Biden’s Plan To Battle Anti-Semitism Is Historic, Boebert Calls It Propaganda
It would be foolishly simplistic to just dismiss the latest ignorant, hate-filled comments about anti-Semitism by the bigoted, far right, nut job, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.,
Boebert has a national stage to mouth off and many people on the right listen to her. Boebert, however, didn’t aim her hateful comments at the increase in anti-Semitism but rather, she twisted her response as a criticism of President Biden.
Boebert’s latest destructive comments came after Biden unveiled the nation’s first comprehensive plan to fight anti-Semitism. Boebert did not fault the strategy, she did not cite the fact that anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. reached their highest level last year since the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), began recording them in 1979. And she for sure did not offer alternatives to cut the head off of the deadly snake that is anti-Semitism.
Boebert’s comments made no reference to an Anti-Defamation League report that anti-Semitism in Florida has reached a “historic” high, while the Jewish Democratic Council of America notes that anti-Semitism is becoming more common on social media, specifically on Twitter since Elon Musk purchased the company and reversed many of its banned accounts, some of which were known to belong to right-wing extremists and anti-Semites.
No, Boebert, boiled down the plan to battle anti-Semitism as nothing more than a Democratic attack on conservatives with tactics “straight out of the USSR’s playbook.”
She was apparently comparing Biden with government violence in the 1900s in the USSR’s domestic war to achieve communism with a centralized government and economy. Boebert added that the Biden plan to fight anti-Semitism is akin to censoring speech.
“The federal government should not be in the business of censoring free speech,” Boebert said in a statement. “This is the latest version of this administration’s failed ‘Ministry of Truth.’ The First Amendment guarantees a marketplace of ideas where truth, beauty, and justice ultimately win out. I do not condone antisemitism.”
Biden’s “Plan to Fight Hate” includes a series of actions such as workshops to counteract bias in the workplace, strengthened educational Holocaust programs, and elimination of barriers encountered when someone attempts to report a hate crime.
The report calls for beefed up physical security, making security grants easier for nonprofits to access, strengthening community-based violence prevention efforts and expanding both federal cybersecurity and physical security support for houses of worship, community centers and parochial schools.
The report reflected conversations with more than 1,000 community leaders. The Forward, a publication reflecting Jewish American concerns, wrote that the report is “a thoughtful and comprehensive effort that should be applauded. But understanding a problem and fixing it are two very different things. And reducing antisemitism will require deep societal changes, something no decrees from on high — save maybe the Torah from Mount Sinai — can ever hope to accomplish.”
Much of the rest of the report refers to “whole society calls to action” like enforceable mandates under the executive branch’s control, and requiring federal agencies to update their anti-bias policies. They also include calls for local leaders to “speak out,” for school districts to beef up Holocaust education standards, for sports leagues to hold players accountable for anti-Semitic comments, and for influencers to avoid stereotypical depictions of Jews.
“We must tell the positive story of Jewish contributions to the United States and the world,” the report states.
Holocaust education, another proposal mentioned throughout the plan, has long been required in most states. However, The Forward noted that there is “no evidence it’s actually effective.”
“Overall, the strategy represents quite an accomplishment. It’s rare that an administration lives up to its promises, and this White House followed through,” the Forward said.
The Foward said the reach of the executive branch is limited. For example, the call to hold social media companies accountable for the anti-Semitism and hate speech that proliferates on their sites would require congressional action.
Meanwhile, holocaust denial gained a back door entry during a discussion by Ohio’s House Higher Education Committee. Committee member, Republican State Sen. Jerry Cirino, was asked by another member if holocaust denial should be summarily dismissed and not considered as a topic for discussion in college classes.
Cirino said that students who deny the holocaust are offering a “dissenting view” and should not be dismissed by college professors. Cirino said colleges “should be about accepting even views that are uncomfortable.”
The discussion arose while legislators were debating SB 83, which passed the Senate last week. The bill would affirm that higher education institutions have full intellectual diversity and have intellectual diversity protections. It would ban programs with Chinese schools, ban mandatory diversity training, prohibit university staff and employees from striking, require American history courses, and mandate tenure evaluations based on if the educator showed bias or taught with bias.
“I think Holocaust deniers are off the charts,” Cirino said before answering what he would do as a college professor if the question of holocaust denial came up. “The main pillar of this legislation has been allowing students to receive an education that contains a broad range of perspectives, discussion, debate and ultimately true intellectual diversity.”
“I would expect the professor to not shout that person down and throw him out of the classroom or embarrass them in front of their other students. I would expect the professor to come down on the side of what is history,” he said. “No one should be shouted down, as ridiculous as their views might be and as wrong as they might be. Our universities should be about accepting even views that are uncomfortable.”
Holocaust instruction took another hit in Florida last week as part of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ efforts to purge schools of books that are not on a state-approved reading list until they are reviewed by an employee with a media specialist certificate. The latest books rejected for high school instruction included two Holocaust textbooks titled “Modern Genocides” and “History of the Holocaust.”
“Modern Genocides” was rejected in part for its discussion of “special topics” prohibited by the state. The list of such topics includes terms such as “social justice” and “critical race theory,”a phrase that traditionally concerns a method of legal analysis but that Republicans have used pejoratively to refer to discussion of systemic racism in the United States. The department did not clarify which prohibited “special topics” the book included.
The diminishing understanding and acknowledgment of the Holocaust was the subject of a study by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference). The conference commissioned Schoen Cooperman Research to conduct a comprehensive nationwide study of Holocaust knowledge and awareness among millennials and Gen Z, as well as in each state. Schoen Cooperman conducted 1,000 interviews nationwide and 200 interviews in each state with adults 18 to 39 between Feb. 26 and March 28, 2020.
Among its findings, almost two-thirds (63 percent) of U.S. Millennials and Gen Z do not know that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Just over one-third (36 percent) of U.S. Millennials and Gen Z believe two million Jews or fewer were killed during the Holocaust. Despite their faulty knowledge, a majority of Millennials and Gen Z (59 percent) believe that something like the Holocaust could happen again today.
Respondents were asked if they believed that the Holocaust happened and 10 percent said it did not happen or were not sure. In another question, 23 percent of respondents believe the Holocaust happened, but the number of Jews who died has been “greatly exaggerated, is a myth and did not happen, or are unsure.”
The study also discerned that there is little knowledge about concentration camps, death camps, and ghettos other than Auschwitz-Birkenau. A total of 48 percent of respondents could not name one of the more than 40,000 concentration camps and ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust.
Only 44 percent of Millennials and Gen Z are familiar with Auschwitz, six percent are familiar with Dachau, and awareness of Bergen-Belsen (three percent), Buchenwald (one percent) and Treblinka (one percent) is virtually nonexistent.
DeSantis was strongly condemned for his support for the Christian nationalism movement. Christian nationalism supports legislating civil and criminal laws that reflect their view of Christianity and the role of religion in political and social life. It also backs posting Christian symbols and idols in the public square, and state patronage for the practice and display of religion, such as school prayer and the exhibition of nativity scenes during Christmas and the Christian Cross on Good Friday.
One Christian organization, Faithful America, has warned against the growth of Christian nationalism in the United States. The group released a petition condemning DeSantis’ campaign on Wednesday when he addressed a gathering that included Christian nationlists.
The petition describes the governor as a “proud, far-right Catholic extremist” who “frequently invokes God on the campaign trail,” and is “already trying to cloak himself in religious support, bragging about a recent meeting with homophobic evangelist Franklin Graham.”
The Rev. Nathan Empsall, executive director of Faithful America, said that DeSantis’ “Florida Blueprint is nothing more than a hateful, theocratic plan to enact a nationwide, anti-democracy Christian nationalist agenda that fires teachers for acknowledging the existence and humanity of LGBTQ people, uses migrants as political props, scapegoats people of color, threatens women’s health, and seeks revenge on his political opponents.”
On a positive note, Doug Mastriano, the unsuccessful GOP nominee for Pennsylvania governor who trafficked in anti-Semitism and had considered a run for U.S. Senate in 2024, said he will not to enter the race.
Mastriano, a self-described Christian nationalist loyal to trump, has denied the 2020 presidential election results and joined the crowd at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
During the gubernatorial campaign, Mastriano associated with anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists. He repeatedly drew analogies to the Holocaust that offended Jews and others, likening Democratic gun-control proposals to Nazi policies and referred to abortion as a “barbaric holocaust.” He compared his unsuccessful 2022 bid to Jews failed by churches that did not stand up to the Nazis.
Mastriano, 59, has also welcomed support from the founder of Gab, a social media platform for far-right extremists and an echo chamber for anti-Semitism, and attacked his Democratic opponent for governor, Josh Shapiro, for sending his kids to a “privileged, exclusive, elite” Jewish day school. He closed his gubernatorial campaign with a prayer from a Messianic rabbi and a woman who played a tribute to the tune of “If I Were a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof.