We at the law offices of Hirji, Chau, & Rodriguez strongly oppose the passage of bill AB715. The legislation undermines the effort to combat anti-Semitism by encroaching upon educators’ academic freedom and deprives students of their right to access important information on the the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Here are some words about the bill from two members of our firm:
Ariel Harman-Holmes
“Speaking from my perspective as a Jewish person, I want to add why I see this bill as harmful not only to educators and free speech, but to Jews as well. Conflating Jewish identity with the policies of a state does not make Jewish communities safer. History shows that it fuels resentment and feeds antisemitism rather than preventing it.
The bill blurs the line between real antisemitism and legitimate political critique. Schools already have the tools to address genuine antisemitism. AB 715 goes beyond that, sweeping in political and historical interpretations, such as barring materials that describe Israel as a settler colonial state. That is not hate speech. It is a contested analysis that students should be able to encounter and debate. By collapsing those categories, the bill erases the diversity of Jewish views on Zionism and Israel, and it risks turning legitimate political critique into a liability.
Beyond the immediate impact, the precedent is dangerous. If the state creates special oversight structures for one form of discrimination, there is nothing stopping the next legislature from doing the same for “anti-American bias” or “anti-Christian bias.” That is not protecting anyone. It is laying the groundwork for broad curriculum policing. And the last thing we need is more policing in our schools. Standing against AB 715 is not only the right thing to do for free speech and for Palestine, it is also the right thing to do for Jewish safety and for the integrity of public education.”
Robert D. Skeels
“AB 715 threatens the integrity of ethnic studies curricula and adopts the Trump Administration’s extremist positions, including adoption of the highly controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (“IHRA”) “definition” of antisemitism. AB 715’s reactionary backers see the bill as a means to silence free speech, strip away academic freedom, and essentially criminalizes all criticism of Israel, that is currently facing charges in the International Court of Justice and its leaders dodging warrants from the International Criminal Court. AB 715 would create fear among faculty and students, where truth is criminalized and silence in the face of injustice is mandated. AB 715, in adopting the identical IHRA “definition” as Trump’s 2019 executive order, would subject Californians to what The Southern Poverty Law Center[1] describes as:
“The mandate to use the IHRA definition of antisemitism was chosen by the Trump administration as a tool by which it could restrict or punish speech and lawful pro-Palestinian activities it dislikes.”
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