GAVIN NEWSOM GRUDGINGLY SIGNS BILL CRIMINALIZING ANY CRITICISM OF ISRAEL AS ANTI-SEMITIC
This political bogeyman is still hiding under the Republic’s bed, keeping otherwise dreamers of a functioning democracy awake at night. That bogeyman being, of course, the radioactive political football that is all things Israel, the forbidden subject except for blind support. If you criticize Israel, you’re antisemitic. If you talk about any contradictions, inconsistencies or the like, you’re antisemitic. Israel is the Stand Your Ground concept taken to its ultimate heights, and you’re not allowed to talk about it. Ever. And while things have shifted the last two years, this is still true. And the fact that California Governor Gavin Newson just had to grudgingly sign off on a new law criminalizing any criticism of Israel makes that clear.
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NEW LAW WILL EFFECTIVELY SILENCE ALL FREE SPEECH ABOUT PALESTINE, ISRAELI POLICY
On October 7th, Newsom signed off on bill AB 715, making it the literal law that any criticism of Israel is an act of anti-semitism, and a formal crime in the state of California. That’s…. insane. But it’s a testament to the strident nature of the conflict between basic American tenets and the politics surrounding Israel since the country’s inception. As for AB 715, which is now law, the council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) made sure to note that it was opposed by “teachers’ unions, civil rights groups, and education advocates across California,” because it will silence “marginalized voices in California public schools by shielding a foreign government—Israel—from legitimate criticism and criminalizes honest discussions on Palestine and other global human rights issues.”
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NEWSOM VOWS TO FIX HORRENDOUS LAW NEXT YEAR, AS CALIFORNIA EDUCATORS WILL REMAIN SILENCED
Consider if there was a law saying that any criticism of any instance of Catholic priest pedophilia cases was against the law because it was “anti-Christian.” But that’s where we are with Israel in California. But to be fair to Newsom, politically he simply had to sign off on this bill. If he hadn’t, he would have stepped into the bear trap of antisemitic accusations and lost his political legs and likely his office. So he plans of fixing the bill and now law next year, “to work quickly on a follow-up measure next year to continue addressing these issues.” Those issues being, of course, equating any criticism of Israel, Israeli policy, Benjamin Netanyahu, as being secondary to free speech as well as Trumping obvious reality.
But until he does, educators in particular are vulnerable to criminal sanctions just for talking about established facts regarding Israel as being anti-semitic.
