In 1971, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, famed rabbi and professor of ethics and mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary, delivered an address after receiving an award for his “Distinguished Service to Jewry.” Upon accepting the award, Rabbi Heschel said: “Judaism in its very essence came into being as an act of dissent…Creative dissent comes out of faith offering alternatives, of vision.”
Since the start of the new Trump administration, many Jewish organizations have spoken out publicly to dissent against policies targeting immigrants, LBGTQ+ folks, and marginalized communities. But on January 29th, the Trump administration upped the ante: in an effort to supposedly combat antisemitism, they released an Executive Order that would work to identify and deport foreign students for their involvement in Pro-Palestine demonstrations.
The new Executive Order titled Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism would call on the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Education, and the Secretary of Homeland Security to work with one another to monitor and report on non-citizen students and staff on college campuses involved in demonstrations and when applicable, to deport them from the country.
In response to this Executive Order, many Jewish communal organizations responded with their own acts of dissent. For example, T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, released a statement explaining that “this executive order seems intended to encourage division and a climate of fear, while scapegoating immigrants for the rise in antisemitism on campus.” They explain that “the answer to rising antisemitism is not to silence free speech, target activists, or attack foreign students. What students need is dialogue, education, and the protection of their rights.”
T’ruah was far from alone in their response. The Jewish Council on Public Affairs released a statement decrying the way this Executive Order threatens to hurt our democracy. They explain: “If the administration is genuinely interested in countering antisemitism, there are many policies it can advance with broad-based support within the Jewish community and among experts. Instead, this administration has thus far taken a number of steps that further embolden antisemitic extremists.” The National Council of Jewish Women echoed their statement: “Antisemitism exists in many forms and permeates society. Policies designed to protect Jewish communities should address antisemitism in all of its manifestations and from all corners of society. Antisemitism should never be weaponized.”
Bend the Arc calls efforts that claim to take on antisemitism but actually target other groups “Smokescreen Antisemitism.” Instead of actually addressing hate against Jews, they argue that this right-wing tactic instrumentalizes antisemitism to claim to protect Jews while in reality targeting Muslims and other religious and racial minorities. Their statement explains: “All antisemitism is harmful — no matter where it comes from — but this reported executive order doesn’t actually fight antisemitism. Functionally, this is an executive order to deport activists and attack all of our Constitutional rights to free speech. It’s an excuse to target, silence, and persecute even more immigrants — particularly Arab, Muslim and Palestinian immigrants — all disguised as a policy to promote Jewish safety.”
Interfaith Alliance took part in the Mobilizing Against Anti-Semitism initiatives that came out of the former administration, and we agree with our partners that to take on antisemitism, we must do so together. That’s why in January we launched our new white paper, “Together against Hate,” to put forward a bold vision for how interfaith communities can join together to fight collectively against distinct but overlapping forms of hatred and discrimination. As our partners have made clear, this Executive Order will not help Jews and instead serves as a pretext for targeting other marginalized communities. Interfaith Alliance is deeply concerned with this Executive Order’s implications for free speech and calls on the administration to simultaneously denounce antisemitism, protect immigrant communities, and to end its attacks on our pluralistic democracy.
Zev Mishell is the National Programs Associate at Interfaith Alliance.
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