Search Results for ihra

• FMEP Legislative Round-Up: May 10, 2024

  1. Bills, Resolutions 2. Congress Continues to Stoke Hysteria Over Student Protests for Palestinian Rights 3. Letters 4. Hearings & Markups 5. Selected Media &…

• Top News & Analysis on Israel/Palestine: April 26-May 3, 2024

  New from FMEP Gaza Region//Global River to the Sea U.S. Scene Activism//Universities Perspectives//Long Reads  NEW FROM FMEP The Attack on Academic Freedom (Occupied Thoughts Podcast)…

• FMEP Legislative Round-Up: May 3, 2024

  1. Bills, Resolutions 2. Congress Continues to Stoke Hysteria Over Student Protests for Palestinian Rights 3. Letters 4. Hearings & Markups 5. Selected Media &…

• The Bipartisan War on Pro-Palestinian Activism (The Nation)

  “‘This looks like almost dictatorial power given to a single political appointee, who will serve as prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner,’ says Lara Friedman, the president of the DC-based Foundation for Middle East Peace, whose late April X thread on HR 6408 drew the first wave of significant public attention to its fiercely anti-free speech M.O. ‘This is about how you accuse and hold accountable American citizens in violation of US material support laws, and there’s a well established way to do that that involves due process. This is a new track to do that without any due process protections.’” and

  “‘This is about being able to rescind SJP’s tax exemption,’ Friedman says. ‘I don’t think a lot of people in Congress want to get up and say ‘I’m going to defend this group that allegedly has ties to Hamas.’ And since no one will make a courageously factual case that this is bullshit, that’s how all this got traction.’ It’s a familiar dynamic for groups like Foundation for Middle East Peace, which advocates for just outcomes in the Israel-Palestine conflict. ‘This is very much along the lines of the anti-BDS legislation that passed in state legislatures,’ she adds. ‘Back then, everyone sort of overlooked that, thinking it was a narrow Israel-Palestine issue that didn’t really concern anyone else. And now that legislation is the template for anti-DEI bills and other legislation that punishes speech.'” and

  “Given the fraught state of discourse surrounding the present wave of anti-Gaza protests, it’s not hard to envision a ratified COLUMBIA Act being used by hardcore supporters of the Gaza war—and skittish campus administrators—to dismantle Arabic and Middle Eastern studies programs outright. ‘What they’ve got there is the complementary legislation to Trump’s executive order, which makes the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition the official definition of antisemitism’—a version of the term that Palestinian activists have protested on the grounds that it equates Judaism and Zionism, says Friedman. ‘Then you create this monitor, and the IHRA definition becomes the official definition of antisemitism on campus.’ It’s always tempting, given Congress’s steady transformation into a glorified theater of culture warfare, to shrug off such measures as mere donor-pandering on autopilot. But the repercussions of such posturing in the real world are all too chilling. ‘They’re saying that the IRS should be using a political litmus test to determine a group’s nonprofit status,’ Friedman says. ‘That should alarm anyone.'”

• Top News & Analysis on Israel/Palestine: April 19-26, 2024

  New from FMEP Gaza Region//Global River to the Sea U.S. Scene Media//Activism Perspectives//Long Reads NEW FROM FMEP What does it mean for the U.S. to…

• FMEP Legislative Round-Up: April 26, 2024

  1. Bills, Resolutions 2. Congress Continues to Stoke Hysteria Over Student Protests for Palestinian Rights 3. Letters 4. Hearings & Markups 5. Selected Media &…

• Top News & Analysis on Israel/Palestine: April 12-19, 2024

  New from FMEP Gaza Region//Global River to the Sea U.S. Scene Media//Lawfare//Quashing Criticism of Israel Perspectives//Long Reads  NEW FROM FMEP Dead, Disabled, Displaced, Detained, Orphaned:…

• FMEP Legislative Round-Up: April 19, 2024

  1. Bills, Resolutions 2. Emergency $$/Weapons for Israel Back on the Agenda (& more!) 3. Letters 4. Hearings & Markups 5. Selected Media & Press…

• A bill to create a national antisemitism coordinator is drawing rare bipartisan support in Congress (The Forward)

  “The Manning-Rosen bill may still face controversy: A substantial portion is devoted to combating antisemitism on American campuses, and activists on the left worry that the fight against campus antisemitism is sometimes used as a way to shut down criticism of Israel. Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, noted on X, formerly Twitter, that the bill’s section on higher education cites a 2019 executive order on antisemitism by President Donald Trump. ‘That EO, as a reminder, centers on enforcing the IHRA definition, including its examples as part of Title VI, as a means of repressing/punishing/chilling criticism and activism targeting Israel and/or Zionism on U.S. campuses,’ she said.”

• Top News & Analysis on Israel/Palestine: April 5-12, 2024

  New from FMEP Gaza Region//Global River to the Sea U.S. Scene Lawfare//Redefining Antisemitism to Quash Criticism of Israel Perspectives//Long Reads NEW FROM FMEP RESIGNED: The…