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An Open Letter to University Presidents
Pro-Hamas demonstrators at Columbia University in New York City, US, April 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
Recent weeks have seen a surge in anti-Israel protests at universities across the US. As university leaders, you are undoubtedly facing intense pressure from various perspectives. Here are five keys issues and questions you have probably asked yourselves — but you likely got the answers wrong:
1. Isn’t it paramount that we support free speech and allow students to protest?
Free speech is fundamental in American society, allowing diverse opinions to be heard — even controversial ones. However, speech that threatens specific individuals or groups does not qualify as protected speech. At some campuses, rhetoric has escalated to dangerous levels, with calls for violence against Israeli cities and Jewish students. Such expressions exceed the bounds of free speech.
Jewish students have been targeted, physically intimidated, and even violently attacked. All of this puts much of the anti-Israel protests beyond the protection of free speech.
While protecting free speech is part of the equation, creating an environment that condemns and protects against racism and discrimination is also crucial. Imagine if the KKK wanted to protest in the middle of Columbia University chanting that “blacks are not welcome here” or if anti-gay groups were calling for homosexuals to be targeted and harassed. Would any university leader stand for this? Would anyone want to attend a university that allows this?
2. Aren’t these protests against Israel, not Jews? We should not equate the two.
The stated reason for the protests is to condemn Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. However, much of the rhetoric has devolved into antisemitism against Jewish students. Since the war began, 73% of Jewish college students reported experiencing antisemitic incidents, from vandalism to threats of violence. Additionally, 44% of non-Jewish students also stated that they witnessed antisemitism on campus. These are astonishing numbers.
The core of the connection between anti-Israel hate and antisemitism is the centrality that Israel plays in Jewish identity. One cannot separate Israel from Judaism. The Land of Israel is central to Judaism’s history, sacred texts, prayers, and religious observance. Israel cannot be separated from Judaism — it is integral to it. Thus, for so many Jews, an attack on Israel is an attack against the Jewish People. And many Jews have been attacked simply for being Jewish; the numbers and stories are undeniable
3. Since there are Jewish students also protesting, this can’t be antisemitism, right?
Jewish participation in protests does not negate antisemitism. Although some Jewish students participate in these protests, they represent a minority within the broader American Jewish community. Recent studies, including one by Pew, indicate that a significant majority of American Jews validate Israel’s reasons for engaging Hamas (89%), though opinions on the conduct of operations vary. The diversity among protesters, including Jews, doesn’t nullify the antisemitic elements present, particularly when Jewish organizations like Jewish Voices for Peace, which has been critiqued for antisemitic rhetoric, are involved.
4. How do I know when a protest against Israel’s actions becomes antisemitism?
Soviet dissident and human rights advocate Natan Sharansky has defined when criticism of Israel crosses the line to antisemitism. He calls it the “3 D’s”: delegitimization, demonization, and double standards.
Delegitimization: Questioning Israel’s very existence or advocating to ban “Zionists” from campus is delegitimizing and antisemitic.
Demonization: Israel is fighting against an enemy who openly calls for its destruction, attacks civilians, and then hides amongst Palestinian civilians. Accusing Israel of indiscriminately killing innocent people, committing genocide, or other war crimes when it is not factual is demonizing and antisemitic.
Double Standards: Criticizing Israel for actions that other nations are not criticized for is a double standard and antisemitic. Israel is often criticized for actions that other nations are not. While all loss of innocent life is tragic, one has to wonder why there are protests against Israel across all of these campuses when nothing was done for so many other horrible situations. There were no protests when Syria was using chemical weapons against its own people. There were no protests when Nigerian Christians were slaughtered by Islamists. There were no protests standing up for the brave Muslim women marching in the streets against the Iranian regime. There were no protests to stand up for the Kurds or the Yazidi women and children who were used as sex slaves by ISIS. Why not?
5. What do these protestors want and how can we end this?
Hearing from the protestors themselves, it seems like they have many conflicting agendas, including calls for a ceasefire, cessation of US support for Israel, or even the destruction of Israel. Some also express animosity towards Western values and are also expressing hatred toward America and Western culture, while some have no idea why they are protesting in the first place. This may explain the support they are receiving from Hamas and Iran, as the protesters are aligning with groups hostile to liberal democracies. Universities must formulate responses that reject hate and promote a safe academic environment without compromising free speech.
So how do we end this? Certainly not by giving in to haters and those intimidating, harassing, and threatening others. All university leaders must stand strong against this hatred and make it loud and clear that these hate tactics will not succeed
Elliot Mathias is Aish’s Chief Operating Officer for Global Activities, as well as Executive Director of Aish New York. Elliot is also the founder of Hasbara Fellowships, a program he created while studying at Aish in Jerusalem, Hasbara Fellowships grew under his leadership to become one of the premier campus Israel advocacy organizations in North America, training and supporting thousands of students to stand up for Israel.
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Experts, Lawmakers Suggest Same Hateful Ideology That Motivated New Orleans Attack Also Behind Pro-Hamas NYC March
Palestinian Youth Movement protesters speaking in Times Square, New York City, NY, USA on Jan. 1, 2025. Photo: Ethan Johnson/SIPA USA via Reuters Connect
Some experts and lawmakers are drawing a link between the Islamist ideology that seemingly motivated the New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans and the pro-Hamas demonstration in New York City that took place hours later.
On Wednesday, hours after a US Army veteran who pledged allegiance to Islamic State (ISIS) drove a truck into a crowd of New Year’s Day revelers in New Orleans and killed at least 14 people, protesters marched through New York City, chanting slogans condemning both America and Israel.
Hundreds of anti-Israel demonstrators descended upon the streets of Manhattan, sporting signs calling to “End Zionism,” “End all US aid to Israel,” and for “No War With Iran.” Many of these activists also carried Palestinian flags and bellowed slogans such as “intifada revolution!” — a slogan that many consider to be a call for violence against Israelis, Jews, and Westerners more broadly.
“We’re sending you back to Europe, you white b–ches,” a protester yelled at participants of a pro-Israel counter-demonstration. “Go back to Europe! Go back to Europe!”
The demonstration was organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), a group that plans anti-Israel demonstrations across the United States. PYM has repeatedly praised Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7.
US lawmakers were quick to slam the anti-Israel demonstrations, accusing them of fomenting unwarranted hatred toward the United States and the Jewish state.
“These protesters in New York City are marching not to condemn the ISIS terrorist attack against their own country but to falsely accuse their own country, as well as Israel, of terrorism,” wrote Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), one of the most strident allies of Israel in the US Congress.
“The hatred for America and Israel far exceeds the hatred for actual terror, apartheid, and genocide in the world,” Torres continued. “For an ideologue, ideology has more reality than reality itself.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), another stalwart ally of Israel, also linked the New Orleans terror attack to the New York City demonstrations, saying that “hours after a jihadist sympathizer killed 10 Americans, pro-Hamas agitators are marching through New York City calling for a global intifada.”
“The governor and the mayor must put an end to this nonsense — now,” Lawler added. “Silence is not an option.”
Israeli diplomat Yaki Lopez similarly linked the two incidents, posting on social media that “pro-Hamas demonstrators chanted ‘intifada revolution’ in New York City while jihadist terrorists carried out a deadly attack in New Orleans, killing over a dozen Americans.”
“There’s little distinction between the actions of [the suspect in] New Orleans, who used a truck as a weapon and terrorist attacks in the West Bank where cars are used to run over Israelis,” added Joe Truzman, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and editor of its Long War Journal. “It’s terrorism, yet there are people in this country who support ‘resistance’ and ‘intifada.’”
US federal agencies have established a link between domestic anti-Israel protests and foreign actors. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said in July that the Iranian regime has organized “influence efforts” to undermine trust in American institutions, adding that “actors tied to Iran’s government” have encouraged and provided financial support to rampant anti-Israel demonstrations. Haines also said that Iran has weaponized social media against the Jewish state and America, spreading misleading propaganda regarding the ongoing war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, experts have warned of a rising global terror threat in the year following Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities. Last May, experts explained to The Algemeiner that “lone wolf” terrorists inspired by ISIS and al Qaeda could carry out attacks on US soil, incensed by the ongoing war in Gaza and inspired by terrorist violence abroad.
“As I look back over my career in law enforcement, I’m hard-pressed to come up with a time when I’ve seen so many different threats, all elevated, all at the same time,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in April.
The post Experts, Lawmakers Suggest Same Hateful Ideology That Motivated New Orleans Attack Also Behind Pro-Hamas NYC March first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Florida Man Arrested for Alleged Plot to Attack AIPAC Office
The 2018 AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC. Photo: Guatemala Presidency / Handout via Reuters.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stopped an apparent plot to attack an office of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Plantation, FL, according to court documents filed earlier this week.
Law enforcement apprehended Forrest Kendall Pemberton, a 26-year-old resident of Gainesville, FL, on Dec. 25, the first night of Hanukkah, after he traveled to Plantation in search of the local AIPAC office, local and national media outlets reported.
Prosecutors alleged in their filings that Pemberton was in a rideshare vehicle carrying multiple firearms, including an AR-15 rifle, and ammunition when law enforcement officers stopped and arrested him.
AIPAIC, the foremost pro-Israel lobbying organization in the US, seeks to foster bipartisan support for a stronger US-Israel relationship.
The court documents reportedly did not specifically name AIPAC as the target. However, an FBI affidavit described an organization with the same mission statement as AIPAC and referenced identical language from the group’s website. The suspect’s search engine history also included queries for AIPAC and its former Plantation office, believing it was the current local office.
According to law enforcement, Pemberton initially scoped out the premises of the Florida site for entry and exit points before later attempting to return with weapons.
Suspicions first arose surrounding Pemberton’s whereabouts after his father reported him missing to the police on Dec. 23. The father said he found a “concerning” note in his son’s backpack that “espoused anti-authority sentiments.” His father added that Pemberton often “espoused antisemitic views.”
An AIPAC spokesperson issued an identical statement to multiple outlets thanking the FBI for its work and saying the pro-Israel organization will not be intimidated.
“We take these threats very seriously and we are working closely with law enforcement concerning this matter,” the spokesperson said. “We will not be deterred by extremists in pursuing our mission to strengthen the relationship with America’s valued ally, Israel. We are deeply appreciative of the FBI’s work to stop this individual.”
Pemberton faces a federal stalking charge and is accused of traveling to AIPAC with the intent of “killing, injuring, harassing, and intimidating” people with the organization.
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Antisemitic Hate Crimes in Massachusetts Reach Eight-Year High
The Boston skyline stands behind the Tobin Bridge and the city of Chelsea as seen from Everett, Massachusetts, US. Photo: Brian Snyder via Reuters Connect.
The US state of Massachusetts saw more antisemitic hate crimes in 2023 than at any time since government officials began tracking such data eight years ago, according to a report issued by its Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS).
A striking 119 antisemitic hate crimes were reported to law enforcement agencies, EOPSS said, a total which, in addition to eclipsing 2015’s total of 56 incidents, amounts to a 70 percent increase over the previous year. Antisemitic hate crimes also constituted 18.8 percent of all hate crimes reported in 2023, a figure which trails only behind the percentage of hate crimes which targeted African Americans.
The report added that 68.9 percent of the antisemitic incidents involved property destruction or vandalism, a total of 82, while another 19 percent involved intimidation. Some physical assaults, six, were recorded or reported to the police.
EOPSS’s numbers fall somewhat below other figures reported by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in spring 2024, when the civil rights group said 440 antisemitic incidents occurred in the state in 2023, a 189 percent increase over the previous year. However, the discrepancy may be due to differences in methodology, as ADL reports include all antisemitic incidents, while EOPSS’s tally considers those which fit the legal definition of a crime and were brought to the attention of law enforcement.
The ADL has said, however, that their numbers and EOPSS’s are mutually inclusive.
“This report mirrors what sadly we’ve been tracking and responding to on a daily basis. There has been a marked increase in antisemitic hate incidents in the Bay State and in fact across the country,” Peggy Shukur, vice president of the ADL’s East Division, told The Algemeiner on Thursday. “The local increase reflects national trends. Our data showed that over 10,000 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the US since Oct. 7, 2023, an over 200 percent increase compared to incidents reported to us during the same period a year before.”
She added, “Behind every one of these numbers are people who have experienced the harm, fear, intimidation, and pain that reverberates from each of these incidents. The fact that numbers increase by 70 percent is a grim reminder that antisemitism continues to infect our communities in real and pervasive ways.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, antisemitism in Massachusetts has been an acute problem on college campuses, one to which school officials have allegedly hesitated to respond.
“I’ve become traumatized,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) student Talia Khan told members of the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce in March. “MIT has become overrun by terrorist supporters that directly threaten the lives of Jews on our campus. Members of the anti-Israel club on our campus have stated that violence against Jews who support Israel, including women and children, is acceptable. When this was reported to president [Sally] Kornbluth and senior MIT administration, the issue was never dealt with. Then, administrators pleaded ignorance when we reminded them that no action had been taken, saying that they either forgot about it or missed the email.”
Allegations of neglect have prompted civil lawsuits, including one against Harvard University which was recently cleared to proceed to discovery. Filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (Brandeis Center), the suit centers on several incidents involving Harvard Kennedy School professor Marshall Ganz during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Ganz allegedly refused to accept a group project submitted by Israeli students for his course, titled “Organizing: People, Power, Change,” because they described Israel as a “liberal Jewish democracy.” He castigated the students over their premise, the Brandeis Center says, accusing them of “white supremacy” and denying them the chance to defend themselves. Later, Ganz allegedly forced the Israeli students to attend “a class exercise on Palestinian solidarity” and the taking of a class photograph in which their classmates and teaching fellows “wore ‘keffiyehs’ as a symbol of Palestinian support.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Antisemitic Hate Crimes in Massachusetts Reach Eight-Year High first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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