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Trump Supports Students Through Plan to Dismantle Department of Education
US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon smiles during the signing event for an executive order to shut down the Department of Education next to US President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
My parents were born in the Soviet Union, where antisemitism was not only tolerated — it was enforced.
They grew up in a system that erased Jewish identity, restricted Jewish education, and shut Jews out of opportunities. My father didn’t even know he was Jewish until he was seven years old, because acknowledging that fact could have endangered his family.
When my parents immigrated to the United States, they had no money, spoke no English, and had no connections. What they did have was hope — hope that in America, their children would be free to live as Jews without fear. They believed this country would offer what the USSR never could: freedom of religion, opportunity through education, and protection under the law. That promise now feels under threat.
As a Jewish student preparing for college, I see antisemitism growing in plain sight — particularly on college campuses. And the very institutions that are supposed to keep students safe, inclusive, and informed are failing. Among them is the US Department of Education. With over 4,000 employees and an annual budget exceeding $80 billion, it has proven largely unable — or unwilling — to address the rising hatred directed at Jewish students.
President Trump’s decision to eliminate the Department of Education is not simply justified — it is needed. The Department has become a bloated bureaucracy that fails to serve students, wastes public resources, and actively promotes policies that marginalize people like me.
A major part of the Department’s role under the Biden administration was enforcing and promoting DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) frameworks. While these programs claim to protect vulnerable groups, they have frequently excluded Jews.
A 2023 Anti-Defamation League (ADL) survey found that 55% of Jewish students felt DEI policies ignored or diminished their concerns. Jews are too often viewed as “privileged” and therefore excluded from the very protections afforded to others. This is not inclusion — it is erasure.
Until last year, these DEI-driven admissions policies even worked against Jewish applicants. Colleges, under the disguise of achieving “equity,” could penalize students for their ethnic and religious background. It took a Supreme Court ruling to stop this. The Department of Education, meanwhile, allowed it to happen for years.
President Trump’s current efforts to dismantle DEI programs are necessary, but as long as the Department of Education exists, these policies could be revived under future administrations. Eliminating the Department altogether is the only way to end the cycle and protect Jewish students long-term.
The Department has also failed in one of its most basic responsibilities — protecting students from discrimination. Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, antisemitism on college campuses has surged by over 700%, according to the ADL. Jewish students have been harassed, threatened, and physically assaulted. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits such discrimination in federally funded institutions. Yet the Department of Education has done little more than issue vague statements. No meaningful enforcement and no consequences.
President Trump, in contrast, has acted. His administration withdrew $2.2 billion in Federal funding from Harvard and $400 million from Columbia University due to their failure to protect Jewish students. These measures had immediate impact — protests that had turned hostile and violent were shut down, and schools implemented stronger safety policies.
This is not the first time President Trump has taken meaningful action to protect Jewish students. In his first term, Trump expanded Title VI to include antisemitism as a protected class under Federal civil rights law. That was a historic move — one the Department should have made long ago. Instead, it remained inactive while anti-Jewish hate festered.
Beyond civil rights, the Department has proven ineffective in advancing education itself. A 2024 Government Accountability Office report found that only 10% of its staff contribute to direct classroom support. The remaining 90% are engaged in regulatory compliance and administrative functions — layers of bureaucracy that cost billions and deliver little.
One area where this failure is especially dangerous is Holocaust education. Only 18 states require it in public schools, and even where it is required, the instruction is often shallow or optional. A 2020 Claims Conference survey revealed that 63% of young Americans did not know six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, and over one-third believed the death toll was exaggerated. This ignorance enables dangerous ideas to spread, and the Department of Education has done little to correct it.
Eliminating the Department of Education would free states to design education systems that meet the real needs of their students — systems with meaningful education, fair admissions, and real protections for Jewish students.
Gregory Lyakhov is the youngest nationally syndicated columnist in the United States. He is a columnist for both Townhall Media and Newsmax, where his bold commentary has earned national recognition. His writing regularly appears in major publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, and several prominent Jewish outlets.
The post Trump Supports Students Through Plan to Dismantle Department of Education first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US House Members Ask Marco Rubio to Bar Turkey From Rejoining F-35 Program
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, April 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
A bipartisan coalition of more than 40 US lawmakers is pressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to prevent Turkey from rejoining the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, citing ongoing national security concerns and violations of US law.
Members of Congress on Thursday warned that lifting existing sanctions or readmitting Turkey to the US F-35 fifth-generation fighter program would “jeopardize the integrity of F-35 systems” and risk exposing sensitive US military technology to Russia. The letter pointed to Ankara’s 2017 purchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system, despite repeated US warnings, as the central reason Turkey was expelled from the multibillion-dollar fighter jet program in 2019.
“The S-400 poses a direct threat to US aircraft, including the F-16 and F-35,” the lawmakers wrote. “If operated alongside these platforms, it risks exposing sensitive military technology to Russian intelligence.”
The group of signatories, spanning both parties, stressed that Turkey still possesses the Russian weapons systems and has shown “no willingness to comply with US law.” They urged Rubio and the Trump administration to uphold the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and maintain Ankara’s exclusion from the F-35 program until the S-400s are fully removed.
The letter comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed during a NATO summit in June that Ankara and Washington have begun discussing Turkey’s readmission into the program.
Lawmakers argued that reversing course now would undermine both US credibility and allied confidence in American defense commitments. They also warned it could disrupt development of the next-generation fighter jet announced by the administration earlier this year.
“This is not a partisan issue,” the letter emphasized. “We must continue to hold allies and adversaries alike accountable when their actions threaten US interests.”
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US Lawmakers Urge Treasury to Investigate Whether Irish Bill Targeting Israel Violates Anti-Boycott Law
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Ireland led by nationalist party Sinn Fein. Photo: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne
A group of US lawmakers is calling on the Treasury Department to investigate and potentially penalize Ireland over proposed legislation targeting Israeli goods, warning that the move could trigger sanctions under longstanding US anti-boycott laws.
In a letter sent on Thursday to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, 16 Republican members of Congress expressed “serious concerns” about Ireland’s recent legislative push to ban trade with territories under Israeli administration, including the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.
The letter, spearheaded by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), called for the US to “send a clear signal” that any attempts to economically isolate Israel will “carry consequences.”
The Irish measure, introduced by Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Harris, seeks to prohibit the import of goods and services originating from what the legislation refers to as “occupied Palestinian territories,” including Israeli communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Supporters say the bill aligns with international law and human rights principles, while opponents, including the signatories of the letter, characterize it as a direct extension of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel as a step toward the destruction of the world’s lone Jewish state.
Some US lawmakers have also described the Irish bill as an example of “antisemitic hate” that could risk hurting relations between Dublin and Washington.
“Such policies not only promote economic discrimination but also create legal uncertainty for US companies operating in Ireland,” the lawmakers wrote in this week’s letter, urging Bessent to determine whether Ireland’s actions qualify as participation in an “unsanctioned international boycott” under Section 999 of the Internal Revenue Code, also known as the Ribicoff Amendment.
Under that statute, the Treasury Department is required to maintain a list of countries that pressure companies to comply with international boycotts not sanctioned by the US. Inclusion on the list carries tax-reporting burdens and possible penalties for American firms and individuals doing business in those nations.
“If the criteria are met, Ireland should be added to the boycott list,” the letter said, arguing that such a step would help protect US companies from legal exposure and reaffirm American opposition to economic efforts aimed at isolating Israel.
Legal experts have argued that if the Irish bill becomes law, it could chase American capital out of the country while also hurting companies that do business with Ireland. Under US law, it is illegal for American companies to participate in boycotts of Israel backed by foreign governments. Several US states have also gone beyond federal restrictions to pass separate measures that bar companies from receiving state contracts if they boycott Israel.
Ireland has been one of the fiercest critics of Israel on the international stage since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza, leading the Jewish state to shutter its embassy in Dublin.
Last year, Ireland officially recognized a Palestinian state, a decision that Israel described as a “reward for terrorism.”
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US Families File Lawsuit Accusing UNRWA of Supporting Hamas, Hezbollah
A truck, marked with United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) logo, crosses into Egypt from Gaza, at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah, Egypt, Nov. 27, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
American families of victims of Hamas and Hezbollah attacks have filed a lawsuit against the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, accusing the organization of violating US antiterrorism laws by providing material support to the Islamist terror groups behind the deadly assaults.
Last week, more than 200 families filed a lawsuit in a Washington, DC district court accusing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) of violating US antiterrorism laws by providing funding and support to Hamas and Hezbollah, both designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
The lawsuit alleges that UNRWA employs staff with direct ties to the Iran-backed terror group, including individuals allegedly involved in carrying out attacks against the Jewish state.
However, UNRWA has firmly denied the allegations, labeling them as “baseless” and condemning the lawsuit as “meritless, absurd, dangerous, and morally reprehensible.”
According to the organization, the lawsuit is part of a wider campaign of “misinformation and lawfare” targeting its work in the Gaza Strip, where it says Palestinians are enduring “mass, deliberate and forced starvation.”
The UN agency reports that more than 150,000 donors across the United States have supported its programs providing food, medical aid, education, and trauma assistance in the war-torn enclave amid the ongoing conflict.
In a press release, UNRWA USA affirmed that it will continue its humanitarian efforts despite facing legal challenges aimed at undermining its work.
“Starvation does not pause for politics. Neither will we,” the statement read.
Last year, Israeli security documents revealed that of UNRWA’s 13,000 employees in Gaza, 440 were actively involved in Hamas’s military operations, with 2,000 registered as Hamas operatives.
According to these documents, at least nine UNRWA employees took part directly in the terror group’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
Israeli officials also uncovered a large Hamas data center beneath UNRWA headquarters, with cables running through the facility above, and found that Hamas also stored weapons in other UNRWA sites.
The UN agency has also aligned with Hamas in efforts against the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli and US-backed program that delivers aid directly to Palestinians, blocking Hamas from diverting supplies for terror activities and selling them at inflated prices.
These Israeli intelligence documents also revealed that a senior Hamas leader, killed in an Israeli strike in September 2024, had served as the head of the UNRWA teachers’ union in Lebanon, where Lebanon is based,
UNRWA’s education programs have been found by IMPACT-se, an international organization that monitors global education, to contribute to the radicalization of younger generations of Palestinians.