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It’s wrong to lobby Sacramento to protect Muslims from bullies while seeking protection for bullies

A few weeks ago, The Los Angeles Police Department convened a Public Forum for 150 Law Enforcement specialists, Community activists, along with diverse Interfaith leaders from Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Baha’i and Sikh Communities at the Museum of Tolerance.
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May 6, 2016

A few weeks ago, The Los Angeles Police Department convened a Public Forum for 150 Law Enforcement specialists, Community activists, along with diverse Interfaith leaders from Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Baha’i and Sikh Communities at the Museum of Tolerance. The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Digital Terrorism and Hate Project presented a PowerPoint presenting focusing on how extremists are leveraging Social Media to denigrate all faiths and to teach a new generation of young people how to hate and yes even kill.

We were joined by diplomats from 14 nations, including Belgium, France, Germany, and Israel, in a statement of solidarity against all terrorism, whatever the cause and in solidarity with all victims of terrorism, whatever their nationality or creed.

The common theme that emerged from all speakers is that Californians must stand together against all forms of bigotry or suffer the inevitably suffer the consequences.

It was with great interest therefore that we learned about an organized a day of lobbying in Sacramento to raise awareness about a perceived uptick in anti-Muslim bigotry. That is certainly a legitimate issue to raise especially after the murderous San Bernardino terrorist outrage. Coupled with the horrific images from Paris, Brussels, and Lahore, to name just three recent venues where Islamist terrorism targeted innocents, Muslim communities have reason to be concerned. Despite the fact that the latest available US hate crime statistics show that Jewish targets significantly outnumbered those against Muslims, the anti-Muslim backlash that we track on social Media and the broad brush of demagoguery  used by some politicians on both sides of the Atlantic all too happy to smear a minority,  should give all decent people reason to be concerned.

According press reports, the group organizing the anti-bullying lobbying among legislators to ensure that American citizens of the Muslim faith are protected from intimidation and fear, unfortunately turned its message on its head by lobbying against AB 2844, a bill that would protect Israel and Israelis from unjust boycotts of products, cultural and academic institutions. The legislature is currently considering bill similar to those adopted in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and South Carolina (with Ohio soon to follow)— in barring state governments from contracting with firms that boycott the Jewish State.

To be clear, the issue here is not “free speech” or the right to criticize Israel. Certainly, there is no democratic country in the world that receives so much criticism, often malicious and without a semblance of fairness. Under our First Amendment, free speech is, as it should be, an absolute right—and “anything goes,” fair or foul, with the government having no right to censor Americans.

AB2844  is all about standing up to a multipronged, highly organized campaign to bully and demean Israel in every sector of public life—from campuses to Churches, to cultural icons and to the halls of power and diplomacy.

BDS are the calling letters of the pernicious global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. The movement is not designed to help a single Palestinian. Indeed, when their pressure forced Soda Stream to close its factory on the West Bank—where Jews and Arabs were paid equal wages, the only discernable result was that the breadwinners for over 300 Palestinians suddenly became unemployed. BDS’s true goal isn’t peace but to bully the lone Jewish state and the only true democracy in the Middle East into pariah status, with the goal of international isolation and ultimately, its destruction.  BDS bullies have shown zero concern for ethnically-cleaned Christians in Iraq, genocide-threatened Yazidis, millions of displaced Syrians or other threatened minorities from Baha’is in Iran to Copts in Egypt. They reserve their (im)moral broad brush—to exclusively targeting Israeli businesses, academic and cultural institutions, and nonprofits operating in heartland Israel—not only the West Bank—for vilification that smears and demonizes an entire people. It is precisely those tactics that helped create an intimidating environment on University of California campuses so toxic that the UC Board Regents was compelled to take a public stand against anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.

There are many diverse voices and groups who speak for the Muslim communities in the US. This week’s lobbying in Sacramento was organized by the controversial Council American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which apparently sees no problem in simultaneously lobbying to protect their co-religionists against bullying, while leading the charge to sanction bullying of Israel and the millions of Americans who support and /or study in or do business with Israelis or the Jewish State.

Californians of all faiths should continue to strive to create a level playing field and inclusive society based on freedom of expression and tolerance.

But we should all reject those who seek for their own the understanding, respect, fair play and protection under the law afforded by democracies on the one hand, while scheming to deprive citizens of a sister democracy and her American supporters of those very same freedoms and protections.


Rabbi Abraham Cooper is Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Dr. Harold Brackman, a historian is a consultant to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

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