O pinion
We Need Better Tools to Combat Domestic Terrorism
BY KENNETH L. MARCUS
THE CAPITOL RIOT should
be a wake-up call for those who
did not hear the alarm four
years ago at Charlottesville. The
riot wasn’t just an assault on
the seat of America’s govern-
ment, but also a development
that could endanger Americans
throughout the 50 states.

More than 70 people connected
with the Capitol riot have already
been charged, and the Justice
Department expects the number to
increase. Congress and the Justice
Department are right to address
the issue of insurrection first. It is
now increasingly clear that many
in the riot aimed to undermine
American democracy. When the
dust clears, President Joe Biden
and Congress must also address
the threat to all of us: The rioters
clearly signaled that they mean
to harm not only elected officials
but ordinary Americans.

A proper response must
protect all of the groups to
whom the rioters intend harm.

Many rioters were motivated by
racial hatred and anti-Semitic
beliefs. Several displayed known
symbols of hate: Confederate
flags, signaling anti-Black
racism, or the white nationalist
“Kekistan” flag, or a Three
Percenters flag, reflecting hatred
of Muslims and immigrants.

One rioter even wore a “Camp
Auschwitz” shirt.

But the Capitol riot was just
the tip of the iceberg. The latest
FBI hate crimes report shows
that hate crimes in 2019 surged
to their highest level in a decade,
including a record number of
hate murders. These figures are
simply too high. So what do we
do about it?
Some are now arguing for
hate speech laws, but this would
actually undermine our work.

Richard Stengel, the transition
team leader for the U.S. Agency
for Global Media, has urged new
legislation to curb Quran burning
and misinformation about
Russian election interference.

Such speech laws raise multiple
dangers, including political bias,
governmental favoritism and
outright censorship.

Some progressives may relish
the idea of suppressing right-
wing hate speech. But they
should consider that future
conservative governments, given
the same weapons, may restrict
progressive speech. Consider,
for example, Poland’s use of
hate-speech laws to persecute
LGBTQ activists who criticize
the Catholic Church.

Instead, begin by beefing
up police departments’ efforts
to protect all populations,
including the most vulnerable,
from physical violence. The
funds need not go to exotic
initiatives. What is needed is
basic law enforcement.

A recent report from the
U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights, which I directed over
a decade ago, urged funding
police departments to improve
data reporting on hate crimes.

Conservative commissioners
dissented from the report,
observing that it overempha-
sized right-wing crimes.

The dissenters are correct
to insist on evenhandedness in
a field that is too often polit-
icized. At the same time, in
order to adequately respond to
hate crimes committed in this
country, we have to understand
where, why and how often they
are happening.

Improved reporting is also
needed at colleges and univer-
sities. Swastika vandalism,
for example, has been under-
reported based on dubious
guidance from federal bureau-
crats. The Department of
Education recently rescinded
that guidance, but still permits
colleges to rely on it.

We also must do more to
combat domestic terrorism.

This year, a joint report by
the Anti-Defamation League
and the George Washington
University Program
on Extremism revealed the dearth
of reliable data on domestic
terrorism. The report’s primary
focus is white supremacy,
and the report noted that the
National Counterterrorism
Center, which was created to
produce integrated, interagency
assessments on terrorism issues,
is troublingly not permitted to
do so with respect to domestic
terrorism. The report also urged
the FBI to provide clear data on
its efforts to understand white
supremacist violence.

If left unchecked, this type
of hate can also fester within
American higher education. A
comprehensive response must
address places at which young
Americans are radicalized. This
includes not only right-wing
white supremacist organizations,
but also left-wing university
activities that promote violence.

Consider, for example,
that convicted hijacker Leila
Khaled, a leader in the desig-
nated-terrorist organization
Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine, was just this year
invited to speak at San Francisco
State University, New York
University and the University
of Hawaii at Manoa (remotely).

Khaled’s events were canceled
only when Zoom refused to
cooperate, understanding that
allowing the events to be hosted
on its platform could violate
anti-terrorism laws.

At Northeastern University,
Students for Justice in Palestine
announced an event to study the
PFLP’s “strategies and theory.”
At this event, students expected
to learn how to conduct “armed
struggle taking the form of
guerrilla warfare at first and
developing in the direction of
the protracted people’s liberation
war” against their “enemies.”
Their enemies include the “world
Zionist movement,” as well as
Israel, Arab moderates and
“world imperialism” (read: the
United States and its European
allies). In other words, they would
learn that the proper response to
political disagreement is not civil
dialogue but “armed struggle.”
What America needs, in
the wake of the Capitol riot, is
not for political dissidents —
whether they come from the left
or the right — to preach armed
violence. We should not pretend that
such adulation of terrorism
has no impact on real life any
more than we can pretend
that online white supremacy
groups are harmless. At the
University of Illinois, manda-
tory diversity training last year
included praise for the terrorist
Khaled. It is unlikely a coinci-
dence that this campus has
also experienced an uptick in
anti-Semitic incidents. It was
announced recently that the
U.S. Department of Education’s
Office for Civil Rights will inves-
tigate the university based on an
anti-Semitism complaint backed
by the Louis D. Brandeis Center
for Human Rights, the organiza-
tion that I founded and now run.

The university has pledged to
address the problem. Time will
tell whether it delivers.

Back in April, on the
campaign trail, Biden marked
the one-year anniversary of the
deadly shooting at a synagogue
in Poway, California, with a
commitment and plan to combat
hate crimes. If the president is
serious about this commitment,
his new attorney general cannot
permit hate and terrorist activity
to fester. After the Capitol riot,
this must be priority No. 1. l
Kenneth L. Marcus is chairman
of the Louis D. Brandeis Center
for Human Rights Under Law and
author of “The Definition of Anti-
Semitism.” He served as assistant
secretary of education for civil
rights (2018-2020).

We Must Do More to Protect Essential Workers
BY DORIT SASSON
WITH THE THREAT of a
renewed coronavirus outbreak,
essential workers are even
more needed on the front
lines. Every day, our essential
14 JANUARY 21, 2021
employees risk their lives to
protect ours. Our nation has
a responsibility to protect the
health and financial stability of
these heroes and their families.

As the wife of an essential
worker, I deeply understand
JEWISH EXPONENT
the risks that these essen-
tial workers face every day.

They are trapped in what I
refer to as a “psychological
malaise” stemming from fear
of exposure. They are asking
themselves, “Have I already
been exposed to the disease?
Will I need to take a COVID
test? Is it possible that I could
die from complications? What
will this mean for my family?
For my job?”
Because it’s difficult to
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM