The pro-Israel lobby has slipped an anti-Free Speech resolution through the House; This resolution would criminalize criticism of Israeli policies on US college campuses. Contact your Senators today and demand that they vote against H.R.3077, which is an attack on our civil liberties.

TALKING POINTS

*On 9/17/03 the House Subcommittee on Select Education unanimously approved H.R.3077, the International Studies in Higher Education Act. This resolution was then passed by the full House of Representatives on 10/21/03. The Israeli lobby, including, the Anti-Defamation League, B'nai B'rith, the American Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee, and Empower America is now pushing for the passage of H.R.3077, which is sitting before a Senate committee. This resolution would require that a federal tribunal be implemented to monitor any criticism in American colleges of Israeli policies of apartheid in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.

*Gilbert Merkx, director of the Center for International Studies at Duke University has expressed concern over this resolution by saying that the tribunal that would be put in place “could easily be hijacked by those who have a political ax to grind and become a vehicle for an inquisition." Ask your Senators to oppose H.R. 3077 as an encroachment on our constitutional rights and a threat to academic freedom in America.

*Tell your Senators that most education and civil rights organizations, including the National Education Association and the ACLU have expressed concerns about how this resolution will gag the free speech of teachers, professors, and instructors and that you expect them to protect your constitutional rights by opposing this dangerous resolution.

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