by Cole Harrison
The following is a transcript of the author’s testimony at the State Commission on Combatting Antisemitism (SCCA) hearing, September 25, 2025.
My name is Cole Harrison. I’m a staff member for Massachusetts Peace Action, which represents 2400 members in the Commonwealth who provide financial support for our work.
We call for an end to US support for Israel’s genocide in Palestine. The US provides the bulk of the planes, helicopters, missiles, bombs, shells, and bulldozers that Israel is using as we speak to level Gaza and starve its population. Israel has long since turned away from any policy that would enable Jews and Palestinians to live together with equal rights in Israel-Palestine. It has settled on a policy of annihilation. It has attacked many neighboring countries in the past two years, including Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran, and most recently, Qatar. US taxpayers are paying for all this, with support from both Democrats and Republicans in Washington.
The American people demand a change in the policy of genocide. 41% of Americans, including 67% of Democrats, believe that Israeli military actions in Gaza constitute either “genocide” or are “akin to genocide”, while only 22% of Americans and 7% of Democrats think Israels’ actions are justified. Protests across Massachusetts erupted to demand politicial leaders, universities, and the media stop protecting genocide.
To suppress these protests and confuse the issue, politicians charged that protesters supporting Palestinians’ rights are antisemitic. They formed the Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism to make sure nobody can criticize Israel without being called an antisemite. Has any commission member spoken out against Israel’s atrocities and US support for them? If not, I suggest that your commission is stacked. It is out of step with the people of Massachusetts.
The government of Israel paid Senator Velis $6,000 to visit in January to plan together how to make sure it’s safe to defend Israel’s occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, in Massachusetts. Senator Velis should recuse himself because it’s unethical for a legislator to accept payment from a foreign government and then write the laws of Massachusetts to benefit that government.
The commission is aligned with the Trump administration’s agenda which attacks universities, claiming they are hotbeds of antisemitism.
Antisemitism is real. The Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville chanted “Jews will not replace us”. The Tree of Life synagogue murderer was motivated by Holocaust denial and white replacement conspiracy theories. Elon Musk gave a Nazi salute. Donald Trump has a long history of antisemitic remarks. So does Kash Patel. But Trump is pro-Israel. The commission ignores the real threat of antisemitism, which mostly comes from the far right, anti-DEI, anti-immigrant forces, in its quest to defend Israel at any cost. In the process they threaten to undermine free speech and American democracy itself.
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Cole Harrison is administrative director of MAPA and a member of its Gaza Israel Mideast Peace Campaign.