Once again, the ACLU is siding with antisemites to oppose a common sense antidiscrimination law in Arizona.

BOZEMAN, MONTANA, USA, June 30, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The ACLU’s Antisemitism Problem

At a time when antisemitism, especially among the progressive left in America, is being normalized and taking on openly aggressive contours, it is time for America to take action against those who are promoting what has been called the world’s oldest hatred. While antisemitism in America has always been an issue, the rise of Marxist hate groups like Black Lives Matter, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Antifa have turned what was a fringe problem into a widespread concern.

The American Civil Liberties Union, once a venerable organization that sought to defend the rights of minority groups in America, is now openly aligned with extremist groups that foment domestic terror against Jews. Whether it’s turning a blind eye to Antifa's violence, teaming up with CAIR, an Islamist organization that has been named an unindicted co-conspirator of designated terror organizations, to attack common sense antidiscrimination laws meant to protect Jewish Americans or opposing the implementation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in schools (a measure meant to educate young people on the pernicious ways in which antisemitism breeds), the ACLU has been at the forefront of undermining legal protections for Jews while empowering terror-backed groups who have launched an international campaign that has been deemed to be the "New Antisemitism."

In an attempt to sanitize its pro-hate agenda, the ACLU applies a double standard when it comes to antisemitism. With every other form of hate, the ACLU makes no distinction between acts or words that might have a political element and those that are apolitical and discriminatory. With antisemitism, though, the ACLU dances on the heads of pins of hate to find the most dangerous forms of antisemitism to be protected political speech.

The State of Arizona is currently considering a law, HB2282, which would implement the internationally supported IHRA definition of antisemitism, for purposes of ensuring that schools teach the history of the Holocaust, including information on how antisemitism has been promoted in the past. Part of this education will include discussions of hate groups who attempt to deprive Jews, an indigenous people of the Middle East, of their right to self-determination in their historic homeland of Israel.

The ACLU alleges that this type of information would somehow “chill” speech in schools. In fact, HB2282 would only chill the spread of rhetoric from groups like Black Lives Matter, CAIR, Antifa and other hate groups that has led to the dangerous levels of antisemitism we are now seeing.

While the ACLU sees attacks on the Jewish homeland of Israel as a purely political matter that should not be subject to antidiscrimination measures, just last year, Cecillia Wang, the ACLU’s Deputy Legal Director, contradicted this theory by publishing a statement titled “Let’s stop the scapegoating during a global pandemic”. Ms. Wang argued that reference to China when discussing COVID-19 encouraged hate against Asians. In 2020, Ms. Wang argued “President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and other U.S. officials have deliberately referred to SARS-CoV-2 as “the Chinese virus” or the “Wuhan virus” … such labels lead to dangerous scapegoating and widespread ignorance…. In propagating this smear, these officials have fomented racism and overt acts of harassment and violence against Asian Americans.”

Just last month, the ACLU issued another statement in support of teaching critical race theory in schools, claiming that states that seek to prohibit such programs are censoring discussions of race and racism in schools.

Here’s what the ACLU has to say about Arizona’s attempt to curb antisemitism by teaching students about the history of antisemitism and encouraging discussions of antisemitism in classrooms: “Unfortunately, the definition and examples proposed for this bill incorrectly equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, including many constitutionally protected statements.”

It is impossible to reconcile the ACLU’s claim that references to China when discussing COVID lead to hate against all Asians with their current claim that spreading age-old stereotypes against Jews under the guise of criticizing their homeland is protected political speech. It's also impossible to square the ACLU's arguments that critical race theory, which many allege is a form of racism itself, should be encouraged while discussions of antisemitism should be prohibited.

With the ACLU’s antisemitic allies in Black Lives Matter and Islamist groups like CAIR hunting Jews down on our streets and using schools to indoctrinate children with antisemitism, Arizona’s HB2282 is not only a welcome step to protect Jewish Americans, it should be supported by those who traditionally embraced the ACLU before it became a partisan and antisemitic enabler of hate.

Marc Greendorfer
Zachor Legal Institute
+1 925-328-0128
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