Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird launches task force to combat antisemitism
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is launching a new task force that will work to raise awareness of antisemitism and help law enforcement and schools stamp it out.
Bird, a Republican, made the announcement Friday afternoon in a news conference at the Iowa Holocaust Memorial on the Iowa Capitol grounds.
She said the 13-member volunteer task force would provide training to law enforcement and prosecutors on how to prosecute hate crimes, with a focus on antisemitism. The group will also work with schools and universities to educate them on antisemitism, Bird said.
"As we stand in front of the Iowa Holocaust Memorial today, we are reminded of the long history of violence and hate that have been faced by the Jewish community throughout history," Bird said. "That is a history we must learn from and never repeat."
Bird and other speakers pointed to an increase in antisemitic incidents around the country in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, where the militant group killed more than 1,200 people and took more than 250 others hostage.
Israel's war against Hamas in response to the attack has killed more than 34,000 people, according to authorities in Gaza, while another 77,000 have been injured.
College campuses around the country have seen a wave of protests against the war in recent weeks. Some schools, like Columbia University in New York, have called police as protesters occupied or vandalized buildings or clashed with other groups of protesters.
News organizations including NBC News and the Associated Press have reported more than 2,000 people have been arrested nationwide in the wave of campus protests.
More: What's the latest on pro-Palestinian campus protests? More arrests as graduations approach
Iowa has seen its own protests over the war in recent weeks, including at Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and at the Neal Smith Federal Building in Des Moines, although tensions have not risen as they have in other parts of the country. Protesters' demands have included a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a halt to U.S. military aid to Israel.
"Iowa is not New York, and we are thankful for that," Bird said Friday. "But we will not stand by as any Jewish students are harassed or targeted at their school. And as attorney general, I stand with Israel. I stand with Iowa’s Jewish community. And hate has absolutely no home in Iowa."
More: Peaceful demonstrations mark third day of University of Iowa protests of Israel-Hamas war
Jarad Bernstein, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines, said Friday that Iowa has also seen a wave of antisemitic incidents since Oct. 7, including at workplaces, synagogues and schools.
"Nearly two-thirds of those who are subjected to antisemitic incidents don’t bother to report it for a number of reasons, including they’re afraid of additional retribution," he said.
Christina Gish Hill, a professor at Iowa State University, also spoke at the news conference announcing the task force, although she said she was not speaking on behalf of the university.
Gish Hill said some protesters at Iowa State called for an "intifada revolution," a term for a Palestinian uprising against Israel that she said "explicitly evokes two periods of prolonged violence in the 1980s and early 2000s that killed many thousands." Other protesters at Iowa State used the phrase, "all resistance is justified," she said.
"These slogans cross the line from advocacy for and solidarity with Palestinians into incidents of violence against Jews and Israelis," Gish Hill said. "It’s difficult to imagine anyone at Iowa State or in our wider central Iowa community celebrating or calling to replicate these dark chapters in the conflict. My hope is that these student protesters at ISU are not fully aware of the meaning of their messaging."
She said further education about antisemitism, as envisioned by the task force, is "essential in our current environment."
Anti-Muslim incidents also reached record highs in 2023, according to the Council on American Islamic Relations. Bird said she has no plans to launch a similar task force dedicated to combatting Islamophobia.
"I haven’t heard those reports myself," Bird said. "And I must say this: What is happening here is different. People are being targeted because they are Jewish and because of who they are. And that has no place in Iowa. Of course, all hate crime is prosecuted and it will be prosecuted, but we must at this important time in our history focus on antisemitism."
USA Today contributed to this report.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Attorney General Brenna Bird launches task force to combat antisemitism
