A House subcommittee has advanced the governor’s proposal to require annual reports from Iowa’s public school districts, community colleges and state-supported universities about how each complaint or incident of antisemitism was handled at the schools.
David Adelman, president of the Jewish Federation Foundation of Greater Des Moines, told lawmakers there’s been a nearly 900% increase in antisemitic incidents nationwide over the past decade. “There’s been an 84% increase in antisemitic incidents on college campuses from 2023 to 2024,” Adelman said.
Adelman said while there have been very few incidents of antisemitism in Iowa educational settings, the bill is an attempt to get in front of the problems reported in other states. David Soffer, director of state engagement for the “Combat Antisemitism Movement,” drove from Kansas City to speak to legislators in Des Moines. “No Jewish person in the state of Iowa should feel targeted based on their religion,” he said. “No Jewish person should feel targeted just because of what’s going on in the Middle East.”
University of Iowa history professor Lisa Heineman told lawmakers she’s “a direct descendant of Holocaust survivors” who opposes the bill. Heineman said it has “a faulty definition of antisemitism: that would suppress legitimate political discussions. “It would require schools and universities to report speech critical of Israel as antisemitic incidents and follow by explaining what action they’re going to take to prevent reoccurrence,” Heineman said. “…It would also stifle discussion of global affairs in history and political science classes.”
After the subcommittee hearing, Ezra Wright of Iowa City said the bill does not address the root cause of the problem. “Antisemitism is a function of white supremacy,” she said. “…This is nothing more than a cynical attempt to use Jews as a shield against criticism, to paint the Star of David on a battering ram that they intend to use to demolish free speech in this state.”
Wright was among a group of Jewish people from eastern Iowa who’d driven to Des Moines and wanted to testify against the bill, but the subcommittee was scheduled to last just 15 minutes and concluded after five people spoke to lawmakers.
