Congressman Schiff,
The petition website for the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights collected my name before I had a chance to include a message to you, so I'm following up with this email. USCPR states that AIPAC is a "pro-apartheid, pro-racism, pro-segregation, anti-Palestinian-rights lobby." Is that true? USCPR also states
"President Trump’s Executive Order issued last December encourages government agencies to censor campus organizing for Palestinian rights. Legislation pending in both the Senate and the House demonizes the use of boycotts for justice in Palestine."
Censoring campus protests? Is that legal? Isn't that unconstitutional? I understand that you must have many strong supporters who will not budge in their opinions regarding the Palestinians. And you need their continued support in your opposition of Conservatives on Capitol Hill and in the White House. Your work has been stellar and laudable and historic in your refusal to yield to the massive bullying, and so it comes as a surprise that someone like you would support censoring boycotts and protests. Campus protests were very influential in getting us out of Vietnam and bringing that death toll to an end. Would you have supported censoring those protests?
If your opposition to censorship of campus organizing for Palestinian rights is based on its unconstitutionality, your pro-Israel supporters would be obligated to support you in that, no matter how repugnant they find the topic of Palestinian rights. If they don't support you, they are putting their Israel citizenship above their United States citizenship and should be called out for that if they benefit from being permanent residents in the US.
I hope my occasional emails have been reaching you and aren't filtered out by a well-meaning assistant or by an unyielding pro-Israel assistant. I feel the need to address the discrepancy of someone as highly ethical and moral as you are, supporting the censorship of boycotts on campuses.
Thanks.
John Garvey
