In the United States, there is little appreciation of the grave damage inflicted on our country by President Joe Biden’s foreign policy conducted through the mechanism of starting or maintaining a new war every year. The justifications provided by the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon are so empty that they have succeeded in creating a new low standard for the art of government lying. The country is saddled with unsustainable debt and yet we have so-called Treasury Secretary Janice Yellen. stating in October that another war beyond Ukraine, presumably to intervene directly in support of Israel in the destruction of Gaza, can “certainly” be permitted. And with the current U.S. military buildup near China and in the Middle East to confront Iran, there’s probably enough gas in the tank to reignite one or two more conflicts before Genocide Joe shows up up for re-election later this year.
But despite the very real damage to our economy, some of the most serious threats come from within, attacks by special interest groups on our fundamental freedoms. The most significant attacks recently have been on the First Amendment, freedom of speech, which is the foundation of all rights and which is currently under continual attack by the most protected group of all, the Jewish and Israel lobby. America.
Hardly a minute goes by in the day without a new article in the mainstream media about the “rise of anti-Semitism.” The journalists involved, most of whom are Jewish, almost never notice that Israel’s massacre of 30,000 Gazans, mostly women and children, may well have had anything to do with how the public begins to view the behavior of the Jewish State and its leaders. What is actually fueling the public outrage that groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) choose to dismiss as anti-Semitism is that Israel is massacring ten thousand children under a flag emblazoned with the Star of Israel. David and declares his intention to continue the massacre until all Palestinians have fled to Israel. other countries or been killed. We’re talking more than two million people, but Israel’s friends in the United States consider them little more than “subhumans” or “terrorists.”
The Jewish/Israeli lobby in America neither forgives nor forgets. Witness the continued attacks on American universities for failing to root out and purge all suspected anti-Semites among faculty and students. Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned almost immediately after being questioned by the US Congress and the multiple attacks began. Poor Claudine Gay, president of Harvard, held on but ultimately resigned after was subjected to almost continuous harassment by friends of Israel, including in the US Congress, because she, like her presidential colleagues, had not accepted that almost all criticism of Israel in the context of Gaza is based on hatred of Jews, which which she was apparently supposed to affirm. Unsurprisingly, in her resignation she wasn’t even honest about who had knocked her down, attributing it mainly to racism. The letter didn’t even contain the words “Congress” or “Gaza” or “anti-Semitism” or even “Israel.” Certainly, Gay is not a top academic and it was probably an affirmative action hire, but has anyone ever heard of a congressional committee going after an academic for the sin of plagiarism before? The implication of false allegations of anti-Semitism and the desire to protect Israel is what made the difference in this case and led to the intensity and persistence of the attacks.
Indeed, the revolting director of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt is demanding that there are more “consequences” for “anti-Semites on campus” and the media is very interested in this story. Sally Kornbluth, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who did not resign after the three presidents’ ridiculous meeting with Congress, is still under investigation. keenly pursued by this body. Also engaged in this hunt are the numerous U.S. government entities whose sole task is to eradicate anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers. The Justice Department, led of course by Jewish Attorney General Merrick Garland (née Garfinkel), is would have investigated a number of prominent universities, including Tulane and Rutgers, for their failure to “protect the civil rights of Jewish students.” This is a typical pattern in which Jewish officials investigate alleged crimes against other Jews and come to a predictable conclusion.
Universities are scrambling to comply with government demands to get tougher on suspected anti-Semites. At Columbia University, for example, some slogans and chants used by Palestinian students have been banned and blocked, but there is no corresponding interference in the activities of Jewish students. Professor Rashid Khalidi wrote a response to the university administration saying, “Our deans say the Colombian community should recognize ‘that hearing chants such as ‘by any means necessary,’ ‘from the river to the sea,’ or calls for “Intifada” – regardless of intentions and provenance – is experienced by many Jewish, Israeli and other members of our community as anti-Semitic and deeply hurtful. They thus unilaterally decided that no one should rise up (this is the true meaning of the term “Intifada”) against 56 years of illegal military occupation; that Palestine is not free from the river to the sea; and that the oppressed should obtain permission from the oppressor as to the means of relieving their oppression. They made this decision because hearing otherwise is “anti-Semitic and deeply hurtful” to some. This statement amounts to a new norm that prohibits the use or knowledge of these terms and their histories, in favor of a politics of privileged sentiment. While this may be appropriate for a preschool, it is hard to imagine an approach more contrary to the most fundamental idea of a university. This statement is characteristic of a university that chooses a task force almost devoid of expertise on anti-Semitism and Palestine/Israel (much of which exists among faculty), but filled with staunch defenders of Israel, a university that has decided that professors’ expertise on freedom of expression or proscribed language should be rigorously excluded from deliberations on these issues. In complete disregard of the principle of faculty governance, crucial issues like these are decided by administrators, likely with significant input from trustees, donors, and politicians, who have negligible expertise but strong, one-sided opinions.
Khalidi may also have observed how pro-Israel groups at universities compile and blacklist the names of students critical of the situation in Gaza so that they can deny them employment after graduation. And beyond the damage to free speech and critical thinking in universities, there are already many other possible consequences for those who choose to speak out against ongoing atrocities, but they only seem to apply to Palestinian and anti-war groups protesting Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gazans. Ambitious aspiring politician Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, was one of the first to respond: ban Palestinian groups at all state universities because of their alleged “anti-Semitism.” He did not ban or even criticize a single Jewish group for encouraging the massacre of Palestinians. And this has been the case elsewhere with banning or denying facilities to Palestinian and anti-war groups, but leaving Hillel and other Jewish groups alone no matter what they do. Is this freedom of expression? Of course not, but it helps determine who has power in the United States and who doesn’t. Speak ill of whoever you want but leave Israel alone or you will be in real trouble!
And Israel’s protection also extends to punishing supporters of completely nonviolent actions, such as boycotting or divestment from Israeli products to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime. If you belong to a group that opposes Israeli policies, you may be denied goods and services for that fact alone. In more than thirty states, one may be forced, for example, to sign an agreement not to support any action against Israel whether one wants a job or government services. This special arrangement is unique to Israel and there are also special trade missions often led by American Jews or Israelis, including in my state of Virginiawhich create special investment opportunities for Israel that do not exist for any other country.
But perhaps the most insidious attempt to complete America’s fall to Israeli control is what is happening in lower- to middle-level public education. Many school districts and even state education boards require lessons on the horrors of anti-Semitism and the so-called holocaust. These courses are, of course, most ardently supported by Jews and by some evangelicals who await the Second Coming, a prophecy which in their minds implies the return of the Jews to the Holy Land as a prerequisite. Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada, who is of course Jewish, just presented a bill called the “Never Again Education Act,” which has a nationwide impact. The “Never Again Education Act” was the first introduced in July 2019 before passing in the House in January 2020 with 300 cosponsors and in the Senate in May 2020. As it expires in 2025, Senator Rosen is seeking reapproval of the law to extend it through 2030 to “provide funding for training and education “. on the ethnic cleansing of Jews.
The problem with the law is that it relies on an artificial narrative that is essentially political in nature, including many unhistorical and even fabricated assertions about what happened in the 1930s and 1940s. The law aims to confer Jews have a special victim status which, in turn, gives them and Israel an exemption from the normal rules regarding their behavior. This is of course part of the narrative that gives Netanyahu and his thugs a more or less free pass from the United States for their crimes against humanity against the Palestinians.
The America we knew is therefore under siege. Freedom of speech is being eroded and will soon be subject to criminal sanctions if anyone says the wrong things about Israel. This is intolerable and we pray that the American people will have their own “Intifada”, that they will become aware of this new infamy and put an end to it.
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is executive director of the Council for the National Interest, a tax-deductible 501(c)3 educational foundation (Federal ID No. 52-1739023) that seeks U.S. foreign policy more interest-based. in the Middle-East. The website is Councilforthenationalinterest.org, the address is PO Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and his email address is (email protected).
