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Trump's executive order on anti-Semitism meets criticism and praise

The President said the order is designed to protect Jews from hate speech and violence. Opponents say it doesn't do that.

WASHINGTON — President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that he said would help protect Jewish people from hate speech and violence on college campuses.

Under the order, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act would bar discrimination based on anti-Semitism as well as race, ethnicity or national origin.

Some members of the Jewish community praised the President's effort, with the Orthodox Union President, Mark Bane, saying:

"We are grateful to President Trump for taking this important action that not only recognizes but also provides a course of legal action against the scourge of anti-Semitism that has for too long been festering on our nation’s college campuses. Those who seek to use our academic institutions as places to stoke anti-Jewish sentiment are now on notice: There will be consequences for their racism." 

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Not everyone was on the same page, however. Some opponents said the intentions were not as pure as they might appear.

"You’re assuming they want to protect you, but in reality, it has a way more cynical use," Chase Carter, a member of the D.C. chapter of the Jewish Voice for Peace, said. "This executive order is really based in an attempt to stifle dissent on college campuses across the country." 

Others said the order targets the wrong groups.

"It’s not going to end up targeting people who inflict violence on Jews," Yael Shafritz, with the organization If Not Now, said. "It’s going to end up targeting students who have debates on Palestinian freedom. It feels incredibly sad to me as a Jewish person …that we’re going to have a law that is claiming to be in defense of the Jews, when in fact it’s going to target free speech and activist free speech." 

Carter said the order has the power to de-fund certain organizations in a way that he and Shafritz agree would harm free speech.

"It’s actually really dangerous, because basically what it does is it allows the federal government to withhold funds from educational institutions across the country that are seen to promote or support or not take seriously this new definition of anti-Semitism, which is a definition that is much too broad and includes criticism of the state of Israel, which has nothing to do with Judaism," Carter said. 

While the order is now causing controversy, it's a policy both Democrats and Republicans have been trying to pass through Congress (unsuccessfully) for years.

RELATED: Maryland school lays out plan to tackle hate and bigotry before classes start

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