The Push to Quash Criticism of Israel Is a Push to Quash Free Speech

Members and supporters of Fordham Students for Justice in Palestine protest the school’s refusal to register SJP as a student organization in New York on January 23, 2017. (Joe Catron / CC)

Last week, President Trump signed an Executive Order intended to suppress academic freedom on campuses across the United States. The order threatens to withhold federal funds from universities that fail to combat what it considers to be anti-Semitism, a term it reframes, using a highly tendentious redefinition, to include criticism of Israel.

According to this redefined notion of anti-Semitism (which has been promoted by Israel’s army of advocates in this country for the best part of a decade), pointing out the racism of the Israeli state—a state that legally enshrines racial discrimination—would itself be considered a form of racism. Calling for equal rights throughout that state, which institutionally privileges Jews over non-Jews, could similarly be considered hate speech. Students and teachers criticizing Israel’s policies, let alone those daring to advocate Palestinian rights, would be silenced.