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Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Alyza D. Lewin testified on Wednesday at a virtual public briefing of the New Jersey Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
The bipartisan committee is holding a series of meetings featuring subject matter experts, community leaders, and impacted individuals as it studies the nature of modern-day antisemitism and how it can be countered in New Jersey.
The committee was established to “examine the recent prevalence of antisemitism in our state, including concerns related to discrimination based on race, color, age, disability, or other federally protected category and any denial of equal protection of the law in the administration of justice with the intention of identifying areas for improvement and developing recommendations accordingly.”
The findings and recommendations of the committee will be submitted as a comprehensive report to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights — an independent federal agency established by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 — by next summer.
Wednesday’s briefing was focused on the topic of “Definitions of Antisemitism and Related Civil Liberties Concerns.”
In her oral testimony, Lewin delivered four key points:
— “The Jewish people have a shared ancestry and ethnicity that is rooted in their historical connection to the Land of Israel.”
— “Correct understanding and recognition of this Jewish shared ancestry and ethnicity is essential for the proper application of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.”
— “One of the defining characteristics of modern antisemitism is the deliberate erasure of Jewish peoplehood and the denial of Jewish history and heritage, specifically, the erasure and denial of the Jewish people’s ancestral connection to the Land of Israel.”
— “The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition of Antisemitism is the best tool we have to help educators, administrators, law-enforcement officials, and society at large distinguish between a good-faith political debate about the Middle East, on the one-hand, and expression that dehumanizes, vilifies and targets Jews on the basis of their Jewishness, on the other. The practical framework provided by the IHRA Definition is necessary to ensure that society recognizes and addresses all forms of contemporary antisemitism while fully respecting First Amendment protections.”
Lewin said, “Antisemitism has been described as a mutating virus. During the Middle Ages, Jews were targeted because of their religious faith — accused as Christ-killers. The Nazis, who sought a pure Aryan race, viewed the Jews as the ultimate race polluters. They targeted Jews as a ‘race.’ Today, Jews are increasingly targeted on the basis of Jewish peoplehood and the Jews’ ancestral connection to the Land of Israel. That is the Jewish people’s shared ancestry and ethnicity.”
“Our civil rights laws already protect Jews from this type of discrimination,” she noted. “The challenge is that too many in society are deliberately erasing and denying just this component of Jewishness. That must stop if we are going to
effectively address this form of contemporary antisemitism.”
Read a full transcript of Lewin’s oral testimony HERE.
