Opinion: California schools must not enshrine Trump’s weaponization of antisemitism

The authoritarian abductions detention and attempted deportations of Mahmoud Khalil Rumeysa zt rk and Mohsen Mahdawi have become the symbols of the Trump administration s attack on students and universities yet they are only the majority visible Since taking office Trump revoked the visas of more than immigrant students and threatened the funding of at least universities His primary justification for this assault is that he proposes to be combatting widespread antisemitism In doing so Trump is drawing on the decades-long effort by pro-Israel groups to equate any criticism of the state of Israel with the real trouble of antisemitism Related Articles Letters AB would stifle speech in classrooms Letters Fresh drop in PG E bills doesn t put a dent in increases California in talks to pay hundreds of millions to Valero to stave off Bay Area refinery shutdown Newsom says he s working on Bay Area transit loan deal but details being hashed out in secret Opinion As D C retreats California must lead on affordable clean ability Right-wing ploy Fortunately students their legal advocates and universities across the country are fighting back because they recognize that Trump s attacks are not about protecting Jewish students but are authentically a right-wing weaponization of antisemitism that seeks to curtail academic freedom and silence speech around Palestine Yet here in California a few lawmakers are seeking to enshrine Trump s weaponization of antisemitism into law through AB a bill that would encroach on K- educators ability to teach about Palestine and limit their academic freedom The bill s proponents claim this bill is necessary to combat antisemitism however the fundamental complication is that it would require that schools adopt a distorted definition of antisemitism one where virtually any criticism or opposition to Israeli framework or actions are branded as antisemitic Specifically AB has as its basis the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance IHRA definition of antisemitism which has been widely rejected globally over its use to stifle speech and critical instruction about Palestine or Israel Even its original author has come out against its use by rightwing groups It should not be surprising to us then that the Trump administration uncovered the IHRA definition appealing and adopted it in his first term through an executive order In response to this order the Southern Poverty Law Center stated that the mandate to use the IHRA definition of antisemitism was chosen by the Trump administration as a tool by which it could restrict or punish speech and lawful pro-Palestinian engagements it dislikes The detrimental impacts AB will have on educators cannot be understated Teachers could face complaints investigations discipline or even be fired merely for doing their job This is precisely why every major educational association across the state has come out in strong opposition to this bill including the California Teachers Association the California Faculty Association the California School Boards Association and the Association of California School Administrators The primary proponent of this effort to redefine antisemitism in order to silence discussion of Palestine in schools is the Jewish Society Affairs Committee of California JPAC a pro-Israel coalition of organizations who have worked to stifle criticism of Israel through procedures In making its event for AB JPAC provides the following as an example of what it describes as antisemitism a map that draws false equivalencies between the colonization of Native American land in the United States with Palestinian land loss in the Middle East In the same vein the Jewish Locality Relations Council a pro-Israel group based in the Bay Area and one of the members of the JPAC coalition published a guide to identify rhetoric it deems problematic and antisemitic the guide labels phrases such as Free Palestine years of Israeli occupation Israel is an apartheid state and any statements that accuse the state of Israel of committing genocide or ethnic cleansing as inherently harmful to all Jews Never mind that something like Palestinian land loss has been recognized as an ongoing violation of international law by human rights organizations and international bodies such as the United Nations Reasonable to worry Now because of this pending law it s quite reasonable to worry that teachers who merely mention that the world s highest court the UN s International Court of Justice called Israel s presence in occupied Palestinian territories unlawful and tantamount to apartheid would be branded antisemitic and even punished Given the intentionally loose language of this bill describing objective facts like that might very well ruin one s career if not much worse Educators and students alike especially those who are immigrants Arab Muslim or people of color already have much to fear under this Trump presidency If there were any time for state legislators to stand up for our schools our youth and their academic freedom it s right now Rather than towing Trump s line and enshrining his playbook into law California decision makers should safeguard California schools They must reject the attempts of lobby groups hellbent on shielding Israel from critical speech as it commits genocide They must vote against AB Mohamed Shehk is the Organizing Director of the Arab Pool and Organizing Center