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Dear friends,
Since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7th we have all been feeling shock and trauma - from news of the atrocities, grief over the dead and wounded, and concern for the hostages and surviving families.
Through it all, IAC for Action has been hard at work communicating with elected officials in local, state and federal government, to assist them in their efforts on behalf of Israel.
Thank you to those of you who took action on our email campaign to your state officials. Your emails informed, educated, inspired and helped elected officials feel secure that they have community support in taking bold steps in the face of anti-Israel opposition and hate.
We are pleased to report that over the past weeks, our friends have demonstrated their commitment and support for Israel and our community in a myriad of ways: public speeches, social media posts, attending pro-Israel rallies across the country, and official resolutions and announcements. Below is a summary of those actions and their impact.
State Legislative Resolutions and Executive Proclamations
IAC for Action has been proud to resource many elected officials over the past few weeks who led or supported state legislative resolutions and executive proclamations condemning Hamas and Iran and acknowledging Israel's inalienable right to defend itself and eliminate all threats to its citizens. We assisted in different ways in different states, in some cases by drafting or editing resolutions/proclamations, and in others by helping raise political awareness and support for these efforts.
[You can scroll past the text below to view examples of these resolutions and proclamations.]
Economic Impact
The strong support of state executives and legislatures enables State Treasurers to take bold steps, like increasing their investment allocations to Israel Bonds.
Examples of states that stepped up: Florida (which increased its Israel Bond holdings by $120 million), Texas (by $20 million), Georgia (by $10 million), and Arizona, Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Support breeds more support, and this public moral clarity and courage will only become more important in the coming days, weeks and months.
Dealing with Domestic Antisemitism, and the Importance of the IHRA Definition
Whereas Israel had broad sympathy in the days after Oct. 7th, both Israel and our pro-Israel community are facing increasing criticism and attacks as war in Gaza rages.
Critics of Israel have a been using their first amendment right to criticize the state, but they cross the line into civil rights violations when they attack individual Jews for their connection to Israel. We see echoes of history today, when university students and faculty and anti-Israel organizations, engage in antisemitic discrimination, use distorted and demonizing narratives to advance their agenda, and engage in violent and demonizing antisemitic rhetoric, threats and even physical assaults.
In the face of these threats, we are seeing the real-world positive impact of adoption of the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism at the State and Federal levels, and the value of IAC for Action’s leadership on this issue over recent years. The IHRA Definition recognizes anti-Israel / antizionist hate and discrimination as a form of antisemitism that requires equal protection under civil rights law.
Whereas before IHRA adoption, anti-Israel activists were able to successfully argue that their targeting of Jews in America was ‘purely political speech’, after IHRA’s adoption it is very difficult for them to do so. IHRA helps clarify, for example, that it is an expression of antisemitic bigotry when anti-Israel protestors ask people on the street if they are Jewish, and then attack them when they say yes; or when Jews are asked to get out of their seats at a university lecture, to stand against the wall and are then berated by the professor as colonizers and perpetrators of genocide, as happened at a university last week. The IHRA Definition gives government and law enforcement a tool to understand and illustrate why this is antisemitism and why civil rights laws apply in these cases.
Over the past 4 years, IAC for Action’s work and leadership led to a broader community effort to adopt IHRA, and to 33 states adopting or endorsing IHRA. This bottom-up legislative activity – creating a groundswell at the state legislative level to achieve a national public policy – in turn led to recent expansions of IHRA endorsement at the Federal level. This September the Biden Administration announced that 8 Federal Agencies would use IHRA to evaluate antisemitic discrimination. (Before that, the Departments of Education, Justice and State had used IHRA.)
This week, on Oct. 30th, the Biden Administration reiterated its commitment to IHRA and instructed universities and law enforcement to utilize the IHRA definition in protecting Jewish college students from the antisemitic threats of anti-Israel activists. This is a major practical outcome that grew out of a hard-won policy achievement.
Next Steps
IAC for Action will be working in the coming days and months to amplify the White House’s message at the state and local levels, to ensure that our sons and daughters on campus are protected and that a sense of safety and security is restored to our communities. We will need your help to spread that message through email campaigns to our local, state and federal elected officials. Please share this link to anyone you think might be interested: https://tinyurl.com/IAC4Aemail
Thank you for your continued support and advocacy.
IAC for Action’s work continues and our dedication to safeguarding Am Yisrael is unflagging.
With prayers for the safe return of the hostages in Gaza, the success and well-being of the brave soldiers of the IDF, and for the healing of the shattered and grieving families of Israel,
Warmest regards,
IAC for Action
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