New State Law Would Deny Financial Aid to Students Who Criticize Israel

by Arvind Dilawar

Although the bills claim to protect Jewish students, they would in fact codify a definition of anti-Semitism that includes criticism of Israel.

Late last year, New York State Senator Bill Weber and Assemblyperson Ari Brown introduced Senate Bill S7752 and Assembly Bill A8399 in their respective chambers. The bills were cosponsored by two dozen other legislators, including Senator Rob Rolison and Assemblyperson Anil Beephan, whose districts include parts of Beacon. The bills — both misleadingly titled “The Combating Campus Antisemitism Act” — claim to be protecting Jewish students by prohibiting “tuition assistance awards to any student who has knowingly engaged in promoting antisemitism.”

In fact, both bills would punish students who criticize the Israeli government, whether in regards to its ongoing genocide in Gaza — which has claimed the lives of more than 34,596 Palestinains, including 14,500 children and 8,400 women, according to Al Jazeera at the time of this writing — or its occupation of Palestine more broadly.

While neither bill directly mentions Israel, both reference a definition of anti-Semitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) — which does mention Israel. The IHRA lists specific examples of criticism that it claims are anti-Semitic, which are broad enough to include any criticism of Israel’s well-documented apartheid regime in the West Bank (“claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor”) to its ongoing genocide in Gaza (“drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis”).

The IHRA is an inter-governmental agency, which now includes 35 member countries, including Israel, and nine observer countries. Although it was ostensibly founded to combat Holocaust denialism, the IHRA’s definition of anti-Semitism was in fact a response to the Second Intifada, an uprising by Palestinians against the ongoing Israeli occupation, as documented by the Foundation for Middle East Peace. Organizations committed to Zionism (Jewish ethno-nationalism) like the American Jewish Committee expressly sought a definition of anti-Semitism that would include anti-Zionism (opposition to Jewish ethno-nationalism) and the IHRA’s working definition gave it to them in 2016.

The IHRA describes its definition of anti-Semitism as “non-legally binding” — but that hasn’t stopped the Israeli government and lobbyists like the American Legislative Exchange Council from trying to make it into law in the United States. ALEC is a notorious right-wing “bill mill” that brings together special interests and politicians to craft “model legislation” to lobby for in federal and state legislatures. The Center for Media and Democracy, a government watchdog, recently published audio from an ALEC meeting in 2021 at which Elise Steinberg of the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles and others urged the assembled legislators to codify the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism into law through their respective legislatures.

Prior to October 7, the Israeli government and ALEC had limited success in pushing states to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism. From 2018 to 2023, only nine states — Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — passed laws adopting the definition, according to FMEP. Since October 7, Georgia joined that list; seven more states — Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and South Dakota — are considering similar legislation; and no less than 15 related bills are before Congress.

Since being introduced, neither Senate Bill S7752 nor Assembly Bill A8399 has advanced beyond committee, meaning they remain far from law. However, one of the bills before Congress, HR 6090, advanced through the House of Representative on May 1, with Representative Mike Lawler, whose district includes parts of Dutchess County, cosponsoring and Representative Pat Ryan, whose district includes Beacon, voting in favor. Notably, both Lawler and Ryan have received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from pro-Israel lobbyists.