Anti-Israel Violence Does Not Justify Censorship of Pro-Palestinian Speech
American supporters of Israel, many of them affiliated with the political right, are using recent episodes of appalling violence against Jews as an excuse to push an agenda of censorship. In fact, they are deploying several familiar rhetorical arguments against pro-Palestinian speech, including that it is hateful, indistinguishable from violence, or constitutes misinformation.
These arguments ought to be especially familiar to conservatives since they were—and still are—routinely cited by the mainstream media, liberal advocacy groups, and Democratic politicians who want to quelch conservative speech. In the name of protecting Jewish people, Republicans are now endorsing arguments against free speech that have become the hallmark of the woke left.
Take, for instance, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who wrote in a recent statement that “reckless and irresponsible reporting by major U.S. news outlets are contributing to the antisemitic climate.” Huckabee was referring to media reports on the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reportedly firing on Gazans and killing a large number of people; the IDF has admitted to shooting at the Gazans, but did not confirm whether there were any casualties, whereas the Hamas-run ministry of health reported 27 deaths. While the underlying facts might still be in dispute, this is irrelevant to the actual argument being made: Huckabee’s contention is that the very act of reporting the story is an example of the media spreading anti-Semitism and inspiring violence against Jews abroad.
Of course, these arguments are indistinguishable from those made by campus progressives who want censorship of inflammatory speech because they think it will inspire violence against various identity groups: people of color, women, trans people, gays, and so on. The conflation of words and violence, a long-running practice of those who wanted safe spaces, trigger warnings, and microaggression policing, is on full dis
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