CAIR
Joins Anti-Semitic Palestinian Advocacy Groups to Protest NJ BDS Bill
by John Rossomando
IPT News
July 17, 2019
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A pending New Jersey bill banning anti-Israel rhetoric and Boycott, Divestment,
Sanctions (BDS) activities on college campuses and in public schools in the
state unfairly links such activities with anti-Semitism, officials with the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) say.
CAIR's partners protesting the legislation include American Muslims for
Palestine of New Jersey (AMP), Jewish Voice for Peace of Northern NJ; and
the Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, among others.
"The falsely-titled Prohibits anti-Semitism in public schools and
institutions of higher education [legislation] would only create confusion
between what are real and punishable anti-Semitic hate crimes and the
protected free speech rights of American students and faculty
members," CAIR-NJ Executive Director Jim Sues said last week in a statement.
But evidence from college campuses across the country shows
that anti-Zionist activities against Israel lead to anti-Semitic actions
against pro-Israel Jews. According to the bill's text, anti-Semitism includes:
· Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or
stereotypical allegations about Jewish people or the power of Jewish people
as a collective;
· Accusing Jewish people as a whole or the State of Israel of
inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust;
· Accusing Jewish people of being more loyal to Israel, or to
the alleged priorities of Jewish people worldwide, than to the interest of
their own nations;
It would bar demonizing Israel by using the symbols and images
associated with classic anti-Semitism to characterize Israel or Israeli
people, drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the
Nazis, or blaming Israel for all inter-religious or political tensions.
Much of the language is taken verbatim from the International Holocaust
Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)'s definition of anti-Semitism. It has been adopted by nearly 20 countries, including the United
Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and, most recently, Canada.
Like the IHRA, The New Jersey bill explicitly states, "Criticism of
Israel that is similar to criticism toward any other country may not be
regarded as anti-Semitic."
So if CAIR's actual objection is to Israeli policies, then why protest
this legislation? CAIR and many of its partner groups have long histories
of anti-Semitism, particularly American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and
Al-Awda.
CAIR New Jersey Communications Director Abdul-Alim Mubarak Rowe's own
rhetoric would be considered anti-Semitic based on the bill's definition.
Jewish guerillas who fought for Israel's creation with the Haganah were
akin to ISIS members, Rowe charged
last year in Facebook post. He claimed that ISIS members were imitating
"the kuffar" infidels.
Rowe quoted Chris Hedges on his Facebook page saying,
"'ISIS- The new Israel and its tactics. Are much like those of Jewish
guerrillas who used violence, terrorism, foreign fighters, clandestine arms
shipments and foreign money, along with horrific ethnic cleansing of
hundreds of Arab civilian, to create Israel."
Last week, AMP Associate Director of Outreach & Grassroots
Organizing Taher Herzallah liked a Facebook post by CAIR SFBA Executive
Director Zahra Billoo's brother, Ahmed, quoting
a Muslim hadith about killing Jews. It said, "O Allah! Count their
number; slay them one by one and spare not one of them."
Herzallah wrote on
Facebook last November that he supports the destruction of Israel,
rationalizing the "from the river to the sea" slogan many
Palestinian advocates invoke. A Palestinian state from the Jordan River to
the Mediterranean Sea leaves no room for Israel. The slogan "isnt
(sic) a radical proposition," Herzallah wrote. "It's a statement
that calls for the freedom of Palestinians that live in all of historic
Palestine. Documentation submitted in a recent lawsuit suggests that AMP likely
is the continuation of the U.S.-based Hamas propaganda wing, the Islamic
Association for Palestine (IAP).
Al-Awda New York similarly has a history of supporting Palestinian
terrorist groups. Its statement of principles places quotation
marks around the word Israel, referring
to it instead as "1948-occupied Palestine." Al-Awda leader Lamis
Deek argues that "Israel does not have a right to
exist" and that the "Zionist structures" on the land of
Palestine are illegal.
CAIR officials, including San Francisco chapter director Zahra Billoo, have made similar statements equating
Israel's military with ISIS and saying
they don't think Israel has a right to exist.
This isn't the first time CAIR has lobbied against anti-BDS legislation.
CAIR Florida lobbied against similar legislation in Florida last
year. CAIR leaders also lobbied against anti-BDS legislation on the national
level.
Many statements and activities from people who oppose the New Jersey
bill fit its definition of anti-Semitism. But nothing in the bill would
stop people in public schools and college campuses from criticizing Israeli
politicians or government policies no matter how much they protest.
The idea, it would seem, is to protect the ability to hold Israel to a
different standard than any other country, or in the bill's language,
otherwise demonize and spread "stereotypical allegations about Jewish
people or the power of Jewish people as a collective."
Related Topics: The
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) | John
Rossomando, legislation,
anti-Semitism,
BDS,
American
Muslims for Palestine, Al-Awda,
Jim
Sues, International
Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Abdul-Alim
Mubarak Rowe, Taher
Herzallah, Lamis
Deek, Zahra
Billoo
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