By NYCLU
Photos: Wikimedia Commons
NEW YORK – After Mayor Adams signed an executive order and proposed legislation that adopts the overly-broad IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition of antisemitism on Sunday evening, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) issued the following statement, attributable to Executive Director Donna Lieberman:
“Mayor Adams is weaponizing the critical fight against antisemitism to suppress protected political speech he doesn’t like. Advocates have warned for years that the IHRA definition of antisemitism recklessly conflates criticism of Israel with hate and violates the Constitution’s free speech protections. It’s yet another example of the Mayor twisting to do Trump’s bidding.
“We know Mayor Adams has a complicated relationship to the First Amendment. After all, he’s said he doesn’t believe in the Separation of Church and State, he’s vilified campus activism, he defended the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, and his NYPD has regularly brutalized peaceful protestors. But let’s be clear, Mayor Adams can’t rewrite our laws or override the First Amendment with executive power. We urge the City Council to affirm New York values and defend New Yorkers’ voices.”
