Last night I received an urgent email from the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) strongly condemning Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for her “deeply offensive and antisemitic remarks implying that Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s decision to prosecute pro-Palestinian protesters was influenced by her Jewish identity.”
To clarify, the AG is the one with a Jewish identity, the Congresswoman is the first “Palestinian American” to serve in Congress – the grammar there was a bit choppy.
What happened? In an interview with the Detroit Metro Times (Tlaib slams Nessel for targeting pro-Palestinian students at U-M: ‘A dangerous precedent’), Tlaib criticized Nessel for targeting pro-Hamas demonstrators, saying, “It seems that the attorney general decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs.”
Tlaib did not mention Nessel’s ethnicity, but, you know, the point she was making was that the Michigan justice system is working for the WZO.
The charges filed against 11 protesters involved in demonstrations at the University of Michigan include violent behavior, obstructing police, and trespassing. The AG’s office clarified that the charges are based on criminal activity, not political viewpoints, underscoring that Michigan law protects both free speech and public safety.
The University of Michigan student protest encampment was established in April and grew to include about 60 tents. Over time, their daily protests evolved (or devolved) into all kinds of violence, mostly punishable by 30 days in jail.
BREAKING: Arrests made at the University of Michigan after police mobilized to stop a pro-Palestine demonstration at The Diag during Festifall on campus pic.twitter.com/xQPF3zYWGZ
— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) August 28, 2024
Nessel said in a statement that the protesters are being held accountable for their crimes, not ideas: “Conviction in your ideals is not an excuse for violations of the law. A campus should not be lawless; what is a crime anywhere else in the city remains a crime on university property.”
Dr. Charles Asher Small, Executive Director of ISGAP, the guy who sent me the urgent email, stated: “To allege, as Rep. Rashida Tlaib did, that Michigan Attorney General Nessel is charging the protesters solely because she is Jewish is an outrageous antisemitic trope that should be denounced by all public officials charged with upholding the laws of our country. Nessel is the duly elected Attorney General of Michigan and is charged with enforcing the laws of Michigan. She has every right and duty to charge anti-Israel campus demonstrators for assaulting police and engaging in ethnic intimidation, among other alleged crimes and those charged have every right to legal counsel to defend themselves. Such comments are not only harmful but antithetical to the core values of equality, justice, and religious freedom upon which America was founded.”
Dr. Small is the author of The Ongoing Failure to Report – Yale University, Qatar, and undisclosed foreign funding.
I’m not sure US Jews need to express their outrage every time some antisemite pulls or says something outrageous (and this one barely scores one star on the Rashida Tlaib hate rating system). We must certainly go after schools that permit antisemitic harassment on campus because Jewish lives are at stake. But the shock and awe that was generated in Jewish circles by Tlaib’s attack on the AG was exaggerated, and likely enhances her position with her voters.
We need to direct our energies to find a good replacement for Tlaib, as AIPAC has done this election year with two Squad members Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush. Everything else is needless rhetoric.
