‘Anti-Zionism is antisemitism,’ US House asserts in ‘dangerous’ decision | Israel-Palestine battle News | USAEMALL.com

Washington, DC – Palestinian rights advocates are denouncing a congressional decision that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, calling it a “dangerous” measure that goals to curb free speech and distract from the conflict in Gaza.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives handed the measure on Tuesday in a 311-14 vote, with 92 Democratic members abstaining by voting “present”.

The symbolic decision was framed as an effort to reject the “drastic rise of anti-Semitism in the United States and around the world”.

But it contained language saying that the House “clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism”. It additionally condemned the slogan “From the River to the Sea”, which rights advocates perceive to be an aspirational name for equality in historic Palestine.

Instead, the decision described it as a “rallying cry for the eradication of the State of Israel and the Jewish people”. It additionally characterised demonstrators who gathered in Washington, DC, final month to demand a ceasefire as “rioters”. They “spewed hateful and vile language amplifying antisemitic themes”, the decision alleges.

Husam Marajda, an organiser with the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), stated the decision is an effort to “cancel” Palestinian rights advocates by accusing them of bigotry and labelling their criticism of Israeli insurance policies as hate speech.

“It’s super dangerous. It sets a really, really bad precedent. It’s aiming to criminalise our liberation struggle and our call for justice and peace and equality,” Marajda instructed Al Jazeera.

What is Zionism?

Zionism is a nationalist ideology that helped set up the state of Israel in 1948. It contends that the Jewish individuals have a proper to self-determination in historic Palestine, which Zionists view as their ancestral homeland.

The rise of Zionism within the late 1800s was partly in response to anti-Semitism in Europe.

But many Palestinians reject Zionism as a driver of the settler colonialism that dispossessed them through the founding of Israel. Israel’s institution coincided with the displacement of a whole lot of hundreds of Palestinians who had been forcibly pushed from their properties in what is called the Nakba, the Arabic phrase for “catastrophe”.

While Palestinians view themselves because the native individuals of the land, Zionists say Jewish individuals have historic and biblical claims to what’s as we speak Israel.

Some hardline Zionists, together with members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s authorities, argue that the present-day Palestinian territories — the West Bank and Gaza — additionally belong to Israel.

At a United Nations General Assembly speech in November, Netanyahu held up a map of Israel that confirmed the nation stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, encompassing the West Bank, Gaza and Syria’s Golan Heights.

Some Palestinians additionally blame Zionism for Israeli abuses towards them, which quantity to apartheid, in response to main human rights teams like Amnesty International.

In the US, Palestinian rights supporters have lengthy rejected conflations of Zionism with Judaism, noting that many Jewish Americans determine as anti-Zionist.

“Opposing the policies of the government of Israel and Netanyahu’s extremism is not antisemitic. Speaking up for human rights and a ceasefire to save lives should never be condemned,” Palestinian American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib stated in a social media put up on Tuesday, explaining her vote towards the decision.

‘Extremely dangerous’

Marajda pressured that Palestinians have a proper to oppose Zionism, a place he stated has nothing to do with prejudice.

“This resolution is saying that if you’re critical of this Israeli government, essentially you hate Jewish people,” he stated. “I didn’t choose — the Palestinians didn’t choose — their occupiers.”

The decision is considered one of a number of pro-Israel motions accredited by Congress since October 7. Most US legislators have expressed unwavering help for Israel amid its offensive in Gaza, which has killed greater than 16,000 Palestinians.

Yasmine Taeb, the legislative and political director at MPower Change, a Muslim American advocacy group, known as the decision “extremely dangerous”.

“It unequivocally equates any criticism of the Israeli government with anti-Semitism. Essentially it smears millions and millions of people demonstrating globally in support of a lasting ceasefire, including Jewish-American organisations,” Taeb instructed Al Jazeera.

The advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) was additionally fast to denounce the congressional measure.

“Falsely stating that anti-Zionism is antisemitism conflates all Jews with the Israeli state and endangers our communities. It fuels deadly violence and censorship campaigns against Palestinians,” JVP Action stated in a social media put up.

“We are proud anti-Zionists Jews. We refuse to pit communities against one another.”

All House Republicans however one — Congressman Thomas Massie — voted in favour of the decision. But Democrats had been break up on the measure: 13 voted towards it and 95 for it, on prime of the 92 who abstained with a “present” vote.

Jerrold Nadler, a key Jewish House Democrat, had decried the decision on Monday, noting that some Jewish communities oppose Zionism for non secular causes and shouldn’t be branded as anti-Semitic.

“While most anti-Zionism is indeed anti-Semitic, the authors, if they were at all familiar with Jewish history and culture, should know about Jewish anti-Zionism that was, and is, expressly not anti-Semitic,” he stated.

Democrats divided

Nadler accused Republicans of utilizing help for Israel to advance “partisan wedging at the expense of the Jewish community”. Still, he didn’t vote towards the decision on Tuesday. He opted for “present”.

The vote highlighted the divisions among the many Democrats over Israel’s navy marketing campaign in Gaza. While the celebration’s progressive wing has pressed for a ceasefire, President Joe Biden and nearly all of congressional Democrats have averted such calls.

But that would sign a disconnect from the celebration base. A Reuters/Ipsos ballot in November indicated 62 p.c of Democratic voters thought-about Israel’s response “excessive”. Two in three survey respondents backed a ceasefire.

Republicans, in the meantime, have led motions that critics say are designed to carry the Democratic schism to the fore. Last month, as an example, they moved to censure Congresswoman Tlaib, the one Palestinian within the House, over her feedback on the Gaza conflict.

Conservatives have accused Democrats who vote towards such measures of being anti-Israel, if not anti-Semitic.

That creates a political dilemma for Democratic lawmakers. If they help the payments, they threat upsetting giant segments of their base, but when they oppose them, they open themselves to Republican assaults.

Taeb stated the lawmakers who voted “present” didn’t need to go on the file as equating anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism, however on the similar time, they needed to be seen as countering anti-Semitism.

“It’s just politics,” she instructed Al Jazeera.

Tuesday’s decision was co-sponsored by Congressman Max Miller, who has confronted outrage in current weeks for saying, “We’re going to turn [Palestine] into a parking lot.”

Taeb stated the truth that lawmakers who’ve promoted anti-Palestinian hate are championing such resolutions exhibits that Tuesday’s measure is just not about combating prejudice.

“The intent of these members is to smear and silence peace activists calling to end the massacre of Palestinian children and families.”