Last Updated on May 3, 2024
Americans seem dumbfounded as their highest political representatives in Washington, D.C. call for laws to ban certain forms of speech – specifically statements that voice criticism of Israel and the political ideology of Zionism – even equating such expressions with support for terrorism.
But this response becomes less surprising given the legal, operational and intelligence construct which has been erected over nearly a decade, centered on the concept of “antisemitism.”
A deeper look into the origins of these efforts reveals that the mission to ban certain forms of speech in America have been long in the making.
The most recent – and perhaps so far the most draconian effort – is the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which was passed by Congress on May 1.
BROAD DEFINITIONS OF “ANTISEMITISM”
According to U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), the intent of the bill is to accelerate hate crime prosecutions of those protesting against the Israel-Gaza war on college campuses – using broad definitions of “antisemitism.”
According to the Antisemitism Awareness Act, the definitions of what constitute “antisemitic” hate speech violations are stipulated in a list published by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). For example, according to this body of definitions, “Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations” would qualify as hate speech.
Lara Friedman, in a 2020 article in Jewish Currents, provides a stern warning about these IHRA-based laws and their Constitutional implications:
“Parts of that definition conflate antisemitism with both criticism of Israel and anti-Zionism; as a result, the implications of this new legislation for free speech are alarming,” she states.
Jewish scholar Kenneth Stern, who wrote the IHRA, claims that it has been “subverted” and that it was never intended to shut down free speech:
“There was never any idea that this would be used as a de facto hate speech code on campus,” he told The Times of Israel in 2020.
You need to understand how crazy this antisemitism bill is that just passed the House with wide bipartisan approval. The law requires the Department of Education to adopt the definition of antisemitism provided by something called the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) May 1, 2024
WHO WRITES THESE BILLS?
The Foundation for Middle East Peace states that since 2016, there have been efforts in Congress and U.S. states “to pass legislation that is framed as being about fighting antisemitism, but that in practice […] is about targeting non-violent protest, activism, and criticism of Israel and/or Zionism.”
However, a closer look reveals that these legislative efforts do not originate from U.S. politicians. Instead, they have been driven by wealthy Israeli expats in collusion with Netanyahu’s government.
In a leaked 2020 email, Florida State Rep. Randy Fine explains the machinations behind the first Florida “antisemitism bill” – HB 741, which was signed by Governor DeSantis in Israel the preceding year. The law focused on shutting down anti-Israel activities on university campuses in the state.
Fine identifies an individual by the name of Joseph Sabag as the architect of the bill.
“In addition, Joe Sabag at the Israeli-American Coalition for Action was instrumental in providing outside support as I pushed the bill and I would highly recommend anyone considering such an effort speak with him,” Fine writes in an email to fellow state representatives in Oklahoma, Kansas, North Carolina and Arkansas – in a drive to get similar legislation enacted in those jurisdictions as well.
Rep. Fine also indicates that he’s impressed with how the legislation has been structured:
“The elegance of the solution is two-fold: 1) we avoid debate over ‘what is anti-Semitism’ by relying on the world’s most recognized definition. 2) We leverage decades of legal precedent in limiting racist speech, groups on campus, acts by faculty and administrators, etc. and simply apply it to anti-Semitism,” Fine writes.
In a follow-up email, Sabag responds to Fine and the other state lawmakers:
“My legal team has now taken Randy’s bill and refined it into a model that can be brought elsewhere. I urge you to please contact me or Rep. Alan Clemmons and take advantage of our policy support if you are considering filing a bill. We are here to serve,” Sabag writes.
JOSEPH SABAG: THE ARCHITECT
Mr. Sabag, a 2005 graduate of the Florida International University’s College of Law, is an attorney attached to an organization called the Israeli American Council (IAC).
“As an attorney and policy specialist, Joe has been a sought consultant for numerous lawmakers at the state and federal levels over the past decade. In just the last 6 years, he has led drafting and successful advocacy of legislation and key policy resolutions supporting Israel and combatting anti-Semitism in over two-thirds the states in America,” the IAC’s website states.
In a 2019 opinion piece for The Daily Wire, Sabag identifies himself as “the primary legal expert” behind the new antisemitism laws – stating plainly what is to come:
“[…] legislation regulating against anti-Semitism is likely to be enacted in various American states in response to the mounting persecution of Jews.”
Sabag argues that his laws are compatible with the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution:
“Critics of legislation addressing the problem of unlawful anti-Semitic activity wrongly argue that it somehow infringes upon free speech rights. However, the First Amendment does not protect criminal and discriminatory conduct — which is what these laws solely address,” he claims.
This begs the question: why are special laws for Jewish Americans necessary, when criminal conduct is already amply regulated in local, state and federal legislation?
In his commentary, Sabag states that various student organizations and activist groups, such as the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement and Students for Justice in Palestine as “terror-affiliated” and that they are promoting arguments of “Jewish subversion, conspiracy, dual loyalty, greed, economic control, and most insidiously, blood libels.”
IAC: THE COMMAND CENTER
Sabag’s mother organization, the Israeli American Council, keeps a lower profile in their work to impact U.S. legislation and lawmakers than the more well-known lobby group, AIPAC.
The nonprofit’s states that its mission is to “preserve and strengthen the Israeli and Jewish identities of future generations, strengthen the American Jewish community, and strengthen the relationship between citizens of the United States and the State of Israel.”
The biggest funders of IAC are now-deceased casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban – the latter also a long-time supporter of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. The organization is led by Elan Carr, a former Los Angeles prosecutor and military officer who previously served as U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism – “directing U.S. policy and programs aimed at combating Jew-hatred throughout the world,” according to the IAC’s website.
Carr was deployed to Iraq during the U.S. occupation, where he reportedly “led an anti-terrorism team.”
Nearly all senior staff at IAC seem to have received their eduction in Israel, and most names are Hebrew-sounding, and many resources on its web site are only accessible in Hebrew.
The organization’s advisory board includes wealthy and influential dual citizens. The organization is co-chaired by Avi Almozlino, a physician, and Tal Shuster, a former Israeli military and foreign affairs officer.
One of the IAC’s major supporters – Adam Milstein – who also goes by the name Tuvia Milsztein – is a wealthy real estate magnate and a convicted felon. In 2009, he was sentenced to three months in prison for felony tax evasion. The Israeli government, via Consul General Jacob Dayan, attempted to intervene on his behalf by highlighting his philanthropic activities. But prosecutors were unimpressed, warning of “an obvious concern that much of his philanthropy appears to have been merely a device to defraud the government.”
Milstein is involved in an intricate network of organizations and initiatives – a self-described “ecosystem” – to manipulate the U.S. private and public sectors, including law and civil society, into subservience to Israeli-Jewish interests under the auspices of “fighting antisemitism.”
PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE AGAINST AMERICANS
Adam Milstein’s fellow IAC donor, media mogul Haim Saban, has been clear about where his true loyalties lie.
“Our interest is to take care of Israel’s interest in the United States. Period. Over and out,” he said at a secret fundraising summit held in Las Vegas in 2015.
Forward reports that the purpose of the meeting was to lay the groundwork for anti-BDS laws and launch efforts to “fight antisemitism” on U.S. college campuses.
Nearly ten years ago now, Adelson opened the Las Vegas meeting by reading a letter from Benjamin Netanyahu, in which the Israeli leader called for all hands on deck in order to “combat the lies and slander that are leveled against us.”
When the night was over, the clandestine group had $50 million in its war chest. Tens of millions more would be added from covert sources, shell corporations and Israeli government fronts, according to veteran journalist James Bamford.
“At the same time the Las Vegas gathering was taking place, Netanyahu was meeting with his top national security and intelligence officials. The objective was the launch of a political and psychological war targeting Americans on behalf of Israel,” Bamford explains – detailing a “narrative warfare operation” designated Project Butterfly – developed and managed by a Mossad-connected Israeli intelligence contractor called Psy-Group.
The tools employed by these foreign actors against American citizens, Bamford argues, are “efforts to destroy the reputations of students and faculty, subjecting people to unwarranted investigations, and charges of ‘persecution,’ that is, endless phony accusations of ‘antisemitism,’ as well as false and slanderous accounts provided to national cable and broadcast news organizations.”
“In other words, by creating fake news outlets, phony Facebook personas and posts, and other forms of information warfare, Psy-Group’s goal was to deliberately deceive the American public about Israel and its actions against the Palestinians,” Bamford states.
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the government of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claim that the country fully respects the sovereignty of the United States of America and that Israel refrains from meddling in domestic U.S. affairs.
“We don’t intervene in American politics, and we expect to be treated with the same respect,” Israeli government spokesman Tal Heinrich told Newsmax in mid-March.