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Campus Chaos Risks Poisoning All of Society Unless Universities Uphold Their Own Rules
Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) members occupying an administrative building at Barnard College on Feb. 26, 2025. Photo: Screenshot
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik is often presented as a great 20th century rabbinic philosopher, but in reality, his logic was solidly based on Talmudic methodology, and his most profound insights reflect that tradition.
Here’s one: “To sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate is the greatest sin a scholar can commit.” This aligns with the Talmudic dictum: “Who is wise? One who foresees the consequences” (Tamid 32a).
One of the great Talmudic sages, Rabbi Eleazar, son of Rabbi Yosei, warns that a judge must never rule based on immediate concerns alone, as doing so can undermine the very system he is meant to uphold.
A judge who prioritizes expediency over principle, seeking to compromise rather than uphold justice, does not bring peace — instead he ensures corruption and decay (Sanhedrin 6b). Short-term expediency often leads to long-term destruction, and those who fail to see beyond the moment are not fit to lead.
Which brings me to this week’s events at Barnard College in New York. I have always loved the idea of a university as a temple of learning — a sanctuary where young minds expand, ideas are sharpened, and the pursuit of truth is sacrosanct. But it has become painfully clear that something has gone terribly wrong, and the long-term negative repercussions simply can’t be overstated.
At Barnard College, a group of masked students — wrapped in keffiyehs, banging drums, and shouting slogans — stormed a campus building, physically assaulting a college employee in the process. They treated the halls of learning like a street corner rally, drowning out any semblance of reason with crude theatrics and belligerence.
Instead of engaging in thoughtful discourse, they resorted to intimidation, disrupting dozens of classes and the lives of thousands of other students, all in pursuit of a self-righteous spectacle.
And how did the college respond? With deference and indulgence. After hours of petulant refusals to engage with kindly university officials desperately attempting to reason with them, the protesters were eventually granted precisely what they wanted — no consequences, no accountability, and no responsibility for the havoc they had generated.
It was an exercise in spineless appeasement, reinforcing the already obvious lesson that on today’s college campuses, brute force and outrage are far more effective than dialogue and debate.
The protest itself was staged in response to the recent expulsion of two students who had aggressively disrupted a History of Israel class, turning what should have been an environment of learning into a battleground of political agitation.
But the mob was not content with mere protest. They demanded the impossible: immediate reinstatement of the expelled students, amnesty for all disciplinary action against so-called “pro-Palestine thought,” and a public meeting with the college president — essentially, the right to disrupt at will, without any consequences. In their world, free speech means their speech alone, and any opposition is silenced not with ideas, but with brute force.
As I watched clips of the protest on X, I found myself shaking my head in disbelief. Once, universities were temples of knowledge, where scholarship reigned supreme, debate was rigorous yet respectful, and the classroom was a sanctuary for intellectual exploration.
Now, they are being hijacked by mob rule – reduced to platforms for megaphone politics, virtue signaling, and performative outrage. The very institutions that should champion reason and discourse have become breeding grounds for hysteria and intimidation. There is a term for this: sacrilege.
In Parshat Terumah, we find the first recorded reference to a sacred space: “And they shall make for Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). Notice the phrasing: “among them,” not “in it.”
The implication is profound. A space is not holy simply because of its walls or its grandeur. It is holy because of the people who treat it with reverence, and because of the impact that reverence will have on broader society.
When a place of learning is built on respect, intellectual rigor, and the humble pursuit of truth, that sacred spirit spreads. It lifts up all those who enter, elevating not just the institution, but society itself.
But the reverse is also true. When places of learning are hijacked by mob rule, when violence and intimidation replace scholarship and discourse, that corruption does not stay contained — it spreads like a contagion.
If universities become places of shouting rather than thinking, of bullying rather than reasoning, of destruction rather than construction, we should not be surprised when wider society begins to mirror that same decay.
Today’s students who shriek down dissent, storm buildings, and revel in chaos will be tomorrow’s professionals, policymakers, and leaders. If they are taught that force wins arguments, that disruption yields rewards, and that entitlement trumps effort, that is the world they will build — and the world we will be forced to inherit. Their ugly behavior will spill out well beyond the halls of learning.
Which is why university leadership cannot afford to appease the chaos-makers. They must be dealt with firmly, swiftly, and without hesitation.
A university that refuses to uphold its own rules — rules designed to protect the very foundation of learning — ceases to be an institution of higher education. It becomes a playground for the loudest and most aggressive, where intimidation replaces intellect, where noise drowns out knowledge, and where sacred spaces are reduced to battlegrounds of division and disorder.
To be clear, students are entitled to their opinions. They have every right to debate, to discuss, and to challenge ideas they find objectionable. But they do not have the right to storm buildings, assault staff, disrupt classes, and then demand immunity from consequences. That is not free speech. That is anarchy.
Barnard College’s administration was totally right to expel the two students who disrupted the class. They would be even more right to stand their ground and refuse to be bullied into reversing that decision. If universities are to reclaim their place as temples of learning, they must set clear boundaries and enforce them decisively.
If we allow our sanctuaries of knowledge to be overrun, we should not be surprised when the entire edifice of civilization begins to crumble. As C.S. Lewis warned: “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.”
And in the end, the real question is this: Do we want our future shaped by reason and discipline, or by chaos and destruction? Because, as Margaret Thatcher so bluntly put it: “You can’t have education without discipline. You can’t have freedom without order.”
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Switzerland Moves to Close Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s Geneva Office Over Legal Irregularities
Palestinians carry aid supplies received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Switzerland has moved to shut down the Geneva office of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed aid group, citing legal irregularities in its establishment.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May, implementing a new aid delivery model aimed at preventing the diversion of supplies by Hamas, as Israel continues its defensive military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group.
The initiative has drawn criticism from the UN and international organizations, some of which have claimed that Jerusalem is causing starvation in the war-torn enclave.
Israel has vehemently denied such accusations, noting that, until its recently imposed blockade, it had provided significant humanitarian aid in the enclave throughout the war.
Israeli officials have also said much of the aid that flows into Gaza is stolen by Hamas, which uses it for terrorist operations and sells the rest at high prices to Gazan civilians.
With a subsidiary registered in Geneva, the GHF — headquartered in Delaware — reports having delivered over 56 million meals to Palestinians in just one month.
According to a regulatory announcement published Wednesday in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce, the Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA) may order the dissolution of the GHF if no creditors come forward within the legal 30-day period.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Swiss decision to shut down its Geneva office.
“The GHF confirmed to the ESA that it had never carried out activities in Switzerland … and that it intends to dissolve the Geneva-registered branch,” the ESA said in a statement.
Last week, Geneva authorities gave the GHF a 30-day deadline to address legal shortcomings or risk facing enforcement measures.
Under local laws and regulations, the foundation failed to meet several requirements: it did not appoint a board member authorized to sign documents domiciled in Switzerland, did not have the minimum three board members, lacked a Swiss bank account and valid address, and operated without an auditing body.
The GHF operates independently from UN-backed mechanisms, which Hamas has sought to reinstate, arguing that these vehicles are more neutral.
Israeli and American officials have rejected those calls, saying Hamas previously exploited UN-run systems to siphon aid for its war effort.
The UN has denied those allegations while expressing concerns that the GHF’s approach forces civilians to risk their safety by traveling long distances across active conflict zones to reach food distribution points.
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Key US Lawmaker Warns Ireland of Potential Economic Consequences for ‘Antisemitic Path’ Against Israel
US Sen. James Risch (R-ID) speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Washington, DC, May 21, 2024. Photo: Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch (R-ID) issued a sharp warning Tuesday, accusing Ireland of embracing antisemitism and threatening potential economic consequences if the Irish government proceeds with new legislation targeting Israeli trade.
“Ireland, while often a valuable U.S. partner, is on a hateful, antisemitic path that will only lead to self-inflicted economic suffering,” Risch wrote in a post on X. “If this legislation is implemented, America will have to seriously reconsider its deep and ongoing economic ties. We will always stand up to blatant antisemitism.”
Marking a striking escalation in rhetoric from a senior US lawmaker, Risch’s comments came amid growing tensions between Ireland and Israel, which have intensified dramatically since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Those attacks, in which roughly 1,200 Israelis were killed and more than 200 taken hostage, prompted a months-long Israeli military campaign in Gaza that has drawn widespread international scrutiny. Ireland has positioned itself as one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s response, accusing the Israeli government of disproportionate use of force and calling for immediate humanitarian relief and accountability for the elevated number of Palestinian civilian casualties.
Dublin’s stance has included tangible policy shifts. In May 2024, Ireland formally recognized a Palestinian state, becoming one of the first European Union members to do so following the outbreak of the war in Gaza. The move was condemned by Israeli officials, who recalled their ambassador to Ireland and accused the Irish government of legitimizing terrorism. Since then, Irish lawmakers have proposed further measures, including legislation aimed at restricting imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, policies viewed in Israel and among many American lawmakers as aligning with the controversial Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
While Irish leaders have defended their approach as grounded in international law and human rights, critics in Washington, including Risch, have portrayed it as part of a broader pattern of hostility toward Israel. Some US lawmakers have begun raising the possibility of reevaluating trade and diplomatic ties with Ireland in response.
Risch’s warning is one of the clearest indications yet that Ireland’s policies toward Israel could carry economic consequences. The United States is one of Ireland’s largest trading partners, and American companies such as Apple, Google, Meta and Pfizer maintain substantial operations in the country, drawn by Ireland’s favorable tax regime and access to the EU market.
Though the Trump administration has not echoed Risch’s warning, the remarks reflect growing unease in Washington about the trajectory of Ireland’s foreign policy. The State Department has maintained a careful balancing act, expressing strong support for Israel’s security while calling for increased humanitarian access in Gaza. Officials have stopped short of condemning Ireland’s actions directly but have expressed concern about efforts they see as isolating Israel on the international stage.
Ireland’s stance is emblematic of a growing international divide over the war. While the US continues to provide military and diplomatic backing to Israel, many European countries have called for an immediate ceasefire and investigations into alleged war crimes.
Irish public opinion has long leaned pro-Palestinian, and Irish lawmakers have repeatedly voiced concern over the scale of destruction in Gaza and the dire humanitarian situation.
Irish officials have not yet responded to The Algemeiner’s request for comment.
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Israel Condemns Iran’s Suspension of IAEA Cooperation, Urges Europe to Reinstate UN Sanctions
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar at a press conference in Berlin, Germany, June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Christian Mang/File Photo
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Wednesday condemned Iran’s decision to halt cooperation with the UN’s nuclear watchdog and called on the international community to reinstate sanctions to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
“Iran has just issued a scandalous announcement about suspending its cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),” Saar wrote in a post on X. “This is a complete renunciation of all its international nuclear obligations and commitments.”
Last week, the Iranian parliament voted to suspend cooperation with the IAEA “until the safety and security of [the country’s] nuclear activities can be guaranteed.”
“The IAEA and its Director-General are fully responsible for this sordid state of affairs,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post on X.
The top Iranian diplomat said this latest decision was “a direct result of [IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi’s] regrettable role in obfuscating the fact that the Agency — a full decade ago — already closed all past issues.
“Through this malign action,” Araghchi continued, “he directly facilitated the adoption of a politically-motivated resolution against Iran by the IAEA [Board of Governors] as well as the unlawful Israeli and US bombings of Iranian nuclear sites.”
The Parliament of Iran has voted for a halt to collaboration with the IAEA until the safety and security of our nuclear activities can be guaranteed.
This is a direct result of @rafaelmgrossi‘s regrettable role in obfuscating the fact that the Agency—a full decade ago—already…
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) June 27, 2025
On Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian approved a bill banning UN nuclear inspectors from entering the country until the Supreme National Security Council decides that there is no longer a threat to the safety of its nuclear sites.
In response, Saar urged European countries that were part of the now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal to activate its “snapback” clause and reinstate all UN sanctions lifted under the agreement.
Officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), this accord between Iran and several world powers imposed temporary restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
During his first term, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal and reinstated unilateral sanctions on Iran.
“The time to activate the Snapback mechanism is now! I call upon the E3 countries — Germany, France and the UK to reinstate all sanctions against Iran!” Saar wrote in a post on X.
“The international community must act decisively now and utilize all means at its disposal to stop Iranian nuclear ambitions,” he continued.
The time to activate the Snapback mechanism is now!
I call upon the E3 countries- Germany, France and the UK to reinstate all sanctions against Iran!
Iran has just issued a scandalous announcement about suspending its cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy…— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) July 2, 2025
Saar’s latest remarks come after Araghchi met last week in Geneva with his counterparts from Britain, France, Germany and the European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas — their first meeting since the Iran-Israel war began.
Europe is actively urging Iran to reengage in talks with the White House to prevent further escalation of tensions, but has yet to address the issue of reinstating sanctions.
Speaking during an official visit to Latvia on Tuesday, Saar said that “Operation Rising Lion” — Israel’s sweeping military campaign aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear capabilities — has “revealed the full extent of the Iranian regime’s threat to Israel, Europe, and the global order.”
“Iran deliberately targeted civilian population centers with its ballistic missiles,” Saar said at a press conference. “The same missile threat can reach Europe, including Latvia and the Baltic states.”
“Israel’s actions against the head of the snake in Iran contributed directly to the safety of Europe,” the Israeli top diplomat continued, adding that Israeli strikes have set back the Iranian nuclear program by many years.
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