Oct. 19, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) has been consistently calling for action, demanding that Jan Schakowsky sign the resolution and drop the charges against the seven arrested at her office.
Since the incident, Schakoskwy claimed she called Cook County State Attorney, Kim Foxx, and has asked for charges to be dropped, but USPCN remained hesitant of this claim.
The seven protestors, among several community members, gathered for the hearing at Skokie Courthouse on Tuesday, December 5, at 9:30 a.m. The hearing began with demonstrators stating their names to the court and ended promptly two minutes later, with the judge concluding that all charges had been dropped. Those seated started to cheer and clap as an officer stated, “This is court, no clapping.”
Husam of USPCN told Mondoweiss the case sends a message for Jan Schakowsky, “This is only the beginning. She’s gonna hate us, and we’re going to keep making the demands we are. We’re going to keep disrupting everywhere she goes, as long as we know about it. We’ll be there. We’re going to continue calling her and going to her office.”
Jan Schakowsky defines herself as a progressive official and is part of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. One paralegal and community member, Heather, shared with Mondoweiss that Rep. Schakowsky has received a total of $701,397 from a pro-Israeli lobbying group, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as detailed on a non-partisan, non-profit org. Tracking money is U.S. politics, Open Secrets.
Another of the demonstrators, Oliver S. stated, “I was arrested alongside six other people during the sit-in. It is ridiculous that we have to ask our representative that claims to be progressive to sign on to the Cori Bush bill, to call for a ceasefire. To call for the end of this genocide now.”
“You can’t be a progressive anymore if you have people arrested in your office for existing,” Oliver told Mondoweiss.