Two leading American advocacy organizations – J Street, representing the American Jewish community, and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), representing the American Muslim community – issued a joint statement today condemning the Trump Administration’s assault on free speech and civil liberties in the name of fighting antisemitism and urging Senators to vote against the Antisemitism Awareness Act. We stood together in opposition to this legislation last Congress but in the current political context, the consequences of it being signed into law are far more dire. We remain committed to fighting antisemitism and Islamophobia and look forward to working with Congress on meaningful efforts to do so.
As organizations representing the Jewish and Muslim American communities, we stand together once again in shared sorrow and steadfast solidarity. We are confronting a dual crisis: the alarming surge in antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, racism, and hate-driven rhetoric across the country; and the dangerous escalation of state repression, often disguised as a response to these very forms of hate.
The Trump Administration has not only failed to quell the escalation of hate – it has exacerbated it. From legitimizing white nationalist talking points to overseeing an increasingly authoritarian crackdown on protest and dissent, this administration has exploited rising tensions to erode fundamental civil liberties, particularly those of students.
Though we hold different positions on issues related to Israel and Palestine, we stand together to condemn antisemitic violence and hatred against American Jews, including most recently with the horrific arson attack on Governor Josh Shapiro. Attacking members of the Jewish community for the actions of the Israeli government is antisemitism, and we will always call out such bigotry.
We are just as clear-eyed about the parallel surge in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian racism, violence and repression. Mosques across the country, from Minnesota to California, have faced vandalism, arson attacks and bomb threats. Muslim students have been surveilled, suspended, and publicly vilified for expressing political views on Palestine.
Rather than responding to antisemitism and Islamophobia with integrity, the administration has opted for a sweeping campaign of repression – falsely claiming to protect Jewish communities while targeting critics of Israeli policy.
While we may have strong concerns with how certain universities handled the Gaza protests and real disagreements with various students, disappearing an international student off of the street because they wrote an op-ed criticizing the Israeli government or arresting and attempting to deport Green Card holders based on their association with or speech in connection to campus protests do nothing to protect the Jewish community. These are tactics of state suppression.
Silencing dissent, criminalizing protest, and weaponizing identity to justify the erosion of civil liberties do not make our communities safer. On the contrary, they deepen fear, division, and authoritarianism – threatening the very principles that allow diverse communities to coexist in freedom and dignity.
For this reason, we once again stand together in strong opposition to the Antisemitism Awareness Act (S. 558), which requires the use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism in evaluating complaints of discrimination, including its examples. In the current environment, there is no question that the Trump Administration will take advantage of this definition as the basis for its actions to investigate and deport students and activists for their speech. We urge Senators to vote against this legislation, which would greenlight the Trump Administration’s weaponization of antisemitism to attack academic freedom and university life, suppress free speech, and surveil pro-Palestinian students and activists.