Good afternoon, Mayor Wells and councilmembers. My name is Julia Gomez. I am the interim managing legal director at the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties. Yesterday, we sent a letter to the council urging you to vote NO on the city’s proposed resolution on antisemitism.
The First Amendment applies to all of us, including those whose positions do not align with our governments’ political stances. Any attempt to silence their voices is patently undemocratic.
The ACLU staunchly defends the right to criticize domestic and foreign governments. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism is overbroad and incorrectly equates protected political speech with discrimination. It declares, for instance, that “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” and “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” are examples of antisemitism and not political speech. Federal and state laws already provide protections against discrimination that do not infringe on people’s free speech rights, and enshrining this definition in a resolution will chill political speech protected by the First Amendment.
It is unsurprising that a federal judge recently held that plaintiffs challenging a campus policy that incorporates the IHRA definition were likely to succeed in their claim that the policy violates the First Amendment. In particular, the judge held that “incorporation of [the IHRA definition] of antisemitism is viewpoint discrimination” because it makes the very utterance of specific content punishable.
Recently, the Trump Administration has started detaining and, in some instances, deporting legal permanent residents and visa holders who exercised their First Amendment rights in support of Palestinians. By censoring and targeting El Cajon community members, the city may be opening the door for the federal government to similarly target and retaliate against community members without citizenship who are critical of Israel.
Passing the resolution will mean that individuals who are critical of Israel and its policies against Palestinians will “reasonably understand that their intended speech is now [prohibited] under the [City’s] policies, and [will] hesitate to engage in such expressions.” This includes individuals commenting at city council meetings, applying for a special event permit or planning to attend a protest against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Put simply, the city’s proposed resolution is unlawful and will censor speech, violating people’s First Amendment rights.
We strongly urge you to vote no on this unnecessary and extremely harmful proposed resolution.
