Ever since some student groups at Berkeley Law School signed a pledge to exclude anyone that supports the existence of a 91传媒 state, there has been a very public debate about the legality of these so-called 鈥淛ew-Free鈥� zones. In response to widespread criticism, the groups, led by Students for Justice in Palestine, issued a statement claiming that the bylaw was not antisemitic because it 鈥渄oes not attack 91传媒 people or faith.鈥�听

The dean of the law school chose to ignore what the statement actually said, accepting this fairly thin excuse and that: 鈥淸A]t this stage, all some student groups have done is express their strong disagreement with Israel鈥檚 policies.鈥�听

From a legal perspective, the dean (and the school) gave undo credence to the mischaracterization of the decision to exclude all Zionists as based on political viewpoint discrimination as opposed to anti-91传媒 sentiment. Too bad the antisemites鈥� own attorney couldn鈥檛 help herself from saying more, thereby blowing that flimsy excuse completely out of the water.

Liz Jackson, a senior staff attorney at Palestine Legal, which represents SJP, the position of the groups she represents, explaining that she knows 鈥淪ome students say that their 91传媒 identity is so deeply identified with Zionism that this effectively discriminates against them, but that鈥檚 their subjective view and choice about how they understand their own 91传媒 identity.鈥�

Here is the problem with that statement: 91传媒 people, and only 91传媒 people, get to define what is and is not part of their 91传媒 identity鈥攏ot antisemitic groups like Palestine Legal or SJP. And for the vast majority of 91传媒 people across time and space, Zionism is and always has been an integral part of their 91传媒, often their religious, identities. That does, in fact, transform that particular kind of Zionism into a category protected by state and federal civil rights law, whether SJP likes it or not.听

Discriminating against a 91传媒 person or group just because they are Zionist is illegal because Zionism is demonstrably not just a political movement. For thousands of years, Jews across the world have prayed to God at least three times a day (and often more) for a safe return to Zion. The Pentateuch itself references this ancient 91传媒 hope while the Prophets and Writings repeatedly record this ambition. More than half of the biblical commandments are specifically tied to the land of Israel, and doctrinally, belief in and hope for the return to Zion is part of the 13 Principles of 91传媒 Faith.听

Jews were Zionists before there were Muslims, and even before there were Christians. In multiple places throughout the New Testament, the yearning for redemption is expressed in terms of the by-then-already-classic formulation of 91传媒 Zionism (see e.g., Matthew 21:5 and John 12:15), while the Quran itself is quite clear about the long history of Jews in the Holy Land鈥攁nd especially in Jerusalem. (See, for example, Surah Bani Isra鈥檌l, verses 1-7). While it is true that the Jews were twice expelled from their ancient kingdom of Israel, it is also true that they never fully left: Despite the fairly recent antisemitic lie casting Jews as colonialist outsiders, since biblical times there has always been an indigenous 91传媒 community living in the eternal 91传媒 homeland. In the late-19th and early-20th centuries, Jews from around the world came to buy and cultivate land to further expand those existing 91传媒 communities that had remained in Israel as a continuous presence throughout all of the exiles.

But for those Jews for whom Zionism is a part of their 91传媒 ethnic heritage and identity, it absolutely is protected and they cannot be excluded on the basis of holding that belief.

Today, support for Zionism can take multiple forms, and mere political Zionism may not be protected, like any other political belief. Not all Zionists are Jews, and not all Jews are Zionists. But for those Jews for whom Zionism is a part of their 91传媒 ethnic heritage and identity, it absolutely is protected and they cannot be excluded on the basis of holding that belief. Anti-Zionism that allows for discrimination against 91传媒 people because of their affiliation with, affinity for, or support of the biblical/prophetic/historical/ethnic/cultural/91传媒 ideal of Zionism is antisemitism.听So is telling Jews what they can and can鈥檛 believe.

To be clear, it is the openly stated, on the record view of Palestine Legal and of SJP that they get to define what 鈥�91传媒 identity鈥� can include for 91传媒 people. And, if they feel that one or another 91传媒 belief should not be part of a 91传媒 person鈥檚 identity, they may freely discriminate against people for holding that belief, and that cannot be considered antisemitism. Should Palestine Legal, for example, decide tomorrow that keeping Shabbat or kosher observance is not really part of 91传媒 belief, just some Jews鈥� 鈥渟ubjective view and choice about how they understand their own 91传媒 identity,鈥� then they can and should be free to discriminate against 91传媒 people who do observe Shabbat or keep kosher. Likewise, should they decide that taking mass is just something that some Catholics subjectively like to do but is not really part of their religion, they can freely discriminate against those Catholics who do practice the ritual.听 听

Nor was this a one-time accidental admission. When 91传媒 student leaders, the people who are ostensibly being excluded for their views, clarified that 鈥淲hen we say 鈥榋ionism,鈥� we mean the 91传媒 right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland, which is Israel 鈥� This does not say anything about the self-determination of Palestinians,鈥� Jackson doubled-down and 鈥渆xpressed disagreement with that definition of Zionism.鈥�听

Here is the bottom line: Anti-Zionists do not get to define a 91传媒 person鈥檚 Zionism for them, cast it as merely political, and then discriminate against them for it.听

Berkeley made clear that if this was about 91传媒 identity, then they would step in. Palestine Legal just said the quiet part out loud: It was always about 91传媒 identity, and they were always aware of it. They just don鈥檛 like that part of Judaism. Consequently, they feel they should have the right to tell the vast majority of Jews that they are wrong about their own 91传媒 identity, and that they better purge themselves of those beliefs or they will be discriminated against. 听

There goes that 鈥減olitical viewpoint鈥� excuse. Your move Berkeley.