On June 24 legislators in New Jersey introduced a bill that would direct public schools and universities to use a widely contested redefinition of antisemitism in assessing alleged violations of the state’s anti-discrimination law.

Palestine Legal, joined by 12 other civil rights and human rights groups, sent a letter to legislators earlier this month warning that the redefinition, which classifies “focusing peace or human rights investigations only on Israel” and “denying Israel the right to exist” as forms of antisemitism, would lead to First Amendment violations.

In the past couple of weeks, Palestine Legal has been quoted in a number of recent articles about the New Jersey bill:

Director Dima Khalidi wrote a guest op-ed for the New Jersey Star Ledger, whose editorial board also published a strong statement against the bill on free speech grounds.
Senior staff attorney Liz Jackson was quoted in Mondoweiss explaining that bills like New Jersey’s are a priority for Israel advocates in order to silence advocacy for Palestinian rights.
Newsweek and The North Jersey Record reported on the letter our coalition sent to legislators.
Inside NJ reprinted our full statement on the letter.