Despite Trump executive order, majority still opposes attempts to silence & defund campus critics of Israeli human rights abuses - 12/18/2019

The Israeli government and many of Israel’s U.S. lobbying organizations strongly support the ongoing annexation of Palestinian lands and expulsion of their native inhabitants. They are irritated by the Palestinian Civil Society Call for the international boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel until there is a just settlement of the Israel Palestine question. However, rather than work for that solution, Israel and its lobby have been attempting to stifle and defund forums where robust free speech and civil action are taking place in support of Palestinian human rights.

On December 11, 2019 President Trump signed an executive order targeting colleges and universities. Though framed as a measure to “combat anti-Semitism” and credulously reported as such by major media outlets, the order advances a punitive agenda to silence and cow human rights activism and 1st Amendment advocates. The Israel lobby utterly failed to persuade Congress to legislate such measures into law. Lawsuits filed by Kenneth Marcus before he became the Trump administration’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights were also mostly a flop.

In November of 2017 the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), American Jewish Committee (AJC), Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) jointly lobbied the House Judiciary Committee for a floor vote on a bill to withhold funding from colleges and universities under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Testimony revealed their target—just like the Trump Executive Order—was robust speech and civic action taking place on college and university campuses. The joint lobbying was a power move, as Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center testified. “You have the wall-to-wall leadership of the American Jewish community here…we need to move the ball forward…we hope you’ll send this to the floor of the house for further deliberation.” But despite the pressure, the legislation failed under withering criticism.

Professor Barry Trachtenberg, Jewish History Chair at Wake Forest University, who also testified before the committee cast a harsh light on the drivers behind the legislation. “It is increasingly common to hear reports that a new anti-Semitism threatens to endanger students on a scale not seen since the Second World War and the Holocaust…however, they are motivated less by an actual threat faced by American or world Jewry, than they are part of a persistent campaign to thwart debates, scholarly research, and political action that is critical of the state of Israel.” Many other experts also revealed how the legislation was clearly unconstitutional. Nearly 61 percent of Americans polled opposed the law.

A similarly draconian bill targeting American businesses seeking government contracts also floundered, with 74.9 percent of Americans opposed. Under the Trump administration, executive action is supplanting congressional legislation.

On November 18 the U.S. Secretary of State reversed a 1978 State Department legal opinion stating that Israeli settlements were “inconsistent with international law.” Americans don’t share that view. This most recent announcement is yet another Israel lobby-powered Trump administration attempt to end-run overwhelming American consensus, the courts and the will of congress to mount attacks on conscientious critics, rather than taking on the more difficult work toward just solutions to the Israel Palestine question.

Question: “President Trump issued an executive order allowing him to cut federal funds to colleges and universities where students and/or faculty protest Israeli human rights abuses. Do you support or oppose the executive order?”

Developed by: IRmep
Survey fielded by: Google Surveys 12/16/2019-12/18/2019
Representative Sample size: 2,017
Google survey page (link)
Raw survey data from Google (Download)

In the News - 12/18/2019 Despite Trump Executive Order, majority still oppose attempts to silence & defund campus critics of Israeli human rights abuses