Jewish Texans disagree on how to combat antisemitism in schools during hearing on Senate bill
Some Jewish Texans on Tuesday supported a measure to address a rise in antisemitism in schools, while others said it would not only stifle free speech but make them less safe.
They testified Tuesday evening on Senate Bill 326 in the Senate's K-16 Education Committee.
The bill would require public school districts, open-enrollment charter schools and colleges and universities to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition and examples of antisemitism in student disciplinary proceedings.
The IHRA defines antisemitism as 'a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.'
A few examples the IHRA provides of antisemitism are 'denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,' 'applying double standards by requiring of it (Israel) a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation,' and 'holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel.'
Oli Hoffman, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, said the IHRA definition encourages 'a dangerous conflation of the government of Israel and the Jewish people.'
'I am a proud Longhorn studying education,' Hoffman said, 'and I can recall some respectful debates regarding Israel that I was a party to on campus that would be defined as antisemitic come Sept. 1 if this bill is passed.'
Students at UT Austin and universities throughout the country demonstrated support for Palestinians last spring, calling for their universities to divest from manufacturers supplying Israel with weapons in its strikes on Gaza.
UT officials called state police, who responded to the campus and arrested more than 100 people. While some have criticized the university for what they called a heavy-handed response, others have applauded it as necessary to combat protests they saw as antisemitic. Some point to the phrase some protesters chanted, 'from the river to the sea,' as evidence of this.
'From the river to the sea' refers to a stretch of land between the Jordan River on the eastern flank of Israel and the occupied West Bank to the Mediterranean Sea to the west.
Pro-Palestinian activists have said this is a call for peace and equality in the Middle East, but SB 326's author, Phil King, R-Weatherford, said he thinks that phrase calls for the killing of Jews.
Sandra Parker, vice chair of the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission and King's invited witness, agreed and added that it also calls for the eradication of the Jewish state.
She stressed that the bill would allow school leaders to decide on their own if a student has violated their code of conduct and provides them a tool to determine whether the violation was motivated by antisemitism.
That could help the school determine what discipline is warranted, she said.
'Why is that necessary? Because you cannot defeat what you are unwilling to define,' Parker said. 'We know the conduct is happening, but why? The answer can only be one of two things. Antisemitism is being tolerated and ignored or people don't know what antisemitism is when they see it.'
Parker added that the bill could address incidents like one at a high school in San Antonio where she said a student who is not Jewish had an Israel flag stolen and destroyed by another student. The school then moved the student who owned the flag to another classroom rather than punish the students who destroyed the flag.
'This behavior was aimed to silence both Jewish students and those who support them,' Parker said.
But other Jewish Texans disagreed with King and Parker that the phrase 'from the river to the sea' is antisemitic.
'Whatever the intentions of this bill, understand that it actually makes Jews in Texas less safe to formally associate us with a foreign government, evoking the longstanding antisemitic charge of dual loyalty that's been leveled against Jewish people in the U.S. and Europe for decades, setting us apart from our neighbors and painting us as outsiders,' said Jennifer Margulies, who attends Congregation Beth Israel in Austin, which a man set on fire in 2022.
'I know what antisemitism looks like,' she said. 'It looks like needing to reassure my child that it's safe to attend Hebrew school when I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I drive by the burnt black sanctuary doors to drop her off, hoping that I am not lying.'
Since protests broke out last spring, lawmakers have heard about an uptick in antisemitic incidents in schools. They heard that again on Tuesday from Jackie Nirenberg, a regional director for the Anti-defamation League.
She said the ADF and Hillel International, a Jewish Campus organization, surveyed Jewish college students at 135 colleges and universities across the U.S. and found that 83% of them have experienced or witnessed antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
SB 326 was left pending in committee.
State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, has filed identical legislation in the House.
The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
We can't wait to welcome you to the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Step inside the conversations shaping the future of education, the economy, health care, energy, technology, public safety, culture, the arts and so much more.
Hear from our CEO, Sonal Shah, on TribFest 2025.
TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Advocates, legislators still trying to expand expired compensation program for radiation exposure
Jun. 10—One year ago, Congress let a federal program end that compensated people who grew sick from mining uranium for nuclear weapons or from living downwind of nuclear weapons tests. In those 12 months, Tina Cordova's cousin died after years of living with a rare brain cancer. Under a proposed expansion of the program, 61-year-old Danny Cordova likely would have qualified for the $100,000 compensation offered to people with specific cancers who lived in specific areas downwind of aboveground nuclear weapons' tests. "Instead, he and his mom lived literally paycheck to paycheck trying to pay for all of the medications he needed," Cordova said. Since the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) program was created in 1990, New Mexican downwinders have been left out, as have uranium mine workers from after 1971. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., has led an effort in the Upper Chamber alongside Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to expand the program so it includes later uranium mine workers, and people harmed by aboveground nuclear tests in more states — including New Mexico. In January, they reintroduced a bill to extend and expand RECA. "Letting RECA expire is a disgrace to these families and victims," Luján said. "It's an insult to the victims and their families who still struggle to this very day to get help, get the medicine they need, get the treatments for the conditions caused by the negligence of the federal government. For the victims, this story is long from being over. Generational trauma and poor health conditions continue to plague entire families." Although Hawley and Luján's bill passed the Senate twice in the last session of Congress, and was supported by the entire New Mexico delegation, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., never allowed a vote on the companion House bill, sponsored by Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M. The expansion would have included an increased pricetag of $50 billion to $60 billion over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office — a cost estimate Luján has disagreed with. Since its inception, RECA has paid out approximately $2.6 billion. There is no accurate estimate of how many New Mexicans would be included if RECA is expanded, according to Luján's office. "We know we have the votes to get this passed now," said Leger Fernández, who plans to reintroduce the bill in the House. "They keep raising issues with regards to the cost... These are people's lives, and so we need to keep bringing it back to that issue. And in many ways, I think that we are doing this in a bicameral manner, and that the pressure that is being brought from the Senate will help us in the House." 'No apology' Cordova's cousin was diagnosed in his 20s, and had five brain surgeries to address his cancer. "He was left with horrendous and devastating consequences of that (first) surgery," Cordova said. "He lost the eyesight in one eye, he lost the part of his brain that controlled all of his hormonal functions, and he lost the part of his brain that also controlled his ability to adapt his body temperature." Five generations of Cordova's family tree include many cases of cancer. She herself survived thyroid cancer, and as a co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, she's long advocated for expanding RECA. Cordova's kitchen counter is covered in the stories of family trees that mirror her own. For 18 years, she's been collecting health surveys from people who grew up in areas downwind of aboveground nuclear weapon tests, documenting a history of cancer and death for families from Tularosa, Alamogordo and beyond. Loretta Anderson, a patient advocate and co-founder of the Southwest Uranium Miners Coalition Post-71, works with over 1,000 former uranium miners and their families throughout the Laguna and Acoma pueblos. She knows 10 post-1971 uranium miners, those who would be compensated under a RECA expansion, who have died in the past 12 months. "They died with no compensation, no apology from the government," Anderson said. Despite the difficulty in getting RECA extended and expanded, Cordova has faith it will eventually pass through Congress. "This is not a partisan issue," Cordova said. "Exposure to radiation has affected the young, the old, the male, the female, the Black, the white, the Republican and Democrat alike."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Lawmakers reject insurance bills that had direct relief for Louisiana homeowners
Gov. Jeff Landry speaks to reporters about his legislative agenda to bring down high auto insurance rates on April 9, 2025. (Photo credit: Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator) With just two days left to write new laws in the 2025 legislative session, Louisiana lawmakers have halted the only two insurance proposals this year that critics said would have directly provided relief to homeowners struggling to afford skyrocketing rates. Senate Bill 235 and House Bill 356 drew wide public interest as homeowners wait for state officials to rein in the coverage costs. Average homeowner insurance premiums in Louisiana are the eighth highest in the nation, according to the industry news site Both were also among the few insurance bills that had bipartisan support, though not quite enough from conservatives. Sponsored by Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, Senate Bill 235 would have created an annual tax credit of up to $2,000 for homeowner's insurance payments. It would have been available to anyone with homeowner's coverage and an income no greater than 200% of the federal poverty level. The legislation included a provision to sunset the credit after 10 years. After narrowly clearing the Senate, Duplessis' SB-235 narrowly failed in the House as Republicans there tanked it with a two-vote margin, 49-52. The other measure, House Bill 356 by Rep. Jacob Braud, R-Belle Chasse, would have required insurance companies to let homeowners who are free of mortgages to purchase 'stated value' policies. It would cover the home for a lesser amount chosen by the homeowner rather than for its full market value. Although the bill is still alive, it's a mere shell of the version that cleared the House in a 79-20 vote just last week when it drew strong vocal support from Republicans like Rep. Tim Kerner of Lafitte, who called it the only bill he has seen this year that actually helps homeowners with affordability. The original measure would have required insurers to create stated value policies upon the request of a customer, but Senate lawmakers changed a single word in the bill — from 'shall' to 'may' — doing away with the mandate provision that served as the cornerstone on which the rest of the bill relied. Rep. Mike Bayham, R-Chalmette, expressed his disappointment over the fate of the two bills in an interview Tuesday, saying the high cost of insurance is the one issue above all others that lawmakers really needed to fix. 'Everything else seems to be, 'Let's pass something and just hope the rates get better,' Bayham said. 'I thought Braud's bill was more direct, and I thought Duplessis' bill would have provided direct relief even on a limited scale. At the end of the day, we were elected to the Legislature to tackle the insurance crisis.' The version of Duplessis' bill that reached the House floor would have capped the state's total annual payouts for the homeowner's insurance tax credit at $10 million. It also would have made the credit refundable for filers earning less than $25,000 per year, meaning they could have received a cash rebate for the credit. However, Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, gathered enough votes for an amendment to remove the refundable provision and to lower the state's payout cap to $1 million per year. Rep. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, who presented the bill on the House floor for Duplessis, objected to those changes but lost that vote in a 65-29 decision. 'This bill is to try to help those who need the most as far as homeowner insurance is concerned,' Riser said. Emerson said the bill would only shift the cost of high homeowner's insurance to the broader Louisiana tax base while doing nothing to address the underlying causes of high rates. 'I don't think that that gives a lot of incentive for rates to go down when we're basically subsidizing those rates,' she said. House Insurance Committee Chairman Gabe Firment, R-Pollock, who has spearheaded much of the pro-insurance industry legislation this year, rallied his conservative colleagues to oppose Duplessis' bill by calling out one of the organizations backing it, the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance. Firment took issue with recent text messages from the Alliance that accused lawmakers of doing nothing to pass meaningful insurance reform. He pointed out the group gave a poor rating to Republican Congressman Steve Scalise ahead of his 2024 reelection and a positive rating to the Democratic challenger Mel Manuel, whom Firment called a 'radical transgender candidate.' Questioning the relevance of those comments, House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, began interjecting to ask Firment to focus his comments on the bill, but the Grant Parish lawmaker had made his point and yielded the floor. Louisiana homeowners might get option to insure their properties for 'stated value' Meanwhile Monday in the Senate, members of the upper chamber were approving a neutered version of Braud's legislation with little discussion. If signed into law, the Senate's version of the legislation would make no changes to what is already allowed under current law. Stated value policies are typically customized for homeowners who have paid off all or most of their mortgage and prefer to shoulder the risk of having only partial coverage. They would receive lower premiums in exchange for paying out-of-pocket for any damages, increasing the likelihood of losing their homes entirely in the event of a bad storm or a lawsuit. In an interview Tuesday, Braud said there's no law that would currently stop insurers from selling stated-value policies, but he wouldn't go so far as to say the Senate changes rendered his proposal a 'do-nothing' bill. 'We've gotta start somewhere,' the Plaquemines Parish lawmaker said. Braud added that he believes passing the neutered version of the bill might not change anything this year, but it could help the idea of stated value polices gain momentum. Braud said he hopes he can get the word 'shall' back into the law during next year's session. Pro-industry lawmakers such as Firment opposed Braud's legislation, arguing it would shift insurance costs to other parts of the state that aren't prone to hurricanes and would lead to an increase in blighted property from people abandoning their damaged homes after storms. Ironically, the same group Firment criticized during debate on Duplessis' bill is aligned with him in opposition to Braud's bill. In a phone interview Tuesday, Andreanecia Morris, president of the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance, said her organization is sympathetic to the plight of homeowners everywhere who can't afford insurance, but she believes Braud's bill doesn't address the underlying problem of high rates. 'We're not fans of encouraging homeowners to go it alone and not have enough insurance to replace their homes should the worst happen,' Morris said. 'People can't afford what they need, and that's the issue. Solving that problem isn't gonna be accomplished by just asking them to need less. It's like asking them to breathe less.' Lawmakers could be doing more to solve the problem and regulate the insurance industry, she said, adding that Braud's bill could spell disaster if too many Louisiana residents go underinsured or drop out of the property insurance market altogether. 'It encourages you to gamble in a way that is unsustainable and could lead to you losing your home,' Morris said. 'We learned those lessons after Katrina.' Braud's bill is scheduled for a conference committee on Wednesday in which a small group of lawmakers from both chambers try to work on a compromise to get the measure passed. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
On their way to BYU, teens first help run the Senate
WASHINGTON — As Nathan Neuhaus finished his daily shift as a Senate page on March 31, he figured the day would end the same way it had every night for weeks prior. Nathan completed his shift around 7 p.m. and then was replaced by Preston Neuhaus, his twin brother who was working a staggered shift that night. Preston expected to work for a few more hours until the Senate adjourned. Then he could return to his dorm and prepare for the next day. But March 31 was not like any other day. As Nathan left for the evening, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., was just taking to the Senate floor to deliver what would be a record-breaking speech lasting more than 25 hours. And while most Capitol Hill staffers got to return home for the night, the pages worked around the clock to help keep the Senate floor running during the marathon session. The 17-year-old high school students worked overnight shifts rarely experienced by those in Congress — and they watched history being made. Preston Neuhaus completed his shift around 2 a.m., when Nathan returned to the Senate floor. Senate pages continued working until Booker finished at 8:05 p.m. the next day. 'Just the feel in the room was something that (had) never occurred,' Nathan told the Deseret News inside the Capitol rotunda, just hours after he finished his five-month long service. 'Like, for the whole gallery to be full and everybody on the floor, Republicans and Democrats, to stand up and clap together — it was really cool to witness just the kind of bipartisanship, and just see history occur,' he said. Since 1829, teenagers have served as pages in the Senate in some capacity, helping senators with their work. In the current-day program, high school students from across the country leave home and move to a dorm in the nation's capital where they get to experience American democracy up close. Thirty teenagers are chosen for each five-month session — 16 dedicated to the majority party, 14 assigned to the minority — and each student must be sponsored by a senator in order to be considered for the program. For example, Nathan and Preston, who are from Tennessee, were sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah. The high school pages are supervised by the sponsor's staff, allowing the students to interact with senators throughout the day. That interaction, both said, allowed them to see a side of lawmakers that most others don't get to see. 'Of course, people see (Lee's) policies and his beliefs and form their opinion over that,' Nathan said. 'But like, when you really get to know a lawmaker on a personal level, you really see how they care about certain issues and it changes your perspective on things.' Nathan and Preston said they enjoyed getting to know Lee over the five-month period, pointing out several parallels between them and Utah's senior senator. For example, Lee himself worked as a Senate page when he was in high school. And Lee graduated from Brigham Young University, where Nathan and Preston will attend in the fall. 'The Senate page program is a time-honored tradition, where bright young men and women can see their representative government in action and assist us in serving the American people,' Lee told the Deseret News in a statement. The twins also expressed admiration for Lee for serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which both siblings are members. The pair attended church throughout the five-month program, often checking out from their dorm building to visit with their older brother who lives in Washington, D.C., attend his ward services, and eat lunch before returning later that afternoon. 'They were very willing to help ... and they made a lot of exceptions,' Preston said. 'It was just really refreshing to have a break at the end of the week and then just get ready for the next week.' High school students across the country can participate in the official Senate Page Program, which allows teenagers to play a crucial role in the daily operations of the U.S. Senate. Pages are responsible for delivering legislative materials between the Capitol and Senate office buildings; passing notes between senators on the floor; greeting senators on their way to the chamber; supporting senators and staff during debates; and assisting Capitol staff with updating the roll calls. The students are divided into four shifts throughout the day, with about seven to eight pages assigned to any given shift. Those shift assignments are 'who you're with all day, every day,' according to Preston. Pages must also adhere to a strict code of conduct and guidelines. One of the most significant: Pages cannot use their cellphones during the program, with limited exceptions for weekend travel or planned vacations. Students also don't have access to social media and are prohibited from posting about the program while they are enrolled. Instead, pages have landlines in their rooms to keep in contact with friends and family when their shifts are over. Landlines are then deactivated after 10 p.m. 'to ensure that all roommates get adequate sleep without interruption,' according to the program website. 'For me, it required a lot more effort to maintain relationships,' Nathan said. 'You don't have social media to see … what your friends are up to, what your family is up to, or you can't just call them or text them whenever.' 'It was definitely very difficult to maintain those relationships,' he added. 'But also, for me, it kind of brought out the ones that really mattered, because the ones that I could maintain were the ones that we got closer through it.' Pages follow a rigorous daily schedule, adhering to a 5 a.m. wake-up call every day before school begins at 6:15 a.m. The school program itself is 'a very unique program,' Nathan said, 'because the whole school revolves around the Senate schedule.' 'It's just like a regular school,' Preston added, but 'the classes are really short. They're only 35 minutes and a lot of it is just them talking to us and giving us the work that we're going to do the rest of the day because we don't have time in class to work through stuff.' That's because, Preston said, pages must report to the Senate before it convenes every morning, so it leaves the students with 'a lot of homework that will fill our time throughout the day.' Once the Senate adjourns, pages return to their dorms and can engage in some free time activities, such as watching TV, finishing homework or going on walks around the city. Curfew is at 9 p.m., after which pages must complete their chores and return to their rooms by 10 p.m. 'Most people just sat around and studied, honestly,' Nathan said of free time. 'And then you shower, do your laundry, get everything ready for the next day. And it's the same thing again.' Although pages have been in the Senate for almost two centuries, the program has followed close to the same schedule and requirements for just the last three decades. But Nathan and Preston's experience was unlike any other, they said. It came at an unprecedented time in Washington, when President Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term and turned the federal government on its head. Since then, Congress has been scrambling to keep up — often resulting in overnight legislative sessions and marathon speeches on the floor. And the Senate pages were part of it all. 'We had eight days where we missed school,' Preston recalled, explaining that 'if we go past 10 p.m. the night before, we can't go to school the next day.' 'Part of the busyness with that is (because of) the transfer of power with the new administration coming in, they're getting things done very quickly,' Nathan added. Those late nights included two vote-a-rama sessions, a process in which senators can introduce an unlimited number of amendments, allowing the minority party — in this case, Democrats — to hold up the process for hours. Pages also must be flexible in their schedules to return to the Senate on a moment's notice. That's what happened when the Neuhaus twins had to work around the clock for Booker's record-breaking speech — something the two didn't realize they would need to do until hours into the speech. 'Around 10 p.m., they got us all together, like, 'Hey, he's going to speak through the night, so we're going to need to send you all back at some point,'' Nathan recalled. 'We didn't know that he was actually planning for it, so we were unaware until it started, and then we realized this is going to keep going and going and going,' said Preston, who was working the late shift that night. 'So they sent us back (to our rooms) at like, 1 a.m. and we slept, and then got to come back at like 9 a.m. And then we finished it off until I finished at like 7 p.m. later that night.' 'But it was definitely crazy listening to him just go on and on,' he added. Despite the long hours, stringent guidelines and lack of social media access, the program is a 'once in a lifetime opportunity' they couldn't pass up, both Nathan and Preston said. 'What really made me want to do this program was just the opportunity that you get to see firsthand our American government, how it works, how how our republic holds itself today, and to see firsthand history be made,' Nathan said. 'I'm very patriotic. I have been since I was very young. And I would say, really, just the opportunity to see everything firsthand was the draw for me.' The ability to see how the federal government works from behind the scenes, Nathan added, has even inspired him to one day return to the halls of Congress. '(It was) an experience that we couldn't pass up,' Preston said. 'When are we ever going to be on the floor every single day and witness history being made? It was just something that we had to do.' The experience has also helped to blur partisan lines, the pair said, helping to ease concerns that cooperation between Republicans and Democrats is no longer possible. 'I feel like outside of the Capitol and the Congress and our lawmakers, there seems to be a great divide in our country,' Nathan said. 'But I think when we come here — of course, that's still there, but it's not to the extent that you feel it outside of this building.'
