In March, Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared “Antisemitism is never acceptable in Texas, and we will do everything we can to fight it.” If only that were true. According to a 2023 report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), during Abbot’s tenure as governor since 2015, Texas leads the country in white supremacist and antisemitic propaganda, most of it propagated by a group called Patriot Front. What Abbott is really about is silencing political protest and stifling academic freedom on Texas college campuses.
In his phantom assault on antisemitism, Abbott issued an executive order requiring that “all Texas higher education institutions” must “update free speech policies to address the sharp rise in antisemitic speech and acts on university campuses and establish appropriate punishments.” Abbott wants student members of groups protesting against the Israel destruction of Gaza including the Palestine Solidarity Committee and Students for Justice in Palestine disciplined with penalties that include expulsion from college. Abbott is also demanding that Texas universities adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which the organization acknowledges is a “non-legally binding working definition.”
According to the IHRA proposal, antisemitism includes holding Israel to a “double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation,” a criterion that can be used to silence virtually all criticism of the State of Israel. Abbott also wants Texas universities to provide evidence by mid-summer that they are enforcing his edict, even if there are no documented cases of antisemitism on campus, what constitutes antisemitism remains debated, and any due process proceedings have not been completed. In effect, Abbott is using disagreement with Israeli actions in Gaza during its war against Hamas as an excuse to tighten rightwing control over free speech on Texas campuses in likely violation of First Amendment protections of free speech and the right to assemble.
While Abbot is attacking free speech on campuses, antisemitism goes unchecked among Texas’ white supremacist groups. The ADL report combines racist and antisemitic propaganda and incidents together including includes the distribution or display of banners, graffiti, posters, and laser projections. In 2022, racist and antisemitic incidents increased 38% nationally and by 61% in Texas. Texas had over 500 of the reported incidents, about 8% of the national total. In December, the Texas Republican Party refused to condemn antisemitism when a major donor’s ties to a White Supremacist organization was exposed.