Mondoweiss: Inside the 'World Symposium Against Antizionism'

GAD SAAD SPEAKING TO A PANEL AT THE WORLD SYMPOSIUM AGAINST ANTIZIONISM (PHOTO: SHIRI PASTERNAK)

Mark Goldfededer, CEO and Director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, Inc. (NJAC), argued that immutable identity was a solid legal defense in cases alleging discrimination against Jews, since “Zionism is an integral part of our identity, changing it would be very dramatic, and it would be abhorrent for the government to try and do so.” Immutable identity is a protected category under the Civil Rights Code. He noted two successful test cases. One involved charges against an activist from the group Code Pink for pulling an Israeli flag off a Jewish woman in November 2024. The District Circuit of the District of Columbia court found it to be an act of racial antisemitism. The other case involved a protest outside the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles in June 2024, for which they filed a lawsuit against the protesters under the FACE Act. The FACE Act is the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances. Using a clause in the Act that protects religious spaces, the NJAC argued that because the event featured real estate sales in the West Bank geared towards Americans making aliyah — a religious pilgrimage to Israel — the protesters could be prosecuted, since aliyah is a protected right under the First Amendment. Since then, the Department of Justice has formed their own FACE Act team to prosecute pro-Palestine protests.

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https://mondoweiss.net/2026/07/inside-the-world-symposium-against-anti-zionism-where-contempt-for-muslims-and-leftist-jews-took-center-stage/