Redefining a Word to Enhance Autocracy

Redefining a Word to Enhance Autocracy

“Antisemitism”

Last time I checked, my genetic ancestry defined me as 18% Ashkenazy (Jewish), my father was born Catholic, my mother Russian Orthodox, I was an alter boy in the Anglican Church and I spent over four years (as the stepson of a US foreign service officer) in a country that was half Muslim. Whew! Originally, according to the Encyclopedia Brittanica: “Semite, obsolete term, popularized in the 19th century, that originally described a member of any people who speak one of the Semitic languages, a family of languages that includes Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic, Aramaic, and Tigrinya, among others. The term was later used in an ethnic sense, even though there has never been a shared Semitic identity among Semitic-speaking peoples. When used in that sense, Semite often referred specifically to people of Jewish origin, regardless of what language they spoke, a reflection of the antisemitism that was concurrent in 19th-century Europe.”

But it has been a useful word for Donald Trump, now with his daughter converted to Judaism and married into a wealthy Jewish family, in taking down universities where liberalism seemed to be a basic characteristic of the student body, notwithstanding the fact that a vast swath of radical right wingers may have been educated at such institutions. With his underlying vector to protect white Americans who claim that they have faced discrimination for their race, the campus disturbances – that arose over the Hamas October 7, 2023 attack into northern Israel and the Israeli massive response against Gaza where Hamas was based – between pro-Israeli versus pro-Palestinian protestors, gave Trump a whole new way to take down those “elite” universities, cut their federal funding and assert control over their “woke” curriculum.

Even as Trump himself is disgusted by the massive, enforced starvation in Gaza these days, he has not abandoned his new definition of antisemitism to include individuals who openly oppose Israel and her policies. It was enough to cancel green cards and student visas. Openly advocating for Palestinian rights, no matter how peaceful, was sufficient to cause the advocating individual to be labeled an antisemitic enemy of the United States. It seemed the First Amendment was reserved only for citizens, never the intent of the framers of the Bill of Rights, and perhaps such open expressers of opinion, he opined, should face loss of their citizenship.

All of this flies in the face of the finest scholars in the land, particularly against the ethos of some of the most respected Jewish academics. Further, by applying this redefinition of “antisemitism,” the underlying support is now for white Christian nationalists against liberal facts, an effort to bolster Donald Trump’s autocratic agenda and apply the very same program of oppression against “correct thought” embraced by Adolph Hitler as the latter fomented the very horrific extermination of Jews and Judaism everywhere.

Columbia University is one of those Trumpian targets, one that caved to his demands. While Trump’s new definition presented as opposition to “antisemitism,” that was merely as excuse to repress Trump’s opponents as one very Jewish Columbia professors immediately recognized. Writing for the July 29th Associated press, Jake Offenhartz explains: “For years, Marianne Hirsch [pictured above], a prominent genocide scholar at Columbia University, has used Hannah Arendt’s book about the trial of a Nazi war criminal, ‘Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil,’ to spark discussion among her students about the Holocaust and its lingering traumas.

“But after Columbia’s recent adoption of a new definition of antisemitism, which casts certain criticism of Israel as hate speech, Hirsch fears she may face official sanction for even mentioning the landmark text by Arendt, a philosopher who criticized Israel’s founding.

“For the first time since she started teaching five decades ago, Hirsch, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, is now thinking about leaving the classroom… ‘A university that treats criticism of Israel as antisemitic and threatens sanctions for those who disobey is no longer a place of open inquiry,’ she told the Associated Press. ‘I just don’t see how I can teach about genocide in that environment.’

“Hirsch is not alone. At universities nationwide, academics have raised alarm about efforts to define antisemitism on terms pushed by the Trump administration, often under the threat of federal funding cuts… Promoted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, the definition lists 11 examples of antisemitic conduct, including applying ‘double standards’ to Israel, comparing the country’s policies to Nazism or describing its existence as ‘a racist endeavor.’

“Ahead of a $220-million settlement with the Trump administration announced Wednesday, Columbia agreed to incorporate the IHRA definition and its examples into its disciplinary process. It has been endorsed in some form by Harvard, Yale and dozens of other universities.

“Although supporters say the semantic shift is necessary to combat evolving forms of Jewish hate, civil liberties groups warn it will further suppress pro-Palestinian speech already under attack by President Trump and his administration… For Hirsch, the restrictions on drawing comparisons to the Holocaust and questioning Israel’s founding amount to ‘clear censorship,’ which she fears will chill discussions in the classroom and open her and other faculty up to spurious lawsuits…

“Kenneth Marcus, chair of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, said Columbia’s actions were an overdue step to protect Jewish students from harassment… He dismissed faculty concerns about the IHRA definition, which he said would ‘provide clarity, transparency and standardization’ to the university’s effort to root out antisemitism… ‘There are undoubtedly some Columbia professors who will feel they cannot continue teaching under the new regime,’ Marcus said. ‘To the extent that they self-terminate, it may be sad for them personally, but it may not be so bad for the students at Columbia University.’

“But Hirsch, the Columbia professor, said she was committed to continuing her long-standing study of genocides and their aftermath… Part of that work, she said, will involve talking to students about Israel’s ‘ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide’ in the Gaza Strip, where nearly 60,000 Palestinians have died in 21 months of war — most of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry — and where experts are warning of rising famine… ‘With this capitulation to Trump, it may now be impossible to do that inside Columbia,’ Hirsch said. ‘If that’s the case, I’ll continue my work outside the university’s gates.’”

Even as Donald Trump recognized the starvation in Gaza, he quickly refocused all the blame to Hamas, even as Western powers aligned to recognize Palestine as the path to a peaceful and secure future. Yet even as Canada announced the possibility of limited recognition of the Palestinian state (without Hamas) a part of a plan for peace, Trump threatened to punish Canada in a trade war. I wonder how many additional acts of antisemitic violence that will provoke.

This march to eliminate those who express positions not approved by fact-averse, false narrative spinmeister Donald Trump could easily spell the end of American democracy, but at the least it results in a denigration of some of this nation’s finest and most innovative universities. And let’s face it, the last group of people that should be allowed to define and control “free speech” are white Christian nationalists. I oppose antisemitism, islamophobia, racism and other such discriminatory forces. But throwing the baby out with the bathwater is a terrible model.

I’m Peter Dekom, and this nation’s greatness has been defined and led by the mixture of ideas and cultures at America’s most excellent universities… so if you want to undo greatness, start by taking down those institutions.