Biden launches new plan to censor criticism of Israel

[yankeedoodle]

Biden launches new plan to censor criticism of Israel https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/biden-launches-new-plan-censor-criticism-israel

The Biden administration on Thursday launched what it is billing as the "first-ever US national strategy" to counter anti-Semitism.

The initiative, spearheaded by Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, received a warm welcome from Israel lobbyists who helped shape it, and who will play a key role in implementing it.

That's not surprising since what it amounts to is a high-level attempt by President Joe Biden to further ostracize and censor support for Palestinian rights and criticism of Israel's increasingly fanatical regime of ethno-religious supremacy, occupation and apartheid, all underpinned by the brutal settler-colonization of Palestinian land.

What is more surprising is that the plan has also been endorsed by CAIR, a prominent Muslim American group that purports to support advocacy for Palestinian rights.

Although it never uses the word Zionism, the Biden strategy further cements a key Israel lobby goal: equating criticism of Israel and its racist state ideology, on the one hand, with anti-Jewish bigotry and persecution of Jews, on the other.

A lengthy "fact sheet" released by the White House states that in launching the strategy, the Biden administration "reaffirms the United States' unshakable commitment to the state of Israel's right to exist, its legitimacy, and its security" and "makes clear that when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is anti-Semitism."

By this standard, calling for a single, democratic state in all of historic Palestine, where Palestinians and Israeli Jews would enjoy full and equal rights, could be construed as "anti-Semitism" because it denies Israel's alleged "right to exist."
Similarly, telling the true history of Israel's creation as a "Jewish state" – the carefully planned and executed ethnic cleansing of Palestine's non-Jewish Indigenous majority in 1947-49 by Zionist militias and the Israeli army – could be interpreted as questioning Israel's "legitimacy."

https://twitter.com/norabf/status/1445783366964375560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1445783366964375560%7Ctwgr%5E42d709aa56f8554b31fcd958e979f17d15a41e51%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Felectronicintifada.net%2Fblogs%2Fali-abunimah%2Fbiden-launches-new-plan-censor-criticism-israel

Crackdown on campus
The 60-page strategy document itself goes even further in blurring the lines between criticism of Israel and discriminating against Jews.

Citing a survey from the pro-Israel group the Anti-Defamation League, the White House plan asserts that "over 50 percent of Jewish students feel they pay a social cost if they support the existence of Israel as a Jewish state."

"On college campuses, Jewish students, educators and administrators have been derided, ostracized and sometimes discriminated against because of their actual or perceived views on Israel," the plan claims.

"All students, educators and administrators should feel safe and free from violence, harassment and intimidation on their campuses," the strategy says. "Far too many do not have this sense of security because of their actual or perceived views on Israel."

These assertions endorse the long-standing Israel lobby claim that supporting Zionism and the brutal policies Israel uses to enforce what the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem accurately describes as apartheid and Jewish supremacy is a part of Jewish identity.

By this logic, criticizing Israel and its horrifying abuses of Palestinian rights and violations of international law becomes an impermissible attack on the identity and feelings of Jewish students or educators, requiring intervention.
While no one should face violence or unlawful discrimination for their views, neither do they have a right to express racist and bigoted views without paying a "social cost." In a free society, people rightly express their disgust when others voice their bigotry in public.

It cuts little ice when people who display the Confederate flag claim this is merely an expression of their "heritage" and not a signifier of their racism.

Similarly, just because a Jewish or non-Jewish person defines their support for Israel's institutionalized anti-Palestinian bigotry and violence as part of their "identity" or "faith" does not exempt them from criticism.

Nonetheless, the Israel lobby's favored tactic for enforcing pro-Israel discipline on campuses has been to file bogus complaints against various universities to the US Department of Education under Title VI of the US Civil Rights Act.

The complaints generally assert that school administrators are failing to protect Jewish students by not cracking down sufficiently on Palestine solidarity activism.

In legal terms, this tactic has been a failure as the complaints have invariably been thrown out.

But they still have a potential chilling effect by embroiling colleges in lengthy and costly federal investigations with all the attendant bad publicity that comes with being accused of facilitating anti-Semitism.

The intent appears to be to make school administrators over-cautious and proactively limit speech related to Palestine so as to avoid such investigations.

Who gets to feel "safe"?
The White House strategy actually turns reality on its head.

While emphasizing the right of pro-Israel Jewish students to express their anti-Palestinian racism without suffering any opprobrium, the strategy ignores the very real harassment, punishment, censorship, nuisance lawsuits and firings that have for decades targeted both Jewish and non-Jewish students and educators who support Palestinian rights.

https://twitter.com/pal_legal/status/1659291993225195537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1659291993225195537%7Ctwgr%5E42d709aa56f8554b31fcd958e979f17d15a41e51%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Felectronicintifada.net%2Fblogs%2Fali-abunimah%2Fbiden-launches-new-plan-censor-criticism-israel

Few if any university administrations have taken any action to protect their students from the smear campaigns of Zionist organizations like Canary Mission, which aim to sabotage their future career prospects if they have the temerity to express solidarity with Palestine.
Don't those students and professors have a right to feel "safe?"

Yet the new Biden administration approach endorses Israel lobby censorship tactics by underlining that in the context of "fighting" anti-Semitism, the Department of Education will be "reminding schools of their legal obligation" under Title VI "to address complaints of discrimination."

We can therefore expect a new flurry of such complaints backed by Israel lobby groups targeting students who advocate for equality for Palestinians.

Social media censorship
The Biden push for more censorship not only targets campuses, but the internet as well, where the White House strategy calls on online platforms to ensure that terms of service and community standards "explicitly cover anti-Semitism."

It also urges a policy of "zero-tolerance for hate speech" and calls for online platforms to "permanently ban repeat offenders."

The White House calls on Congress to pass a slew of legislation encouraging this form of censorship – one of the few Biden administrations proposals likely to be met with bipartisan support.

Given that Israel lobby groups have been pressuring social media firms to adopt the so-called IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, it is no mystery where a further online crackdown will lead: more suppression and censorship of voices supporting Palestinian rights.

This is because the controversial IHRA "definition," which is promoted by the Israeli government, aims to systematically conflate criticism of Israel and Zionism with anti-Semitism.

Muslim American group gives endorsement
Biden's national anti-Semitism strategy has been endorsed by numerous organizations including CAIR – the Council on American-Islamic Relations – which praises the administration because it supposedly "does not adopt the disputed IHRA definition of anti-Semitism as binding policy."

The White House strategy acknowledges that there "are several definitions of anti-Semitism, which serve as valuable tools to raise awareness" – something CAIR spins as a victory – but the strategy does explicitly state that the United States government has "embraced" the IHRA definition.

Underscoring that position, 25 Israel lobby groups immediately put out a statement – that the White House linked from its website – to "welcome the embrace" by the Biden administration of the IHRA definition.

CAIR also asserts that the White House document uses language "which makes clear that these national strategies should not be used to either infringe upon the constitutional guarantees of free speech or to conflate bigotry with human rights activism, including advocacy for Palestinian freedom and human rights."

The Muslim American group also expresses relief that the Biden strategy "does not declare that criticism of or opposition to the Israeli occupation is inherently anti-Semitic, as some civil and human rights groups feared the strategy would."

But CAIR appears either not to have carefully read the document or to be willfully ignoring its contents, perhaps in pursuit of a seat at the proverbial table. (As part of the White House strategy, CAIR will be launching "a tour to educate religious communities about steps they can take to protect their houses of worship from hate incidents.")
In an effort to market Biden's policy, CAIR focuses on the strategy's assertion that "when Jews are targeted because of their beliefs or their identity, when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is anti-Semitism. And that is unacceptable."

CAIR claims: "This clear distinction based on the motivation for criticism of Israel highlights the administration's commitment to combating anti-Semitism while safeguarding free speech and the right to engage in human rights activism."

But it does no such thing. The distinction CAIR celebrates is utterly meaningless when major Israel lobby groups such as the ADL increasingly assert that any opposition to Zionism and Israel is flat-out anti-Jewish hatred.

Israel lobby groups impute anti-Jewish motivation to virtually all criticism of Israel.

Cracking down on Palestinian solidarity activism does not necessarily require the federal government itself to put people in prison or ban their speech.

All it needs is for the government to foster a favorable environment for the Israel lobby, private companies, universities and social media platforms to escalate censorship, intimidation and repression – and that is exactly what this strategy seeks to do and how Israel lobby groups will use it.

But now they will have the cover and endorsement of CAIR.

Targeting Black athletes
The Biden administration boasts that its strategy includes "over 100 new actions and over 100 calls to action" to combat what it calls anti-Semitism on campuses, online and in the "whole of society."

This will include various major sports leagues such as the NBA.

According to the White House fact sheet, the basketball league will take players on tours "combining travel to places like Selma, Alabama, Auschwitz, the Japanese Internment Camps and Yad Vashem in Israel," all supposedly to help them "examine issues of race, anti-Semitism and the historical legacy of discrimination."

After visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, the players will undoubtedly be treated to a full-court Israeli propaganda tour.

This Biden-backed attempt at re-education and pro-Israel indoctrination of NBA players is no doubt driven by the Israel lobby's growing alarm at the willingness of top athletes, many of whom are Black, to speak out in support of Palestinian rights.

Despite the fanfare around this "first-ever" national strategy, there is little substantially new in it in terms of Israel lobby tactics. Most of what the strategy calls for is already in place.

But with the full support of the Democratic Party leadership, the lobby is demanding an intensification of this censorship and intimidation, as support for Israel continues to erode, especially among younger Americans.

[yankeedoodle]

From Phil Giraldi:
Joe Biden Launches His War on Antisemitism
Massive politically motivated effort will impact on free speech and associationhttps://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/joe-biden-launches-his-war-on-antisemitism/

As promised, the White House hosted a virtual event followed by the issuance of a fact sheet and detailed strategic report last Thursday that described in some detail a sweeping plan that will be implemented to confront what it describes as surging antisemitism. I reported last week how the US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, who participated in the ceremony, has articulated the Biden Administration's somewhat hyperbolic view that "Antisemitism is not a niche issue...it is an existential threat to democracy." She had also regretted that "America has never done something like a national plan to fight antisemitism." It should be noted that Lipstadt's brief as ambassador is to confront what she perceives to be antisemitism all around the world, though it is likely that her role will expand to include domestic authorities under whatever new arrangements emerge as the Biden plan is implemented.

The plan that was unveiled was developed by an interagency task force created by Joe Biden last December, which was headed by "Second Gentleman" Doug Emhoff, who is both Jewish and has the misfortune to be married to Kamala Harris. It reportedly incorporates contributions and insights from claimed discussions with no less than "more than 1,000 community leaders" including various Jewish religious denominations and also representing both Jewish and non-Jewish civic organizations in the United States. Prior to the virtual event and press release, President Biden promised that the plan would "include more than 200 measures that government agencies, social media platforms and elected officials can adopt to counter rising antisemitism." The measures will reportedly include at least 100 "provisions" that will require congressional action.

That the plan will be considered a success by inter alia suppressing what once passed as free speech in the United States seems to have bothered none of the Jewish groups that applauded the development. Occasionally sensible liberal leaning J Street enthused how "In a period when the threats of antisemitism, far-right extremism and white nationalism are surging in the United States, it's deeply encouraging to see the White House make this a top priority and adopt a nuanced, well-considered, comprehensive approach."

J Street's President Jeremy Ben-Ami, who describes George Soros as a "Jewish philanthropist," misses the point that Israel, which will be a principal beneficiary from stomping down on the First Amendment as nearly any criticism of the Jewish state will become a "hate crime, is preeminently a country awash in "far-right extremism." He slyly concludes that "The struggle against antisemitism and all forms of bigotry is far too important to become a mere proxy for debates over Israel," making the entire issue vanish in typical J Street fashion. Nor does that particular irony appear to have bothered any Congressmen or anyone in the mainstream media, such is the power of the Jewish establishment over both the press and the two joined-at-the-hip on this issue political parties that alternately govern us.

Note how the Plan, relying on wildly exaggerated statistics relating to what are often contrived or alleged antisemitic incidents, not by coincidence, seeks to protect Jews from a malignant force which is presumed to be the "white supremacists" that Biden and his cohorts have been otherwise targeting and also labeling as "terrorists." That accomplishes two things politically: it gets the powerful Jewish/Israel Lobby and their controlled media fully on board to reelect Biden and it also identifies the enemy as likely to be conservative Republicans. In so doing, you take highly visible steps to protect the Jews (whether or not they actually need protection) and you create a credible enemy that everyone can identify and attack.

So what does the White House's May 25th press release entitled "Fact Sheet: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Releases First-Ever US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism" tell us about what will be put in place to protect America's wealthiest and already most powerful ethno-religious group? A sub-heading and the lead paragraphs summarize it this way: "[The] Administration announces over 100 new actions and over 100 calls to action to combat antisemitism, including new actions to counter antisemitism on college campuses and online; whole-of-society strategy includes new stakeholder commitments.

"Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is releasing the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. This strategy includes over 100 new actions the Administration will take to raise awareness of antisemitism and its threat to American democracy, protect Jewish communities, reverse the normalization of antisemitism, and build cross-community solidarity.

"While antisemitic incidents most directly and intensely affect the Jewish community, antisemitism threatens all of us. Antisemitic conspiracy theories fuel other forms of hatred, discrimination, and bias—including discrimination against other religious minorities, racism, sexism, and anti-LGBTQI+ hate. Antisemitism seeks to divide Americans from one another, erodes trust in government and nongovernmental institutions, and undermines our democracy."

The Fact Sheet and the full report explain in frightening detail how Biden is dedicating significant financial and human resources to essentially pander to Jews and Israel over their concerns that they are being perceived badly, something that might be attributed to their own behavior. Admittedly, some concerns were expressed that Israel would be immune from criticism in spite of the fact that it is widely recognized as an apartheid state that commits crimes against humanity and even war crimes on a nearly daily basis. Most recently this has included a Flag Day march in East Jerusalem in which settlers chanted "Death to Arabs." The Times of Israel subsequently printed an article calling for the extermination of the Palestinians. Willfully blind to that reality, the fact sheet has only this to say: "In addition, the strategy reaffirms the United States' unshakable commitment to the State of Israel's right to exist, its legitimacy, and its security—and makes clear that when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is antisemitism." In other words, because Israel is the self-designated Jewish state criticism of it will be ipso facto regarded as a hate crime, antisemitism.

I will not bore the reader by reviewing most of the 60 page long "Strategy" report's more intrusive features, but it is worth observing that it commits itself to have "The US government...harness our collective resources to increase education about antisemitism and its threat to democracy, the Holocaust, and Jewish contributions to American society." "Collective resources" of course includes taxpayer money, which will be flowing in the billions to Jewish businesses and facilities for "protection," as is already happening with Department of Homeland Security discretionary grants, more than 90% of which support increased security for Jews and their organizations.

The "Strategy's" four "Pillars" as elaborated in both the fact sheet and the full text are:

- Pillar 1: Increase awareness and understanding of antisemitism, including its threat to America, and broaden appreciation of Jewish American heritage

- Pillar 2: Improve safety and security for Jewish communities

- Pillar 3: Reverse the normalization of antisemitism and counter antisemitic discrimination

- Pillar 4: Build cross-community solidarity and collective action to counter hate

One should expect major initiatives in requiring educational courses in holocaust and other Jewish issues, compulsory training and re-education sessions both in government and the corporate world on the threat posed by antisemitism, and creating law enforcement mechanisms backed by new legislation that will provide empowerment to investigate and criminalize various antisemitic acts as "hate crimes." One "Strategic Goal" that might be of particular interest to readers of this article might be "Tackling Antisemitism Online," which includes "Ensure terms of service and community standards explicitly cover antisemitism. The Administration commends platforms with terms of service and community standards that establish 'zero-tolerance' for hate speech, including antisemitism. All online platforms are encouraged to adopt zero-tolerance terms of service and community standards" and "to permanently ban repeat offenders, both personal accounts and extremist websites." It calls for "algorithms" to be employed on social media sites to block any and all antisemitic content. Somewhat bizarrely, it also calls for "Establish[ing] relationships with Jewish community organizations to share best practices related to reporting hate speech and utilizing platforms to lift up Jewish stories."

So, in effect, the US government's national security agencies would be answering to and propagandizing for "Jewish community organizations," which one might think to be inappropriate. But the fact sheet and report itself do not mention what legislation will be in the works to penalize those who choose to be non-cooperative, though the model would likely be the laws that have been passed in 26 states and counting to punish or deny benefits to those who either support Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) or are in favor of any nonviolent action directed against Israel. Note particularly that "college campuses" are explicitly mentioned as targets by the White House fact sheet since BDS, seen as a major threat by the Israeli government and by groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), is increasingly popular among students at a number of universities.

And speaking of BDS, where even Biden has perhaps hesitated to go too deep too directly, there is always a boneheaded congressmen who is ready to take up the pander to Israel mission. Senator Marco Rubio, who has never been bothered by having to think anything through, has introduced a bill that would prevent US companies and individuals from participating in boycotts of countries "friendly to the US." Israel is not named in the legislation, but the Congressmen involved have freely admitted that it is directed particularly against BDS. Rubio claims that "The BDS movement is the single most destructive campaign of economic warfare against the Jewish state of Israel. This bill, which previously passed the Senate, would mark an important step toward bringing an end to the movement's discriminatory efforts." The bill's cosponsor Republican Senator Bill Hagerty added that it would "Provide state and local governments [with] the tools they need to counter 'the discriminatory and hate-inspired conduct of the anti-Semitic BDS movement aimed against Israel our closest ally in the Middle East.'"

Make no mistake, the "Strategy" and all that will develop from it is misguided, overkill, and the death of freedom to speak, write and associate. It is a consequence of the immense Jewish power over the United States government and is in no way justified by developments. One notes how conservative critics of the Biden Administration Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson have recently been called antisemites without any real evidence demonstrating that to be the case. Joe Biden's plan of action will surely similarly open the door to what will quickly become an open season on alleged antisemites. It will subsequently be easy for politicians and the media to label critics of domestic issues like the state of the Mexican border or international issues like the pointless and highly dangerous war against Russia as "haters" and by a tortuous extension antisemites. Appropriate punishment will follow.

[abduLMaria]

Well,
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteHouse

The Jews responded to my frequent criticism of Israel, by changing their advertising algorithm so that all I got was ads saying how great Israel is.

I responded by posting,
"After DECADES of Research,
Scientists use State-of-the-Art Imaging Techniques
to obtain a High Resolution Photograph of the Israeli Conscience -"

and then I posted a photograph of Human Feces.

Soon the "Israel is great" propaganda ads ALMOST disappeared.

[yankeedoodle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQPquZPIK_g
From Zionist Report:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQPquZPIK_g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBmjbPqvTgc
From Zionist Report:  https://www.bitchute.com/video/tYerMlJSlB0w/

[yankeedoodle]

What is in store under Biden's new antisemitism battle plan? 
https://israelpalestinenews.org/what-is-in-store-under-bidens-new-antisemitism-battle-plan/