Features
Antisemites Seek Control of Higher Education and the Streets
By HENRY SREBRNIK Two things are essential for an anti-democratic political movement to succeed: ideological justification by academics and intellectuals, and control of the streets by violent mobs. Since Oct. 7, when Hamas invaded Israel, we have now seen both, in Canada and elsewhere.
I’m not going to repeat all the evidence for this, because we already know that many universities have become, as someone termed it, “incubators of hate” led by so-called “woke” professors spewing antisemitic theories regarding Israel and Jews to their students. Concurrently, there are the massive “anti-Zionist” demonstrations that have taken over the streets and public spaces in major cities, along with violent activities targeting Jewish institutions.
“If there has been a striking new element in the current cycle of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed, apart from the scale of the killing, it has been the way that pro-Palestinian protesters have denounced a ‘settler colonial’ Israel, with Palestinians cast as the dark-skinned indigenous people and Israelis as white oppressor interlopers,” wrote New York Times journalist Roger Cohen in his Dec. 10 column.
This Manichean ideology presents us with a “world-historical” struggle between oppressed non-white peoples trying to resist white, particularly “Zionist” domination, while their evil oppressors wish to retain their power and privileges. A previous version of such a “conflict,” Nazism, posited a similar struggle, that one between so-called “Aryans” and Jews.
Antisemitism today is expressed as seeking to undo the Jewish state of Israel because of “settler-colonialism,” and it now has a huge youth constituency. Most politically inclined members of this younger generation were reared in this anti-colonialist discourse of modern university education. Propaganda masquerades as teaching at many colleges and universities these days.
Inculcated with these values, they are currently making full use of a “victim hierarchy” that permits them to define Jews as “white” and thus Israelis as de facto “oppressors,” with the state itself an illegitimate colonial entity that must be eliminated and its Jewish population expelled or eradicated.
Violence, including terrorism, is justified as a legitimate measure against that evil. It’s thus no surprise that so many university students responded to the Oct. 7 massacre by justifying and even glorifying Hamas’s barbarity.
This worldview is now well entrenched among students, administrators, and faculty alike. Antisemitism on the campus has moved, in many institutions, from speech to conduct, because many professors have created a hostile atmosphere toward Jewish students and Jewish colleagues. Amazingly, we recently saw three presidents of elite American universities fail to denounce calls at their institutions for the genocide of Jews.
Calls for global intifada, Jew-cleansing, and Jew-shaming now pass for some kind of civil right. In their continuing marches and demonstrations, mobs have no compunction in bellowing bloodthirsty, eliminationist propaganda at Jews. One author has called it “bloodlust by proxy.” That this hostility to Israeli policy in Gaza has slid into antisemitism is now impossible to deny.
Unfortunately, we know a terrible precedent for this union of the intellectuals and the mob. Nazi ideology, too, was not formulated by street thugs. Historian Max Weinreich had published his book Hitler’s Professors in 1946, noting that German scholarship provided the ideas and techniques that led to and justified unparalleled slaughter. All too many Nazi war criminals were holders of PhDs.
As historian Niall Ferguson reminds us, in an article published in the Free Press of Dec. 11, “Anyone who has a naive belief in the power of higher education to instill morality has not studied the history of German universities in the Third Reich.” The “final solution of the Jewish question” began, he has written, with words — “to be precise, it began as lectures and monographs and scholarly articles.”
A hundred years ago by far the best universities in the world were in Germany. More than a quarter of all the Nobel prizes awarded in the sciences between 1901 and 1940 were awarded to Germans; only eleven percent went to Americans.
The Nazis established new groups for different professions, from doctors to lawyers. In fact, medical doctors represented, proportionately the highest percentage of professionals in the Nazi movement. After all, who hasn’t heard of the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele, the most prominent of a group of Nazi doctors who conducted medical experiments at death camps like Auschwitz?
As for the bully-boys of the movement, the Sturmabteilung (SA) or Stormtroopers, they terrorized “undesirables,” especially Jews, and their methods of violent intimidation played a key role in Hitler’s rise to power.
Will people stand up to the modern day “big lie” being promulgated in our own universities and on our streets? From many recent studies, we have an increasingly detailed picture of the extensive involvement of many “ordinary” Germans in Nazi crimes.
Already in spring 1933 the new distinction between “Aryan” and “non-Aryan” began to sever relationships, and many Germans after 1933 contributed to discrimination, exclusion and the radicalization of violence.
Though there has been a considerable amount of damage to Jewish businesses, attacks on synagogues, and physical assaults on individual Jews this autumn, we have not seen an equivalent to Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom of November 1938.
All this certainly sounds alarmist – but ask yourself, did you foresee what has been going on in this country for the last few months?
Henry Srebrnik is a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown, PEI.
Features
How beginners can profit from crypto
There are some people who have made money through investing in cryptocurrency. However, how can crypto help you make a profit if you are a beginner who doesn’t have a lot of technical expertise? Here is a list of some of the ways you can make money with crypto without having a lot of experience in the subject.
Get in early
One way you can, potentially, earn money from crypto without needing any deep technical knowledge is by finding opportunities to get in on the ground floor. If you study any upcoming crypto launches by, for instance, looking at the list of new crypto presales from Best Wallet, you might find a coin or token which you could make a profit from. Very often, a cryptocurrency’s presale price is lower than what it trades at when it first appears on the open market. So, if you are careful, do your own research, and have luck on your side, you could make a profit from a cryptocurrency presale.
Earn interest
If you want to make a profit in a slow but sure manner, then earning interest on a crypto savings account might just be for you. Much like a traditional, fiat, savings account, your money is lent out to borrowers or, in some cases, put into liquidity pools, and you earn interest, which can be as much as 10 per cent. Most major exchanges will let you do this, and they are often pretty user-friendly, too, so it won’t require a great deal of crypto expertise. If you do put your money into a savings account, make sure you research the platform and start with a small amount, the sort of amount of crypto you could afford to lose. It also helps if you diversify somewhat and use different platforms to avoid the risk of losses.
Earn as you learn
While the debate between centralized and decentralized exchanges isn’t going to go away at any point soon, something that can work in favor of centralized exchanges is how they can give you free crypto in the form of learn-to-earn programs. These involve surveys and quizzes about particular cryptocurrencies, which reward players with some of the subject cryptos once they have completed them. Although the rewards are not exactly massive – usually a few dollars’ worth of the said crypto – they are real. What is, perhaps, even more useful is that the quizzes are educational, so you won’t just gain crypto from doing them, you will also learn more about the whole cryptosphere.
Keep loyal
If you’ve been shopping at any point this century, the chances are that you will be familiar with the concept of loyalty cards. These give you rewards for doing your shopping, or eating and drinking, at a specific chain or store. And what’s true of traditional retail is becoming ever more commonplace with cryptocurrency. Whether it’s with crypto debit cards, which give users rewards in the form of crypto, shopping platforms such as StormX or Lolli offering points, or travel sites like Travala giving customers crypto cashback, there are plenty of ways in which you can get crypto just by getting things you would normally get. And, better yet, they usually just need you to sign up and link your card to your account, so there’s no mining or staking or anything like that. As ever, though, make sure that you read the small print and check that you comply with any tax requirements for any coins or tokens earned via a crypto loyalty program.
Hold steady
Crypto investors who make money know when to get into a market and come out of it. However, one thing that can work in your favor is the simple act of buying and holding crypto. Now, this isn’t foolproof. Firstly, because nothing is foolproof and, secondly, because prices can go down as well as up. That said, there is a theory that, ultimately, this is the best way to make money with crypto, because it can involve a long-term strategy. You will, however, need to make sure that you do your own research, remember that prices can go down as well as up, and never invest more than you can afford to lose. It also helps to be patient, because you might not see a profit you want to take for quite some time. So just buying and holding can help you turn a crypto profit without having to study the technical intricacies of cryptocurrency.
Features
Team Spirit: Jewish College Sports Programs Making Headlines
For many educational institutions, sports are no longer just an optional activity: they have become an important part of the educational process. They build not only physical endurance, but also social skills, values and a sense of belonging to the Jewish community, as is often written on the website jewishsportsreview.com. Let’s take a look at the place of sports in Jewish colleges.
Features of Sports Programmes
Jewish educational institutions have always placed a special emphasis on the harmonious development of the individual. However, in the past, sports activities often took a back seat to academic subjects and religious education. Today, the situation has changed: more and more colleges are realising that sports are not just physical activity, but a tool for character building.
Sports in Jewish colleges serve several key functions:
- Social integration: joint training and competitions bring together students from different departments and courses.
- Strengthening values through fair play, respect for opponents, the ability to lose gracefully and win without arrogance are fully consistent with the ethical principles accepted in Jewish culture.
- Leadership development: team captains and sports event organisers gain experience in team management and decision-making under pressure.
Participation in sports clubs helps maintain a balance between mental and physical development, which is especially important for students who often have a heavy academic workload.
Sports Programme and Discipline Opportunities
Sports programmes at Jewish colleges are diverse and tailored to the interests of students, as well as the infrastructure of the educational institutions. In addition to traditional sports such as basketball, football and volleyball, the schedule may include baseball, tennis, table tennis and even sports related to historical or cultural traditions.
Interestingly, some colleges take Jewish holidays and Shabbat into account when drawing up their sports calendars so that training sessions and competitions do not clash with religious obligations. Students can combine sporting achievements with preserving their cultural identity.
Participation in intercollegiate tournaments is becoming an important element of sports programmes. This is not only a test of skill, but also an opportunity to represent one’s college at the regional or national level, creating a positive image for the educational institution. In such tournaments, the emphasis is often not only on winning, but also on the ability to behave in the spirit of fair play, which creates a special atmosphere of friendship and mutual respect between teams.
Impact on Student Life and Career
Sport in Jewish colleges plays a significant role in shaping the student experience. It helps students develop skills that are in demand not only in sport but also in any area of life: the ability to work in a team, make quick decisions and take responsibility for results.
Many graduates who participated in sports programmes note that this experience proved useful in building their careers. For example:
- Team leaders subsequently demonstrate high managerial competence at work.
- Players who are used to constant training and discipline adapt more easily to stress and deadlines.
- Participants in intercollegiate games gain public speaking and networking skills that help in business negotiations.
In addition to career advantages, sport improves health and reduces stress levels, which is especially important for students who are balancing their studies with community projects and religious obligations. The atmosphere of support and mutual assistance created by sports teams helps many students adapt to college life more easily, especially if they have come from another city or country.
Joining a sports team or regular training can become an important part of student life. Those considering this option should take several factors into account:
- Assess your goals: do you want to play sports professionally or just to stay in shape and socialise? This will help you choose the right level of commitment.
- Check your schedule to make sure that training does not conflict with your studies or religious obligations.
- Take advantage of college resources: many institutions offer free gyms, coaching, and access to sports clubs.
It is equally important to remember that sport is not just about winning. It teaches patience, respect for others and a willingness to work hard. At Jewish colleges, sports programmes are designed to combine these values with cultural and spiritual elements, making them unique.
Sports programmes at Jewish colleges become a space where traditional values are organically intertwined with modern approaches to education and leisure. For many students, participating in college sports is just as important as academic success. After all, team spirit, the ability to work together and support each other are qualities that stay with a person for life.
Features
The Jewish Federation isn’t evolving on Israel. So it’s losing young Jews like me
By Lahav ZakenAugust 8, 2025
This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward’s free email newsletters delivered to your inbox.
I’m a Jewish Israeli American teenager and North Carolina resident, and I was delighted to see that the North Carolina Democratic party recently approved new platform resolutions that called for an arms embargo against Israel, a ceasefire, and the release of the hostages. Very few people and organizations have managed to articulate my views of both Oct. 7 and the subsequent genocide as well as my state party’s resolutions did. Unfortunately, it seems that my perspective is not very welcome at my local Jewish Federation.
I was particularly gratified by how balanced the resolutions were. They directly condemned the deliberate killing of innocent civilians by both parties and called for the end of the war. The resolutions also condemned antisemitism and Islamophobia, condemned Hamas and the Oct. 7 terrorist attack and decried both Hamas and Israel’s human rights violations. They advocated for basic human rights, dignity and peace for all Israelis and Palestinians.
Yet somehow, this language advocating for peace was objectionable to the Jewish Federation. The CEOs of the Jewish Federations of Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte and Greensboro released a statement attacking the resolutions. Their biggest objection was to the resolutions’ use of the terms “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing,” which they specifically singled out as “radical and inflammatory.” They argued that the resolutions ignored Oct. 7 and undermined Israel’s right to self-defense. They even went so far as to accuse the Democratic Party of devaluing the “safety, identity, and lived experiences” of Jewish Americans.
I strongly disagree with the Jewish Federations and believe the statement they released was deeply harmful and inaccurate. While the federations may still be a hub of Jewish institutional power and influence, their perspectives on Israel and Gaza and continuing unconditional support of Israel’s actions do not represent many American Jews.
This statement is not an isolated incident, but an example of the ongoing silencing of the perspectives of an increasing number of American Jews by Jewish Federations across the country and Jewish institutions and youth groups more broadly.
I am just about as Jewish as you can get. I was born in Israel and lived in Jerusalem until I was 4, when my family moved to Greensboro, North Carolina. I did not visit Israel for most of my childhood, but I still felt an extremely strong connection to my home country. Growing up, I ate Israeli food, listened to Israeli music and watched Israeli shows. I attended Jewish day school, I volunteer with my local synagogue and know most Jewish services by heart. In 2023, I traveled back to Israel on a school trip led by the Jewish National Fund. I genuinely loved getting to see my home city and country for the first time that I could vividly remember.
However, my connection to my country of birth has almost completely eroded following almost two years of non-stop war and aggression in Gaza. I am enraged and heartbroken that Jewish Institutions will not recognize or acknowledge that pain.
Like most Jews and Israelis, my gut reaction after Oct. 7 was to stand strong with Israel. I was horrified by the atrocities Hamas committed that day. I wanted to wave the flag of my birth country more strongly, to support Israel’s right to defend its civilians and demand the hostages be freed.
However, after months of seeing satellite images of the complete devastation of Gaza and reading testimonials from doctors and journalists describing the humanitarian crisis, my perspective has shifted. I couldn’t help changing my mind when I saw hostage families being beaten by police in the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for calling for a ceasefire, or when I read statements from Israeli leaders making it clear that their goals were to destroy the entire population of Gaza. I do not hold Israel to a different standard than any other country, no matter my love and connection to it. It is precisely my Jewish values that have pushed me to speak out so strongly against Israel’s unjustifiable actions in Gaza.
I believe two wrongs do not make a right. What Hamas did was immoral. And the genocidal war of aggression that Israel has waged on the people of Gaza is also immoral. I am horrified and ashamed to see tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians killed, including the deliberate targeting of aid seekers at distribution sites. If I, as an Israeli-born teenager, can acknowledge the atrocities committed by Israel and that multiple things can be true at the same time, why can’t Jewish institutions?
For those reasons, along with the sheer brutality and immorality of the war, more and more American Jews oppose Israel’s government and their war on the people of Gaza. Unfortunately, those who dare to express opposition are being isolated and alienated from their Federations, synagogues and youth groups. All of these institutions explicitly and implicitly manufacture total support for the Israeli government and its actions.
The North Carolina Federations’ statement not only blatantly misrepresents the state Democratic party’s resolutions by falsely implying that they are apologists for Hamas, but also misleadingly implies they speak for all or most Jewish North Carolinians. A November 2024 J Street poll of Jewish Americans found 61% support an arms embargo against Israel. As of June 2024, according to a poll conducted by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 30% of Jewish Americans believe that Israel is committing genocide, a number that has undoubtedly risen since then.
The Federation leaders are completely right to be concerned about the extreme rise in antisemitism since Oct. 7. I have had multiple personal run-ins with antisemitism since Oct. 7. Someone close to me experienced identity-based discrimination in a local progressive organization we are both a part of because they are Israeli-American and worked as a journalist in Israel. I have repeatedly been subjected to antisemitic comments online, and was once told that I should join the Israel Defense Force after I condemned the killing of innocent civilians on Oct. 7, implying that being Israeli and opposing the killing of innocent Israeli civilians meant that I somehow enjoyed killing Palestinian civilians.
Many Jews in America have had similar experiences, and I have no doubt that Jewish Federation and Jewish institutional leaders care deeply about fighting antisemitism and keeping their Jewish communities safe. However, statements like the North Carolina Federation heads made do not keep us safe.
When a local Jewish Federation, synagogue or youth movement chapter releases statements claiming that they stand fully with Israel in the conflict, they are isolating and ignoring those of us who offer critiques of Israel’s actions and policies. If these actions continue, millions of American Jews across the country will be pushed out of Jewish institutions, excluded from Jewish spaces and have their Jewishness questioned over their stance against Israel’s actions in Gaza. This is, unfortunately, already happening.
The reality is that in 2025, most American Jews do not stand unconditionally with Israel anymore. If Jewish federations and other institutions want to be the inclusive spaces for all Jews that they claim to be, then they must adapt to this reality.
If groups such as the Jewish Federations cannot reflect American Jewish opinion in 2025 or acknowledge the isolation from Israel that more and more American Jews feel, then millions of Jewish Americans with perspectives such as mine will be erased from the institutions designed to make us feel most at home.
Lahav Zaken is a junior at New Garden Friends School and a local progressive organizer in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward. Discover more perspectives in Opinion. To contact Opinion authors, email opinion@forward.com.
This story was originally published on the Forward.