Using the Law against Anti-Semites Is Good for the Jews

In December, Mosaic published an essay by Tal Fortgang about what steps the incoming administration could take to protect Jewish civil rights—especially on college campuses. Despite much controversy and several legal battles, the Trump administration has implemented many of the measures Fortgang laid out, and some others besides. Yet several prominent Jews, including some who had complained publicly about precisely the problems the new policies seek to combat, have responded by accusing the government of “weaponizing” anti-Semitism. (Curiously, no such accusation is leveled against the anti-Semites using hatred of Jews to serve their political ends.) Fortgang examines the bad faith of these arguments: