In May 2024, the Massachusetts Senate voted unanimously to create a Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism. The pattern of troubling antisemitic incidents was evident then and has become even more so since. Just before Thanksgiving, the Commission unanimously approved its final report.
The Commission’s report is a very thoughtful document and I fully support the Commission’s recommendations. The recommendations speak to all institutions — K-12 schools, higher education, law enforcement, and the workplace. The spirit of the recommendations is that free speech should be protected, but antisemitism should be treated with the same seriousness that we treat racism and other forms of bias. Too often, antisemitism is treated as somehow of lesser concern. The Commission’s recommendations will strengthen our response to all forms of bias.
Free Speech Considerations
I have heard from many constituents about the Commission’s work — many in support, but also many concerned that legitimate policy conversation might be suppressed as antisemitic. Some felt that overbroad definitions of antisemitism could backfire and inflame antisemitic feelings. I am grateful for all of the conversations that I have had with constituents about the Commission’s work.
The Commission recognized that there is a wide range of feelings about the Israeli government and the United States’ national relationship with that government. The Commission recognized that feelings vary widely even among Jewish people. Report, Pages 5-6. However, the commission found it undeniable that there has been a surge of frank antisemitism:
Testimony before the Commission from Jewish students, educators, academics, and professionals confirms that Jewish people in Massachusetts have been excluded, harassed, and, on occasion, physically attacked due to their actual or presumed support of Jewish self-determination in Israel. The Commission recognizes the deep pain that these experiences have caused to those who have come forward, and it unreservedly acknowledges this mistreatment as part of the problem of antisemitism this body is charged with addressing.
Final Report of the Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism (“Report”), Page 6.
The Commission respected the concern that a narrow focus on antisemitism has the potential to be harmful, stating:
Many Massachusetts residents who have testified before the Commission harbor concerns that measures the current federal government is taking in response to antisemitism, including actions that target some of Massachusetts’ most prized institutions, may backfire and fuel antisemitism. The courts have struck down various actions by the federal administration as violating the civil rights of other vulnerable groups and individuals, including immigrants. People in Massachusetts, including Jewish residents, widely recognize, and have re-learned many times throughout history, that “narrow nationalisms” never end well for Jews, and as such, threats to democracy are intrinsically threatening to the Jewish people.
Report, Page 5.
The Commission emphasized the centrality of legal protection for free speech and endeavored to chart a “Massachusetts Way” that addresses antisemitism while addressing hate in every form.
The Commonwealth’s response must be rooted in shared security, mutual respect, and a collective commitment to stand against hate in every form. . . . The Massachusetts way reflects our belief that combating antisemitism must combine strong civil rights protections, civic education, and moral responsibility.
Report, Page 7.
Definitions of Antisemitism
The Commission affirmed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of Anti-Semitism, which had been previously endorsed by Governor Charlie Baker on behalf of the Commonwealth.
Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
The definition is a conceptual teaching tool that points to a class of perceptions. The IHRA provides a set of more specific examples that are worth review for anyone thinking about what antisemitism means.
The IHRA definition is not a law and the Commission’s support for it does not make it a law. The Commission also favorably acknowledged many other working definitions of antisemitism as educational. Speaking of the IHRA definition and other definitions, the Commission states:
While these definitions, examples, and frameworks can be helpful educational tools, the Commission believes they lack the specificity and narrow tailoring that is appropriate for use in law or any regulatory enforcement regime. The definitions have also become a lightning rod and litmus test used by some to raise fears, engender animosity, and create division. Like with any definition, example set, or framework, definitions of antisemitism can be misunderstood or misused in ways that mislabels something as antisemitism which is not. That concern is not a reason to abandon their use.
Report, Page 10.
The IHRA definition makes clear that criticism of Israel is not per se antisemitic. The Commission specially emphasized that:
Those consulting IHRA should pay special attention to its provision that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitism,” and should understand that its examples should not be taken as per se antisemitism. IHRA—like all definitions—should not be employed to limit First Amendment rights or in a manner that denies due process.
Report, Page 10.
Findings and Recommendations
The report reviewed a broad range of evidence about actual incidents of hate speech and acts and concluded that:
Taken together, the aggregated data points unmistakably in one direction: antisemitism has risen significantly since October 7, 2023, and remains an urgent challenge that demands coordinated action.
Report, Page 13.
The commission Report offers detailed recommendations for K-12 education, higher education, law enforcement, and the workplace. These recommendations deserve careful attention from leadership of all institutions. They call for a variety of specific institutional responses related to antisemitism, mostly educational in nature, including:
- Education to expand understanding of antisemitism
- General anti-bias education including antisemitism
- Supportive spaces and events for Jewish students and employees similar to those offered to other diverse groups
- Clearer general protocols for reporting and response to incidents of all types of hate, bias, and discrimination
- General anti-bias bystander training
Summary Perspective
As mandated, the report focuses primarily on antisemitism, but the main thrust of the recommendations is to respond to antisemitism in the same way that we respond to racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny and other forms of bias, bullying, and hate. And, in fact, the recommendations would elevate our response to all forms of these evils. None of the recommendations call immediately for legislation but I look forward to taking future legislative action to further the goals of the report if necessary.
The IHRA definition has been weaponized to shut down legitimate criticism of the Israeli government. Even the definition’s lead author is opposed codifying it in any policy, in law or otherwise. Furthermore, there’s no need to rely on this definition when there are more academically rigorous definitions, like the Jerusalem Declaration, that do not present the same concerns. For more information on the problems with the Antisemitism Commission’s report, please read this shadow report produced by the organization Concerned Jewish Faculty and Staff: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GqhRm2nVUaVq0EStzO2W346Y5tZZIwZj/view
I share concern that criticism of the Israeli government’s policies have been taken as antisemitic.
“Those consulting IHRA should pay special attention to its provision that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitism,”
The key is that if you judge actions of Israel differently than the same actions another country performs, only then it’s considered anti-Semitic. Just like when you judge black persons actions differently than white’s.
I agree far more with the shadow report produced by CJFS than I do with the Commission’s report.
I agree with CJFS that the data relied upon to justify claims of dramatically increased antisemitism almost universally falsely conflate opposition to Israel and support for the Palestinians with antisemitism.
We cannot grapple properly with antisemitism without grappling with the fact that the Trump administration and other supporters of Israel are using accusations of antisemitism as a cudgel to attack those who do not support Israel.
This fact—the false conflation of opposition to Israel with antisemitism—is _the key fact_ in the challenge of combating antisemitism rather than increasing it. While the Commission’s report pays brief lip-service to this at the start of the report, its recommendations do not address this issue at all.
Let me put this more concretely via an example: while there were isolated antisemitic incidents during the college Gaza protests all over the country, they were overwhelmingly _not_ antisemitic in nature. And yet the Trump administration and the leaders of many Jewish organizations involved in the Commission’s work, including the AJC and ADL, repeatedly publicly falsely characterized these protests as antisemitic. These are the “experts” the Commission relied upon in its work. No good fruit can come from such a poisoned tree.
Will, please reconsider your stance here.
I share Greg Dennis’ concerns. The IHRA definition was not intended to be used in this way. The subjective criteria used to determine whether certain phrases are hate speech is also very problematic. I am Jewish, very critical and appalled by Israel’s policies at present and for many years prior to 10/7/2023. I believe the policies of the government of Israel have made me and all diaspora Jews more unsafe than ever. I also believe antisemitism is on the rise globally and I would no longer rely on the ADL for data as it has devolved into a U.S. mouthpiece of the current Israeli government. It is also documented that Islamophobia is on the rise in the U.S. which as we know includes summarily deporting legal non citizen residents for criticizing Israel or advocating for an independent Palestine. I would be very curious as to whether the proposed review of school genocide curricula would allow for consideration of what has transpired in Gaza.
Elissa’s comments summarize where I stand quite well.
As one whose mother came the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany, this is a very personal issue to me. As a boomer, I have l8ved through a time in which there has been great acceptance of Jews, as well as other minority groups, in this country. We must not go back to a time when groups were called out and discriminated against. Thanks for taking a stand.
I agree.
Any thoughts on similar legislation protecting the Christian community?
According to the FBI, roughly 70% of religion-based hate crimes in the US target the roughly 2% of the US population who are Jews.
Thank you for sharing this. Our overarching goal should be equality and we should be working towards a society where everyone has equal value regardless of the characteristics they were born with. The -isms take many forms. When determining if actions or words are a form of antisemitism, i.e. anti-Jewish bias, the question to ask is “if this were about any minority other than Jews, would I think, feel, or act the same way about it”. If the answer is no, there’s a problem.
Maybe not legislation persay, but I would absolutely support that conversation being brought to the forefront. You should be able to point out any and all examples of anti-Christian bias and the rest of us should be willing to listen and talk about it in an honest way.
Agree. No legislation is needed. Was pointing out the the glaring different treatment, especially when it comes to Christians. Hate speech laws are Orwellian censorship. Just look at what is going on in England. Thousands are being locked up for posting something out of favor on social media. Same forces are pushing these laws here. Will come soon enough if we don’t smarten up.
Mark, your comment is the most accurate and important comment here.
The DEI stalking horse for the creeping Socialist coup is dependent on watering down and nullifying the First Amendment (not to mention the Second Amendment). We have gone backwards. The Founders’ genius outshines us. There are no shortcuts to forming a more perfect union. The ends don’t justify the means. The “ends” of the products of anti-Western schools Socialist Critical Theory like DEI, so-called “antiracism” and the like are divisive, destructive, corrupt and untrue, and doomed to fail.
Criticism from one man’s mouth will land like hate speech in another man’s ears particularly if they are not attuned to Western values.
Just as one cannot be “a little pregnant” the First Amendment cannot be a little watered down. The Report reminds us of the well established, historical times and places the First Amendment has no reach as it goes on to further limit speech, compel speech, and continue to build the secular religion of DEI in public and private spaces.
All the efforts of The Commission is a manifest bribe to coerce, cajole, curry favor and buy off Jewish support for Socialist (Progressive) agenda.
You can’t compel belief.
The Massachusetts regime is fundamentally corrupt and undemocratic. The Beacon Hill (or should I say Usurpation Hill) branch of the Socialist cabal continue to sacrifice parts of the Bill of Rights for profit. The Massachusetts “Democratic” Party is but one of several monuments to the unprecedented breach of faith and grotesque betrayal of American Constitutional values.
Thank you for presenting a balanced view on this challenging matter. It’d be great to see schools teach anti-Israel bias as any other bias like you described. Given MA teacher Union presented a very biased and one sided position, how do you see a balanced view implemented in public schools?
This isn’t about “anti-Israel bias,” it’s about antisemitism.
Thank you for demonstrating exactly the conflation of opposition to Israel—which is a legitimate political viewpoint which more and more people, both Jewish and non-Jewish, have arrived at after watching what Israel has done since October 7—with antisemitism. This is exactly CJFS’s concern and exactly what the Commission completely failed to grapple with in its report.
I certainly do not want schools teaching students about “anti-Israel bias”, unless what you mean is teaching students about the genocide which Israel has been committing in Gaza and the West Bank, which might perhaps cause some students to form negative opinions about the state perpetrating said genocide.
Absolutely
I must respond to this abominable post*
Before I give my full credentials working to combat hate of all sorts, I demand you:
Stop indoctrinating and propagandizing our children. When you are not drugging our children to death, you are abusing them, stealing their childhood, and hijacking their education.
Stop occupying the American mind.
Stop gaslighting the public.
Stop subverting the Constitution of the United States of America.
Stop usurping our protected rights and constitutional guarantees.
Stop
Just Stop.
Now:
Have you and the Massachusetts legislature tried to stop supporting Israel’s genocide?
How about the military Apartheid regime?
Land theft?
Terrorism against the small, innocent, and defenseless population in Gaza and in the West Bank, thousands upon thousands of home demolitions?
What about the systematic abduction, imprisonment, and rape of thousands of innocent men, women, the elderly, and children in Israeli torture and concentration camps?
Have you and/or the Massachusetts legislature tried, at all, to stop the wholesale murders of doctors and health care workers, teachers and professors, journalists, business owners, poets, religious leaders, ICU patients, blowing up generators and cutting up oxygen to premature babies in incubators?
Or perhaps, you and the Massachusetts legislature did something to intervene to stop the mass-killing of children (more than 20,000, including thousands of babies and toddlers). I must have missed that. Please remind me.
Or did you lift a finger to prevent the maiming of thousands of children and adults who have been blown away by missiles and 2000-pound bombs or burned alive, or executed while seeking aid in the midst of Israel’s orchestrated starvation campaign within a small enclave that has been under land, air, and sea siege for 20 years now?
Let’s not forget the criminal settlers who terrorize and murder Palestinians daily to steal their land under the watchful eyes of sociopathic gangsters in the Israeli terrorist organization.
Just tell me.
This is evil, and you all know very well that opposition to this has zero relation to “antisemitism,” but you keep pushing and passing laws against the American people. That is treason.
This is moral and intellectual bankruptcy. The most vile aspect of this is that your maneuvers have supported the media in their complicity and allowed degenerates in organizations, such as the ADL, the Canary Mission, and hundreds of Zionists in the genocidal network to destroy the lives of anyone who so much as objects to killing children and turning an entire land to rubble, bombing hospitals, bakeries, wter and sewer systems, sollar panels, schools, mosques, churches, farms, trees, zoos, fertility cliniques, homes for the disabled, marketplace, cemeraties, and everything that stand.
Seriously!
Are you telling us, or at least me, that you’re proud of this?
I have respected you over the years. You know this because I have told you repeatedly.
But if supporting all of the above is antisemitic, please count me in.
And now I will sit on the Bill of Rights and wait for the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, The National Intelligence Agency, the Massachusetts and Boston Police, and the Sheriff Department to come to my door and drag me to an anti-Semitism gulag. I know they have dozens of other ways they harm people’s lives. Obviously, the goal here is to force /coerce every American to declare their support for genocide by all means necessary.
This is one more example that politicians never did, and will never underestimate the stupidity of the American public, once they have finished programming and brainwashing the population. There is also this saying for a very good reason: “You can fool most of the people most of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” This is that kind of time.
Your thought crime law will undoubtedly work on most people. However, some of us will hold you by the promise of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and will not give in to your fear and punishment method of governance.
If you wish to reply, please show me where anything in this text is false; do not be a coward and delete it.
SHAME ON ALL OF YOU.
I don’t owe any of you an explanation for my stand against genocide, war crimes, cruelty, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. I will only say this:
I worked with Lenny Zakim in the 80’s when he was the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. His office was in Boston. I worked with that organization for over 12 years, and Lenny asked me to collaborate with him on multiple projects. He requested that I deliver several presentations at the Jewish Temples. But this was before Zionists took complete control of the federal and state government, got their hands wrapped around the neck of every American, and started using Judaism and innocent Jews as human shields. When I worked with Lenny, I was the Executive Director of a community-based advocacy organization that I had founded and located on Massachusetts Avenue. Lenny was not only my colleague but also my friend. We worked together on the “World of Difference” Program. I wish Lenny were around so I could find out his position on the Israeli Gaza Holocaust. Unfortunately, he went too soon, taken so early by bone marrow cancer. What I know for sure is that Lenny was a beloved and great leader, a good man. I will continue to remember him as the wonderful human being I knew him to be.
*I will keep a copy of this as my receipt, given that there are more lies among those promoting this bloody ideology than you can find rats in all of America’s underground tunnels.
What a sad and twisted moral take. Hamas, The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Qatar, Iran, Russia, China and all the other financial backers are the only ones who have Hebrew and Palestinian blood on their hands.
I think that there should be someone who challenges your candidacy for the Senate based on your support for the IHRA definition of antisemitism, even though the Commonwealth cares about definitions of antisemitism much more than it cares about Israel’s government, says this person who thinks BiBi is a crook and a killer of tens of thousands of innocent people along with members of Hamas and Hezbollah, etc…
All antisemitism is tied to the support of a criminal and murderous country that is and has been committing genocide for years. When Jews disavow themselves from a country that is a perpetrator of crimes against the Palestinians then there will be no hatred of Jews. There will be no antisemitism to debate about.
This statement is both ridiculously false and antisemitic.
I agree. The poster’s comments are extreme. Whenever I see “all”, regardless of the topic, my feeling is that the speaker is painting with too broad a brush. I do not agree that disavowing Israel will lead to the end of anti-semitism.
This statement is incredibly offensive and wholly inaccurate. Antisemitism has existed for hundreds of years well before the creation of the state of Israel. There is never anything someone “must do” in order to be treated equally. I could go on with the other ways this statement is offensive and perhaps shouldn’t have been goaded into a response, but couldn’t just leave it hanging there unchallenged.
Antisemitism is deep, real, and long lasting in Christain and Muslim socities. It flows into and around criticism of Israel. But they are not the same thing, as shown by the fact that important sectors of the Christian world are both pro-Israel and antisemitic and the efforts of so many proud Jews to stop Israel’s expansionist brutality. In fact, current attempts by the Israeli and US governments to conflate them are energizing anti-Muslim, anti-democracy, and even anti-Jewish efforts: as shown by the way Trump has used the issue. In fact, it is Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank that have — by erasing the moral outrage at the Holocaust which (combined with Western anti-Arab racism and imperial designs) originally gave Israel the political space to realize the historic necessity of creating a welcoming place for those (including parts of my own family) who the Christian world had left to die — sparked escalating anti-Israeli protests big enough to suck in anti-semitic groups. The Middle East is a mess, but by creating “recommendations” using language so easily open to repressive weaponization, the Commission has made itself part of the problem instead of part of the solution.
One of the memes often encountered in various internet comment threads dealing with this issue is: “Offended by everything, ashamed of nothing.” Another is: “Their victim card has expired.” I have no doubt that some individuals who brandish those phrases are real anti-semites. The problem is that a great many more people … in no way anti-semitic but very much opposed to current Israeli state policy … recognize the validity of those memes when applied to certain highly-influential and extremely well-funded pressure groups. Groups that readily stoop to intimidating and smearing honest decent persons who denounce genocide, by accusing them of anti-semitism. I’m relieved and reassured to read in these thoughtful critiques of the Special Commission that Massachusetts Jews, or at least a significant number of them, are vividly aware of the potential danger inherent in certain points of view expressed by the Commission. I’m sure the recommendations listed in the report were all made in good faith. But I think it would be unwise to ignore the possible abuses that they might inadvertently lead to. It would be naive in the extreme to assume that all individuals and organizations that deal with these matters would necessarily act in good faith. The fact that so many commenters here have stated their awareness of the problem is most reassuring. I don’t adhere to any particular religious tradition. But one of my foundational beliefs as a confirmed secularist/agnostic is that the Constitution of the United States is the ultimate foundation of what makes this country special. And that the founders of this nation put the First Amendment where they did for very good reasons. It’s comforting to know that this feeling is strongly shared by others.
Thank you for your thoughtful comments and explanation, Sen. Brownsberger and for making the effort to inform us. It’s helpful.
Sadly, the actions of Israeli government in response to Hamas’ October 23rd attack are in many people’s minds, linked to the to the rise in antisemitism in Massachusetts and everywhere else, for that matter.
What people see, even today during the “ceasefire” is the continued killing of innocent people in Gaza by the Israeli government – people who had nothing to do with the horrific attack, murder, and kidnapping of innocent Jewish people on Oct. 23rd by Hamas.
And most people are not hearing enough from Israeli citizens and Jews from around the world who are in opposition to the extreme actions of the Israeli government.
I don’t think additional state legislation will solve the problem, and it may exacerbate it. Yes, more education and access to accurate information is needed, but I’m not sure how you stop the flow of hateful and violence inciting messages that flow though the toxic rivers of of social media around the world – unless you regulate it.
Moreover it might be more effective if our elected representatives at all levels used their positions to push for a peaceful political solution in Israel and demand that the federal government stop threatening our colleges and universities.
The road to peace in Israel looks more unlikely today than ever before, but if we don’t start somewhere, we will never get there.
I believe we can.
I really wish you would change your stance on this. This commission has not been properly vetted nor does it represent the whole spectrum of Jews from Zionist to anti-Zionist, to different sects and political leanings. Having watched some of the testimony of Jewish people against what the commission what proposing, I was struck by how those Jewish people were treated by the commission. They were talked over, ignored and ultimately dismissed. It is frightening to see airs of superiority within an ethnic group. As someone who has Jewish friends all over the map, it difficult to manage and witness this in-fighting.
To be clear, I do not support Netanyahu, I never have. He tried to take over the courts to suppress Israeli rights. He ignored information on potential breaches during the summer prior to the October 7th masacre. Yes, Israel has a right to defend itself but there is defense and then there is overkill. Coming to the table would have been more politically prudent, and perhaps spared the lives of Jews, Muslims and Christians in the territory. I don’t think he would ever support a two state solution, which I do. Ideally, it should be one state because the Israeli and the Palestinians belong to the land equally. They are in many ways the same people. And I have levied all kinds of criticism against the US as well as my parents’ origin country of Italy. When administrations do bad things, they should be criticized and forced to mend their ways.
Yes anti-Semitism has risen but so has hatred of other peoples, not land, which is to be expected when there is a white nationalist in power. Sundown towns are back, there are lynchings, Muslims and Asians are being targeted, disabled people are being treated as less than, and LBGT+ are also in the cross-hairs. Speaking of LBGT+, I think the commission should follow their lead when it comes to discrimination, one of more expression. More expression keeps everyone safe because less expression buries the problem. It is better to confront speech hate on. Part of the virulent rise in Neo-nazis in Europe, particularly in Germany can be attributed to the clamp down on speech. These groups went underground where no one could witness their atrocious behaviors and thoughts. And when rules changed, they came out in full force unchecked, denying the Holocaust, and entering the government. This also should apply to classroom discussion. It should be ok to say I disagree or here is how these people view the situation or that makes me feel awful because I hate to see people hurt or even killing is wrong …but no name calling though. We can have discussion about slavery without using the N word, so why can’t we do the same with the Israel-Palestine conflict? If you want to see how this plays out, just look at the clamp down on speech regarding slavery and racism – “you might hurt a white person’s feelings if you say many white families enslaved blacks.” You can teach the story of Anne Frank and the Rape of Berlin, and come away with an understanding that war, genocide and the like traumatizes all people, and that trauma continues beyond the immediate victim. There has to be more discussion, negotiation, disagreement, and less white-washing, physical fighting and war. It is not anti-Semitic to think this way, it is human to want to have no one hurt.
Rita, thank you for writing this. I agree completely, but you wrote it better than I could have.
For the record, I was raised Jewish but not Zionist. Thank goodness my family didn’t swallow “a land without people for a people with a land”.
The legacy Jewish organizations (such as JDC, ADL, JCRC, etc.) do NOT represent all Jews-they represent Zionists, while leaving no room for Jews whose Judaism is not completely conflated with Israel. And yet, it is their voices and viewpoints that ring the loudest and that are driving policy recommendations such as this. The “shadow” report is a well thought out, high quality document that takes issue point by point with the commission’s anti-semitism report. Without taking these points seriously, we are allowing antisemitism to be weaponized and ultimately have zero meaning in the face of ACTUAL antisemitism. I personally resent and feel so upset by this conflation of Judaism with Israel. I am disappointed in our Governor for bowing to the loudest voices in the Jewish community, and leaving a large swath of Jews, young and old, out of the conversation by effectively ignoring the CJFS and other critical voices.
Will, as you know from our conversation, I share Jonathan Kamens’s concerns, above. The report’s introductory pages give lip service to a diversity of opinions among Jews, yet the recommendations
– persistently frame voices raised in support of Palestinian freedom as hate speech
– conflate Judaism (an identity) with Zionism (a political viewpoint) and call for special protections based on that conflation (See page 27, Finding 3a: “campuses are increasingly hostile environments, where expressing a Jewish identity or connection to Israel, *self-identifying as a Zionist*, or being presumed to be a Zionist, can lead to social isolation or backlash.”)(asterisks mine)
– continue to rely on discredited data from the ADL to back up their findings. (See the Jewish Currents line-by-line critique of the ADL’s methodology https://jewishcurrents.org/examining-the-adls-antisemitism-audit.) Antisemitism is real and deadly. We cannot afford to use flawed data.
– champion the IHRA definition despite tens of hours of public comment by concerned Jewish and non-Jewish Massachusetts residents. I won’t reiterate here the many serious concerns about IHRA.
I know from our conversations that you have the best interests of Massachusetts at heart. If/when legislation based on the commission’s report does land on your desk, I hope you will approach it with an awareness of all its possible implications, especially in light of the current political context – the way in which our very identity, as Jews, is being weaponized to serve a repressive and racist agenda.
Key Fact: Decades of Israeli government violence against Palestinians has NEVER been for the purpose of making Israeli Jews safe. Read the overwhelming evidence for my assertion in my article at https://www.pdrboston.org/israel-s-government-attacks-jews-to , in which I explain what the actual purpose of this violence has been and still is.
The mass media and even the “pro-Palestine” organizations censor this Key Fact. The result of this censorship is that virtually everybody (be they “pro-Israel” or “pro-Palestine”) believes (wrongly) that the choice is between a) supporting Israel because it’s what one has to do to avoid being in effect on the side of antisemites who want to kill the Jews, OR b) supporting the Palestinians on the grounds that Israeli violence, while for the noble cause of making Israeli Jews safe, is nonetheless disproportionate and the violence is genocidal.
In this false framework, not supporting Israel’s violence is (as a very logical conclusion from a false but never-refuted premise) in effect if not intent opposition to what is being done to make Jews safe, which opposition is of course antisemitic.
This false framework thus guarantees that those primarily concerned for the welfare of Palestinians will be viewed (wrongly!) as antisemitic in effect if not intent.
This false framework thus pits good people against good people. This is how our billionaire ruling class divides-and-rules the have-nots
Let’s express the TRUTH, the Key Fact about the ACTUAL purpose of Israeli violence against Palestinians, which is not at all to make Israeli Jews safe. Read my article to learn about this Key Fact.
When this Key Fact is widely known, then the Pro-Palestine people and (the vast majority of) the Pro-Israel people will understand that they are on the SAME SIDE.
The Biden White House and the Massachusetts State House are complicit in furthering the war aims of Hamas et al. by taking on the charge of “globalizing the intifada,” when Democratic Administrations refused to lower the flag for the 53 Americans were murdered on 10/7.
Antisemitism Commission?! Of all the duplicitous outrages.
The Democrats, of which I was one since WJC until the Party became a member of the Hamas political wing, were and are so desperate for young voters in their self righteous, Progressive, rage bait bubbles that they stooped so low in their pandering as to deny massacred Americans the dignity of a state honor.
Anti Zionism is antisemitism no matter how you slice it. Only the morally illiterate Progressives would demand that a Jewish state be barred from the god given right to conduct effective and meaningful self defense.
Israel has every right to reassume its sovereignty. The modern notion of a “Palestinian” was manufactured by insecure and jealous neighboring states who were given the kiss of life by the West.
The First Amendment is absolute and under attack as it is predominantly by the left. Of course you can criticize Israel, but recognize that criticism is largely rooted in antisemitism.
Yes
But I must add that we be mindful that even measured criticism of Israel falls on the intemperate, warped and hateful ears of antisemites as damnation and a call to jihad and to wipe Jews from Israel. They who were raised indoctrinated in genocidal hate do not hear criticism the way people born into a free and open society hear criticism. God’s justice, the larger, wide view justice may taste bitter to those who in 1964 were named “Palestinians” as they equate a century’s handful of generations to the generation of over three millennia, but it is still justice as it ends a century of pawnhood
Israel is not beyond rare criticism, but it’s almost the rule that criticism of Israel is just code, a stalking horse for the Socialists’ and Islamists’ key aim of destroying the State of Israel.
The centuries and millennia may have blown many powers across the lands of Judea and Samaria but Israel was still there. God’s justice, if you will, the larger, wide view justice may taste bitter to those who in 1964 were named “Palestinians” as they equate a century’s handful of generations to the generation of over three millennia, but the sovereignty of Israel is still justice as it ends a century of nascent and newborn Arab States and their Soviet (and later Russian, Iranian and Chinese sponsors) from using the people we now call Palestinian as eternal pawns imprisoned and unwelcome in TransJordan, Arabia, Egypt, Iran … and condemned to a fate of being weapons against Israel.
Key Fact: Decades of Israeli government violence against Palestinians has NEVER been for the purpose of making Israeli Jews safe. Read the overwhelming evidence for my assertion in my article at https://www.pdrboston.org/israel-s-government-attacks-jews-to , in which I explain what the actual purpose of this violence has been and still is.
When this Key Fact is widely known, then the Pro-Palestine people and (the vast majority of) the Pro-Israel people will understand that they are on the SAME SIDE.
Key Fact: Decades of Israeli government violence against Palestinians has NEVER been for the purpose of making Israeli Jews safe. Read the overwhelming evidence for my assertion in my article at https://www.pdrboston.org/israel-s-government-attacks-jews-to , in which I explain what the actual purpose of this violence has been and still is.
When this Key Fact is widely known, then the Pro-Palestine people and (the vast majority of) the Pro-Israel people will understand that they are on the SAME SIDE.
Will,
I hope you do work to pass legislation that protects Jewish citizens. We have been harassed enough. Just imagine telling African American students not to attend classes in person (MIT) or shoving visibly Jewish students and threatening them (Harvard). No excuses. This is pure Jew hatred.
Agreed. The product of the Antisemitism Commission is a reinforcement and rewarding of a worldview and agenda that uses antisemitism as an engine.
The response of the Antisemitism Commission is to harness antisemitism to further the unConstitutional, anti-free speech, divisive and unproductive structures the Social Democrats have been erecting and institutionalizing in federal and state governments and had been coercing in private industry described nicely in the quote below.
“ recommendations is to respond to antisemitism in the same way that we respond to racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny and other forms of bias, bullying, and hate. And, in fact, the recommendations would elevate our response to all forms of these evils.”
“There you go again.”
Legislating morality.
In short, the nullification of the First Amendment by a thousand cuts.
Shhhh! The Israelis are listening!
Can we all agree that it’s a problem when the mob in Charlottesville chanted “Jews will not replace us” and “Blood and Soil” and waved swastika flags?
I will certainly agree that Charlottesville was a problem. No doubt about it. Not only in itself, but as a symptom of a more widespread and persistent problem. Now, can we all agree that it’s a really big problem when Gazan babies and their mothers are blown to bits by bombs that were made in the USA? Delivered by warplanes that were also made in the USA ? Assisted in their targeting by US intelligence infrastructure? On behalf of armed violent mobs…consisting to a significant, even disproportionate extent of emigrants from the USA… who are forcibly replacing the resident Palestinians in the West Bank? And who wave Magen David flags? And who absurdly smear anyone who publicly denounces their criminal behavior as an advocate of virulent anti-semitism? I say “absurdly” because the indigenous Palestinian population is of course overwhelmingly Semitic …culturally, historically, and linguistically. While the proportion of actual Semites among the Jewish citizens of Israel is very much less than in Gaza or the West Bank. How on earth could people like me be accused of anti-semitism, when we spend so much time drawing attention to the plight of the real Semites in West Asia? And opposing the dreadful policies of the recently-arrived European and American colonial settlers in that region? When the Israelis someday legalize the sale and use of DNA tests within their borders (Oops! They carefully refrain from defining “their” borders. Wonder why?) I might feel inclined to listen to their pronouncements about “anti-semitism” while keeping a poker face and stifling my laughter.
Some of the concerns raised in these comments can be addressed quite easily. If you are simply criticizing Israel it will be in the form of words. Written, spoken, electronic etc. I will forever defend people’s right to say things I disagree with no matter how misguided.
If someone is engaging in property damage, harassment, threats, or physical violence, that is not criticizing Israel. Ive certainly seen some people justify doing those things in the name of Palestian resistance, and therefore they don’t think they should face consequences. But it would be a lie to claim those activities are simply criticizing Israel.
If you aren’t engaging in property damage, physical violence, harassment or threats then this report and this task force shouldn’t frighten you. For those who say those things I mentioned aren’t really happening , then you should be extra-not-frightened of the report or task force.
Your commitment to protecting the free speech rights of those who disagree with you is laudable. Voltaire himself would propose a toast to your good health. And I would gladly join him. I only wish that the apologists for a certain …shall we say… notorious rogue state shared your humane outlook. Many of those apologists, while claiming to be staunch upholders of free speech in general, make one glaring exception. They show open hostility to the notion of free speech, if (and only if) such speech includes criticism of that particular rogue state’s policies and behavior. Even (maybe especially) when the policies and behavior in question have been carefully documented. And are a matter of public record. Among the relatively minor pecadillos thus listed (for the moment let’s omit the most heinous crimes) are property damage, physical violence, harassment, and threats. So presumably, according to the reasoning in your comment, that rogue state might well have reason to fear reports and task forces that would call attention to its misbehavior. Do you think this is why the apologists whom I mentioned, above, are so resolutely determined…in the unique case of this one rogue state …to shut down the conversation? Because they fear that an honest, open, freewheeling discussion of certain facts would not redound to the credit of their nation-state Padrino? Who has made them, perhaps, an offer they can’t refuse? No particular reason for asking, just idle curiosity. Once again, congratulations on your principled declaration of support for free speech. Our poor unfortunate country needs all the free speech it can get. And then some.
WARNING: The Massachusetts Antisemitism Commission is another way the Commonwealth of Massachusetts itself a Hamas instrument furthering their key war aim to eliminate the State of Israel.
This initiative is nothing more and nothing less than an a partisan effort to pander to so-called Democratic Socialists at best, but in fact this commission of the state is undergirding the ongoing Socialist transformation of the Democratic Party.
That facet of antisemitism called anti-Zionism, is the black, dirty coal that Socialists shovel into the firebox that keeps the Progressive locomotive running.
Don’t fall for the lie that antiZionism isn’t antisemitism.
Fearful, cowering American Jews and allies may play games with their words to hide and separate themselves themselves from Israel’s essential martial and stately actions by creating the fiction that antiZionism isn’t antisemitism, but that won’t protect us from terrorists and their Progressive tools who heft the Sword of Islam as it swings whistles “globalize the intifada” and slashes with “from the river to the sea.” That weapon isn’t exclusive to the ghazi, but is wielded deftly by the Socialists to further their march across America and building antidemocratic structures throughout the interstices of government, private firms and society.
“Yehuda Bauer, one of the architects and supporters of the IHRA definition, has argued in various op-ed articles that the mere demand for the Right of Return is in itself a prelude to genocide and therefor is essentially antisemitic. Hence this definition, which has been adopted by many states world-wide, including the USA, criminalizes the essence of Palestinian narrative as antisemitic.” – Goldberg, Amos (2022). “From a Global War of Narratives to a Binational Framework”. Society. 59(1): 3–11
“Please clap.” [Jeb Bush, New Hampshire, February 2016]
Hello Fred. Listen, have you ever considered applying to be a guest on one of the TV talk shows that discuss current events and trending news? I’d really like to see you featured on cable TV, either at a local outlet or (better yet) in the home studio of one of the big networks. CBS would be great. The cherry on top would be to have some prominent representative from the ADL, seated beside you and nodding sagely at the camera to show agreement with the points you make about the
Commission. Especially “itself a Hamas instrument”. I would actually pay money to see that. In fact, I would fervently pray (no small thing for an agnostic secularist) that all 360-odd million Americans would see and hear both of you during prime time. Breaking all previous Nielson records for audience size. The reasons for my wish are neither here nor there, so I see no need to delve into them right now. Just be assured that what I wrote comes from the heart. Take that however you like. Hey, one hand washes the other. The art of the deal. Cheers.
Hi Kenneth,
Never occurred to me. It is enough to shoo into the world my few small words against the Progressive antisemites and Hamas apologists that all the elected “Democratic” blowing feathers and weathercocks pander to. When the time comes they will all expediently add the prefix “social” and stop pretending that the Democratic Party did not some years ago breathe its last.
Sincerely,
Fred
On the evening of 10/7 oxygen was rolling towards the incipient fires of antisemitism and Democrats in the White House, on Beacon Hill and in other states’ capitols had fire extinguishers at hand but chose with malice aforethought to leave that fire extinguisher on the wall unused. President Biden, Governor Healey and others could have taken to the airwaves to lower our flags to half mast and take a stand against genocidal antisemitism, to humanize and honor the American Jews murdered by Hamas and their allies and drench with the cold water of righteousness the hateful speech yet to spill from the mouths of Hamas sympathizers who deny the Jewish right to statehood and self defense.
The truth of the matter is the choice was made at the top of the Democratic Party,* and executed thru-ought the Party structure to the bottom to at all costs appease the antisemitic Progressives and preserve their votes, and the greater prerogatives of dismantling the founding ideals of “God’s Caldron” for the partisan and electoral loyalties of the the balkanizing Socialist Critical Theorists’ “salad bowl.”
This isn’t about protecting Jews, it’s about preserving the anti-Constitutional “Massachusetts way” by co-opting a pogrom.
(* The Dems which we now know were electorally underwater in spite of the efforts and hallucinations of the Fourth Estate.
(I use the terms “Democrat,” and “Democratic Party” as a a convenience. Whatever term people use going forward just recognize it falls within the Socialist umbrella.))
For over a decade and especially in 2026 there are no more and no less than two kinds of Democrats: there are the Democrats who know they are part of a socialist party and willingly further their anti-American and ergo anti-Western aims, and Democrats who don’t know they are part of a socialist party and are ignorantly furthering the socialist aims to unmake America.
One such transfer of wealth recently being exposed in a wave across the country is the childcare fraud.
Senator Brownsberger, please create a post about the over 4-fold increase in yearly new (fraudulent) childcares since 2019 bilking C3 money and how the Millionaires’ tax is being diverted to fund this fraud.
https://youtu.be/S6OEF67G7dM
“Conservatives believe that life begins at conception and ends at birth.” -Barney Frank. (Well, they do make an exception in the case of Israelis. I’ll give them that.)
How are the words of a corrupt politician a relevant response here?
Barney Gaming Frank he sold us all down the river.
https://www.smu.edu/news/archives/2011/ben-voth-americanthinker-12dec2011
Conservatives are far better allies than Socialists with respect to curbing oligarchy and maintaining a republic with no kings.
Not all conservatives oppose the unaliving of uterinauts. Few, to be sure, but not all. Some see women’s God given liberty affirmed by the First Amendment.
Again I say this is not an exercise of protecting the people it is an assault against our liberties.
Somewhere beneath layers of the mud and muck we are beginning to shake off we still have a government of, by and for the people who mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
What we have now is a government for itself run by a cabal of sophists and professional politicians who attempt to deceive the governed that blessings of Liberty come from them and from the government, or even come from the Constitution as if it were an idol or totem and they willfully and actively obscure that our liberties are natural rights and Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.
My child’s entire high school career was colored by an omnipresent multi-hued ensign in the shape of the flag of Palestine and brainwashed by a Socialist/Democratic program that’s 19 parts political and ideological shielded by one part of politicians jumping on a wave social contagion of an unfalsifiable pretense of gender ideology, abusing the notion of “protected classes” to deprive the governed of their liberty.
If you still trust the rotten assembly of Democrats watch Minnesota, watch Massachusetts, watch where tue scandals pop up and they will tell the tale of betrayal and usurpation. Already, just one downstream effect of cutting off USAID was the exposure of the DNC laundering the money and using it as a slush fund to enrich lawyers and profit causes and entities who gain from efforts nullify portions of the Bill of Rights they don’t like.
P.s., Don’t be too distracted by the newly elected Socialists, the shiny objects promising communal warmth in NYC, Seattle and VT, be existentially concerned by and hotly moved to oust the 45 Democrat Senators and 213 Democratic Representatives who AT BEST with their cowardly, self-serving silence are ushering in the remaking of America as a Socialist state and at worst are the cryptic agents of that disastrous end.
Socialist Party d.b.a. the Democratic Party.
The most socialist institution in the USA is the Pentagon. Every year the government issues them a blank check. Gives them free food, clothing, housing, medical and dental care, job training, and education. With lots of heavily-subsidized child care. What do informed sources say about accountability for misuse of this big blank check? There’s a report by Taxpayers for Common Sense titled: “Why can’t the Pentagon pass an audit?” I pass along this brief excerpt: “Accounting problems led the GAO in 1995 to put DOD’s financial management on GAO’s list of agencies that are at high risk of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.” Do you suppose things must have gotten better since then? Sorry to disillusion you. “Military Officers Association of America” published this just last month, on December 22: “Pentagon fails another annual audit” It’s actually almost a word-for-word reprint of a piece dated December 19, published by “Military Times”. Title of report: “Pentagon fails financial audit for 8th year in a row.” I quote from the article: “The [Defense] department has received a failing grade on every audit since Congress mandated annual reviews beginning in 2018, and is the only one of the government’s 24 major agencies never to pass.” “Colorado Newsline” on December 6 published a piece titled “Conservative lawmakers calling for cuts should start with the agency that can’t account for $1.9 trillion –not the programs Americans rely on.” Midwest childcare fraud? Go after the elephant in the room, not the mouse. When sniffing out fraud and waste in government, always begin with the biggest repeat offender. The most socialist institution in the USA.
Fair point. At least the “elephant” of a Pentagon is working in America’s interests, whereas the wee “mouse” as you say is not so harmless. In fact, that corrupt little mouse is pregnant with the destructive potency of plutonium. The catastrophe that is playing out since the onset of the welfare state continues to stunt the spirts, dignity, ambitions and families creating suckling pups in perpetuity and with the power of a positive feedback loop corrupts the very nature of government, the republic and our relationship to it, to each other and to ourselves.
At this point in time the Socialists (d. b.a. the Democratic Party) is more poisonous to Liberty than the British were, or could be because of the Party’s proximity, transformation and metathesis and abandonment of any semblance of a moral spirit. The Democrats long abandoned adult leadership to pander to the lowest common denominator in hate baiting echo chambers and pander to children who have only read pamphlets the first chapter on Socialism and have yet to understand that the reason why it alway fails in internal and not external. In being “the opposition Party” the Democrats cut off our nose to spite our face. The tack the Democrats are on is Reprehensible and Degenerate. I was a faithful Democrat for thirty years and that Party no longer exists and what does exist is a slow rolling coup against Liberty, Natural Law and The Constitution. If any elected Democrats had an ounce of honor they would put the Republic, the country ahead of wholly nihilistic Party and the midterms.
* metastases