Missouri leaders falsely confuse criticism of Israel’s government with antisemitism | Opinion

Missouri’s legislature is considering bills to conflate legitimate criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism. They would advance only censorship, not safety.

For more than 15 months, thousands of Kansas Citians, including nearly 10,000 Palestinians, have watched devastation unfold in Gaza. Many, including those who have lost hundreds of family members, have tirelessly organized fundraisers, support for a lifesaving ceasefire and release of all hostages, and phone banks hundreds of days in a row to end U.S. complicity in these atrocities.

Alongside Palestinian community leaders and allies, Jewish organizers have been a consistent force in local movements for a ceasefire and Palestinian liberation and self-determination. We have stood together, including members of Jewish Voice for Peace, Rabbis for Ceasefire and hundreds of concerned individuals statewide. Some of us mobilize because we witnessed the brutality of the occupation firsthand in Palestine — some because our ancestors who survived the Holocaust raised us under the refrain “never again,” and that legacy compels us to act now. We witness scenes from Gaza and cannot conscionably allow any government to enable or normalize them.

Like most Jews throughout time, our Judaism flourishes distinct from the modern nation state of Israel.

But now, Missouri is considering bills that would flatten this distinction. House Bills 746 and 937 would adopt a definition of antisemitism that has been widely criticized, including by one its original authors, as a dangerous conflation of antisemitism and criticism of Israel.

If adopted, Missouri educational institutions would be required to add the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of the term into codes of conduct as a basis for investigating suspected acts of antisemitism. Alarmingly, this includes so-called “examples” of antisemitism, most involving criticism of Israel. Under these bills, the discussion of Palestinians’ lived experiences, academic findings critical of Israel’s government or even quotes from Israelis that condemn their nation’s actions could all be considered “prohibited conduct as it relates specifically to antisemitism.” They could lead to student suspensions and loss of scholarships, faculty denial of tenure, loss of research funding, or firing or defunding student organizations — all while doing nothing to make Jewish communities safer, as the bills claim to do.

Censoring students and educators

Codifying the IHRA definition of antisemitism is dangerous in multiple ways. For one, as its author noted, adopting legal definitions for types of bigotry is extremely rare and dampens institutions’ abilities to address uncommon instances of hate. Imagine defining a comprehensive list of examples of racism or homophobia. How could a state government account for every dynamic and often intersectional form of hate?

After adopting the IHRA definition, Florida and Cornell University began tracking and banning course syllabuses that were particularly critical of Israel. At the University of Minnesota, a Holocaust historian’s job offer was rescinded over his criticism of Israel. At New York University, Jewish professors were barred from campus for protesting the Israeli government’s violence in Gaza. Across universities in the United Kingdom, one study found 40 cases of Israel-specific complaints, including threats of legal action and attempts to cancel events.

Missouri students and educators now fear that this language conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism would contradict the bill’s stated intent to reduce antisemitism, and stifle student groups who want to speak freely in opposition to the state of Israel. My own Jewish grandmother, who taught Middle Eastern history for more than 50 years in Missouri, is one of them. “The bill would stifle academic discourse and critical inquiry,” she says. “It flies in the face of freedom of speech.”

In 2024, statewide educational institutions saw hundreds of students demonstrating nonviolently against the killing, starvation and displacement of millions of Palestinian people by Israel. With the goal of uplifting Palestinians’ struggle for freedom, Students for Justice in Palestine chapters at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Mizzou work toward solidarity against all forms of hate. Through workshops, pamphlets and campus discussions, Missouri SJP groups assert that holding the Israeli government accountable is necessary — and cannot be used to antagonize Jewish people.

Despite this, student groups have repeatedly faced attempts to vilify and shut down their events through false accusations of antisemitism. With H.B. 746 and 937 weaponized against them, student groups would not be able to conduct the necessary conversations, education and advocacy work that academic institutions should cultivate. Palestinian students who have been directly impacted by Israeli violence would be heavily censored, silenced and punished for simply speaking out about their lived experience.

Elon Musk’s Nazi salute

Last May, Jewish organizers went to Kansas City Hall to oppose a similar resolution, alongside Palestinians, rabbis and a packed house of concerned community members. For the first time in a five-month ceasefire campaign, one of us was singled out for being Jewish, as an oppositional Christian Zionist pulled them aside and tried to convert them to Christianity. This is the absurdity the IHRA definition of antisemitism as cited in these bills: It targets criticism of the Israeli government but not attempts to convert Jews from Judaism. The irony grows starker as we see main proponents of the IHRA definition publicly defending Elon Musk’s Nazi salute and introducing policy to deport student activists.

It’s been more than a decade since the deadly attack by a Ku Klux Klan and White Patriot Party leader on a Kansas City-area Jewish community center and nearby assisted living community. Jewish and Palestinian organizers will continue to work to build solidarity in the face of hate. It is appalling that our state legislature could confuse our activism against the violence and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Israel with real, vicious antisemitism. This is not the time to lose sight of very real threats to Jewish communities statewide.

Multigenerational, multiracial interfaith organizing has taught us that dismantling hate is not a project of pigeonholing individual identity groups. We do not need a policy regime that conflates criticism of state and military policy with hate. We need tangible action to identify and address instances of substantive hate in any and all forms.

As community members, we urge legislators in Jefferson City to reject House Bills 746 and 937. Free speech, safety and justice are at stake.

This story was originally published January 30, 2025 at 5:07 AM.