ICYMI, Janet Yellen’s response to Senate Finance Committee for the record re: BDS (page 40) does not sound like support for First Amendment rights of Americans or of free speech as a value around the world
"President Biden has led efforts to oppose the delegitimization of Israel, whether in international organizations or by the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement in the United States…"
“...I support President Biden’s approach of opposing such efforts and ifconfirmed, ***will work as Treasury Secretary to oppose BDS activities directed at Israel.***"
Notable here: the question she as asked conflated US rejection of the coercive, govts-driven Arab League Boycott of Israel with boycotts, divestment, or calls for sanctions by *private individuals* as a matter of conscience.
Her answer directly validated this conflation.
This conflation is factually invalid and unconstitutional. Compliance with the Arab League Boycott of Israel is not a matter of free speech. A person boycotting Israel to protest policies they find abhorrent - that IS unequivocally political free speech.
If this question had been answered live during the hearing, and Yellen had answered this way, it would have been regrettable but one could maybe have hopes/argued she failed to understand the framing being presented.
The fact that this was her answer, in writing, suggests the Biden Admin has made a conscious decision to embrace false conflation between private boycott as a form of protest and coercive state-led boycotts. Which means a free speech exception when it comes to protest of Israel.
The implications of this are staggering, starting with the likely re-introduction of the misleadingly named “Israel Anti-Boycott Act” - a bill seeking to legislate this conflation in order to CRIMINALIZE differentiation between Israel & settlements.
Based on Yellen’s written answer, it is hard to see how the Biden Admin could oppose that bill.
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"Hundreds of Israeli soldiers age 19 to 21 are deployed every night on missions of state terror when they break into Palestinian homes in the West Bank, without a judge’s warrant or oversight of a body that is not an interested party (there is no such body)…”
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"The authority is a military order from 54 years ago, when we thought the occupation was temporary…”
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The groups "endorse the use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance "Working Definition of Antisemitism" (IHRA) as a tool for monitoring and raising awareness.”
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Israelis have long had no issue ignoring terrorist past of fellow Israelis, while they impose 6-degrees-of-terrorist-contamination standard on Palestinians. Shurat HaDin exemplifies this, but Exhibit A has to be political commentator/journo Haggai Segal
“In 1980, while part of the group Jewish Underground, Segal planted and planted a bomb that blew off the leg of a Palestinian mayor. He served a prison sentence and later wrote about his experiences in the book Dear Brothers: The West Bank Jewish Underground.”
Wilders “has right-wing fans the world over...Netanyahu’s eldest son, Yair, has called Wilders a ‘true friend’ of the Jewish people, & wished him success ahead of the 2019 European parliamentary elections. Netanyahu Sr. didn’t distance himself from his son’s endorsement.”
“He reiterates to Haaretz that the Netherlands ‘should learn from Israel when it comes to dealing with radical Islamism. We should adopt administrative detention...’ The practice is widely criticized by human rights organizations...”
Another quick thread re State Dept plan to label human rights orgs “antisemitic”:
Key thing to understand is that such labeling is a feature, not a bug, of efforts to promoting definition of antisemitism that focuses NOT on hatred/threats to Jews, but on criticism of Israel.
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This re-definition is at the core of the IHRA definition of antisemitism’s “contemporary examples.”
And make no mistake: these examples - which conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism - are the ONLY parts of the IHRA that backers of this effort are interested in.
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So rather than focus on real lethal antisemitism surging around the world, the massive effort focuses on promoting this definition, so that today they can say, “hey, it’s not us labeling them antisemitic, it’s this definition that everyone accepts, and who can argue with that” 3/
A State Department Memo Suggests It’s About to Accuse Prominent Human Rights Groups of “Anti-Semitism” – Mother Jones motherjones.com/politics/2020/…
“‘Certain non-governmental organizations (NGOs) regularly participate in and promote the Global BDS Campaign or engage in other activities that meet the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of anti-Semitism,’...”
“... reads a memo produced by Carr’s office, which Mother Jones obtained, that urges Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to permit the release of its report...”