Trump
Creates a New Nation
By Philip
Giraldi
Executive
order implies that "Jewishness" is now a nationality
https://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/trump-creates-a-new-nation/
PHILIP GIRALDI • DECEMBER 17, 2019
The pandering by
Donald Trump and those around him to Israel and to some conservative American
Jews is apparently endless. Last Wednesday the president signed
an executive order that
is intended to address alleged anti-Semitism on college campuses by cutting off
funds to those universities that do not prevent criticism of Israel. To provide
a legal basis to defund, the administration is relying on title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits any discrimination based on race, color or
national origin. Since the Act does not include religion, Trump’s order is
declaring ipso facto that henceforth “Jewishness” is a nationality.
The executive order does not mention Israel by name, but it does state that its
assumptions are based on “the non-legally binding working
definition of anti-Semitism adopted on May 26, 2016, by the
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which states, ‘Antisemitism
is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.
Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward
Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community
institutions and religious facilities’; and (ii) the ‘Contemporary Examples of
Anti-Semitism’ identified by the IHRA, to the extent that any examples might be
useful as evidence of discriminatory intent.”
The IHRA
“contemporary examples” supplementing the basic description are important. They
considerably broaden the definition of anti-Semitism, to include “Accusing
Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of
Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations” and “claiming that
the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” The examples also
included holding Israel to a higher standard than other nations when criticizing
it, and IHRA offers no possible mitigation even if the accusations are, in the
case of the behavior of some Jews and of Israel, accurate.
Those who are
confused because in the past expressions like “Italian” or “Irish” or “British”
meant actual countries should recognize that Trump-speak never respects any
connection with reality when there is political advantage just sitting out there
waiting to be snatched and exploited. And that imperative is considerably
multiplied when one is referring to either the state of Israel or of Jews in
general, particularly as seen by the Trump White House, which clearly and
repeatedly sends the message that it reveres both. Trump’s order will in effect
constitute a government-promoted argument that Jews are a people or a race with
a collective national origin, like Italian or Polish Americans, an assertion
that clearly is untrue.
In fact, suppressing
criticism of Israel on college campuses using a “weaponized”
claim of anti-Semitism has long been a major foreign policy
objective of the Israeli government even though nonviolent assembly and free
speech are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Congress has several times
considered a comprehensive Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, though it has not passed
due to legitimate free speech concerns. The nonviolent Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions movement (B.D.S.), which is very active on American campuses, has been
particularly targeted and criticism of it is frequent in the media and from
Congress while also emanating from the White House. As most accredited colleges
receive federal funding, which can be considerable at a major research
university, the executive order will create a major dilemma over how to respond,
particularly for those schools that have Middle East study programs.
Work on the
presidential executive order was initiated in the summer inside the White House
by a team led by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, together
with his close aide special assistant to the president Avi Berkowitz. They
sought to develop a formula whereby government policy would equate anti-Zionism
with anti-Semitism, and Donald Trump both agreed with that assessment and
followed through on it. On December 8th he promised to take action
against B.D.S. and other critics in
a speech delivered before the Israeli-American Council. The
speech is worth reading in full by anyone who is concerned that the United
States now has a government that favors one already privileged, wealthy and
powerful constituency in particular and is not committed to upholding the civil
liberties of all Americans.
Israel is an
apartheid state. Covering up for its crimes against humanity as well as its war
crimes is something of a growth industry in the United States, with Zionist
billionaire oligarchs launching new foundations on a regular basis. Jewish power
in the U.S. means that Israel always has been given a pass, even when it
deliberately attacked and sought to sink the U.S.S. Liberty, an American Naval
vessel in international waters in 1967. Thirty-four crewman died in the assault.
The subsequent investigation of the attack was whitewashed by the president,
secretary of state and the Navy department while the survivors were threatened
with imprisonment if they revealed what had occurred. That is how a powerful and
ruthless Israel acting through its traitorous domestic proxies operates and it
illustrates how feeble the Establishment is in standing up to it.
This latest outrage,
in which free speech and association will be denied to benefit one group on the
basis of its claimed perpetual victimhood, had its genesis earlier this year
when the federal government’s Education Department ordered Duke University and
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to reorganize the Consortium for
Middle East Studies program run jointly by the two colleges in part based on
their failure to include enough “positive” content relating to Judaism. The
demand came with a threat to suspend federal funding of Title VI Higher
Education Act international studies and foreign language grants to the two
schools if the curriculum were not changed.
The Education
Department was particularly irate over a conference in March called “Conflict
Over Gaza: People, Politics and Possibilities.” A Republican congressman was
outraged by the development and asked
Secretary DeVos to investigate because the gathering was full of
“radical anti-Israel bias.”
Coverage of the story revealed
that “Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, has become increasingly aggressive
in going after perceived anti-Israel bias in higher education.” Her deputy who
has served as a focal point for the effort to root out anti-Israel sentiment is Assistant
Secretary of Civil Rights Kenneth L. Marcus, who might reasonably
be described as “a career pro-Israel advocate,” the founder and president of the
Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which he has used to
exclusively defend the rights of Jewish groups and individuals against BDS and
other manifestations of Palestinian pushback against the Israeli occupation of
their country. He has not hesitated to call opponents anti-Semites and has
worked with Jewish students to file civil rights complaints against college
administrations, including schools in Wisconsin and California. In an op-ed that
appeared, not surprisingly, in The Jerusalem Post, he observed that even
when student complaints were rejected, they created major problems for the
institutions involved. “If a university shows a failure to treat initial
complaints seriously, it hurts them with donors, faculty, political leaders and
prospective students.”
Last year Kenneth
Marcus reopened an investigation
into alleged anti-Jewish bias at Rutgers University that the
Obama Administration had closed after finding that the charges were baseless.
Marcus indicated that the re-examination was called for as his office in the
Education Department would henceforth be using the IHRA-derived State
Department definition of anti-Semitism that also includes
“denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination,” making virtually
all criticism of Israel a civil rights violation or even a hate crime.
Critics of the Trump
move, many
of whom are themselves Jewish, are uncomfortable with being
placed by government into one category, noting inter aliathat ALL
students are de facto already protected by Title VI, which has been
interpreted as making all forms of discrimination illegal. And they also note
that the law was never intended to protect individuals whose feelings were hurt
or who claim to be unwelcome or even threatened by someone saying something that
they disapprove of. Since such protection is clearly the intention of the
executive order, it is undeniable that the Trump’s latest ploy is little more
than a mechanism to pressure colleges into effectively banning B.D.S. and other
groups critical of Israel.
And the order itself
raises at least one unpleasant thought: if “Jewishness” is a nation even though
it is demonstrably not one, what is the alleged Jewish nationality all about? Is
this just one more example of the politics of Jewish identity or is it really
some form of dual loyalty, with American Jews divided between those who are
loyal to the U.S. and those who are loyal to some supra-nationality or
allegiance? The fact is, that Donald Trump himself has several times expressed
the view that American Jews, particularly those who are politically liberal,
should be more loyal to Israel.
Trump’s maneuver is
unfortunately part of a well-funded and highly coordinated federal and state
campaign to pass laws to
criminalize critics of Israel. And the issue has also surfaced
within the Democratic Party among those campaigning for the presidential
nomination. Speaker Nancy Pelosi forced
Representative Ilhan Omar to apologize after she criticized
proposed anti-boycott legislation. More recently Bernie Sanders is
being smeared as an anti-Semite even though he is Jewish because
he associates with critics of Israel and has spoken out in favor of defending
free speech while also supporting Palestinian rights.
There is a certain
irony in all of this political theater, that the wealthiest and most powerful
identifiable group in the United States should yet again be playing the victim
is in itself astonishing. And making it a crime to deny Israel legitimacy while
at the same time denying the same thing to Palestinians should give anyone
pause.
And there is also
considerable hypocrisy in that pro-Israel groups on campus have been if anything
better funded and more aggressive in promoting their point of view than B.D.S.
has been without any consequences. Canary
Mission, for example, claims to “document people and groups that
promote hatred of the U.S.A., Israel and Jews on North American college
campuses” by posting their names, photos and personal information on its
website. Israeli-American real estate investor and billionaire Adam Milstein is
reported to be its
principal funder while the site’s listings have been allegedly
used by the Israeli border security officials to deny entry to pro-B.D.S.
American citizens and also with potential employers to deny applicants jobs.
The Lawfare
Project’s Campus Civil Rights Project meanwhile helps
aggrieved Zionist students to “take legal action to ensure that
schools live up to their legal obligations to protect Jewish students from
anti-Semitic harassment, intimidation, and discrimination.”
So here we are
again. Special privileges for the perpetual victims. And no one in the media is
willing to tell it like it is, while the handful of meek voices in congress have
been effectively silenced. So sad, particularly as an election year is coming up
and there will undoubtedly be much more of this. When the Israelis occupy nearly
all of the West Bank with Donald Trump’s approval and start “relocating” the
existing population, who will be around to speak up? No one, as by that time
saying nay to Israel will be a full-fledged hate crime and you can go to jail
for doing so.
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.