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Anti-Zionists in University of California Ethnic Studies Department Promoting Hatred of Israel, New Study Finds

Illustrative: Thousands of anti-Israel demonstrators from the Midwest gather in support of Palestinians and hold a rally and march through the Loop in Chicago on Oct. 21, 2023. Photo: Alexandra Buxbaum/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

Activist scholars employed by the Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES) department of the University of California, Santa Cruz are using their classrooms to promote extremist anti-Zionist propaganda, according to a new study by antisemitism watchdog group AMCHA Initiative.

The university’s “CRES department has engaged in anti-Zionist advocacy and activism since at least May 2021, when CRES pledged departmental allegiance to ‘the struggle for Palestinian liberation’ and committed its faculty to bringing the academic boycott of Israel onto campus and into the classrooms,” AMCHA said in a press release on Thursday. “However, according to the study, incidents involving CRES’s anti-Zionist political advocacy and activism have drastically increased in frequency and intensity since Hamas’ massacre of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023.”

AMCHA’s new report cites a litany of what it describes as politically motivated decisions CRES leaders have made both before and after the Oct. 7 onslaught, including the creation of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism (ICSZ), which declares on its website that Zionism is a “colonial racial project” and that Israel is a “settler colonial state.” The organization was co-founded by a professor who said in a podcast interview last year that academics should “tie [Zionism] to this much larger Western supremacy and white supremacy” and “de-link the study of Zionism from Jewish studies.”

Among other incidents, CRES issued a statement rationalizing Hamas’ terrorism on Oct. 7, an act of mass violence in which Palestinian terrorists from Gaza murdered 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 240 others during a rampage across southern Israel. There has also been mounting evidence showing the terrorists committed widespread torture and sexual violence, including mass rapes, against Israeli women and girls.

“What we are witnessing needs to be understood in the context of 75 years of settler colonial displacement, military occupation, and enclosure,” the department said in the statement cited in the AMCHA report. “As in the past, racialized media coverage dehumanizes Palestinians, delegitimizing their aspirations for freedom from militarism, colonial rule, and incarceration.”

Additionally, the department participated on Oct. 20 in a “Call for a Global General Strike,” refusing to work because Israel mounted a military response to Hamas’ atrocities — an action CRES called “Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza.” On Oct. 24, the department held an event titled, “The Genocide in Gaza in our [sic] Classrooms: A Teaching Palestine Workshop,” in which professors and teaching assistants were trained in how to persuade students that Zionism is a racist and genocidal endeavor.

“CRES’s commitment to anti-Zionist political advocacy and activism, as a department and as a core element of its discipline, can’t help but corrupt the academic mission of the university and violate students’ fundamental right to be educated and not indoctrinated,” AMCHA Initiative director and co-founder Tammi Rossman-Benjamin said on Thursday. “Our research has consistently shown that on campuses where individual faculty and departments use educational spaces for anti-Zionist political advocacy and activism, rates of antisemitic activity — including assaults, threats of harm, vandalism, and bullying — are significantly elevated.”

AMCHA, as well as other civil rights and educational organizations, have previously issued warnings about the allegedly political and even antisemitic motivations of Ethnic Studies departments throughout the University of California system (UC). Last September, about 100 such organizations called on UC to reject a proposal that would require applicants to schools in the UC system to take an ethnic studies course, arguing that anti-Zionist activists are developing and leading the effort to implement the measure.

Some of the leading academics pushing for mandatory ethnics studies courses are anti-Zionists. Christine Hong, chair of CRES at UC Santa Cruz, co-chairs the UC Academic Senate working group developing the admissions proposal. Another co-founder of ICSZ, Hong said on a podcast last August that ethnic studies should teach “the extraordinary violence of Zionism, the settler colonial violence, [and] the militarism that is inflicted on Palestine and Palestinian people.”

Rossman-Benjamin urged the public on Thursday to also focus its attention on CRES’s activities in their children’s school districts. If UC approves the proposal for mandatory ethnic studies, high schools across California would offer such courses based on the criteria developed by CRES faculty and other academics in the field of critical ethnic studies.

“Shockingly, these same professors who are using their university positions and resources to unabashedly promote anti-Zionism and antisemitism are the ones who our state has entrusted with developing what will be taught to every California student about Jews and Israel,” Rossman-Benjamin said.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Anti-Zionists in University of California Ethnic Studies Department Promoting Hatred of Israel, New Study Finds first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Rising Antisemitism on European Campuses: Italian Professor Assaulted, French Students Excluded From Online Groups

Youths take part in the occupation of a street in front of the building of the Sciences Po University in support of Palestinians in Gaza, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Paris, France, April 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Violence and intimidation against Jewish and Israeli students as well as faculty are on the rise across European campuses, as an Italian professor was assaulted at the University of Pisa and students in France were excluded from online groups over their Jewish identities.

On Tuesday, pro-Palestinian protesters stormed a classroom at the University of Pisa in Tuscany, Italy, and assaulted an Italian professor who has opposed cutting ties with Israeli universities.

According to local reports, protesters burst into the classroom waving Palestinian flags and shouting antisemitic slurs, targeting the professor over his opposition to the university’s recent decision to sever ties with two Israeli universities.

A student who tried to intervene was attacked by protesters. When the professor stepped in to protect him, he too was assaulted and later hospitalized with injuries to his head and arms.

On the same day, anti-Israel protesters disrupted a lecture by a visiting Israeli speaker at the Polytechnic University of Turin in northern Italy, shouting antisemitic slogans as they stormed the classroom.

Shortly after the incident, the university announced it was cutting ties with the speaker because he had defended the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the confrontation with the protesters.

Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, anti-Israel activity on campuses has intensified, with Jewish and Israeli students facing frequent targeting and isolation in an increasingly hostile environment.

On Monday, a group of first-year economics students at Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris created a group chat on Instagram that excluded several students, accusing them of being Zionists based on their Jewish-sounding names or surnames, French media reported.

“If there are any other Zionists in this group besides those I’ve already kicked out, leave now — we don’t want you here,” wrote one of the students who created the group, placing a Palestinian flag in the middle.

This latest antisemitic incident follows a similar episode last month, when a student created a poll in a WhatsApp group chat titled, “For or Against Jews?”

Yossef Murciano, president of the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF), denounced the rising wave of anti-Jewish incidents, noting that the group had posted notices across multiple campuses to highlight the latest antisemitic episodes.

“We reported the incident to the university, but so far nothing has been done. We were told that measures would be taken, but we don’t know when or how,” Murciano said.

In a press release, the university strongly condemned such “unacceptable behavior,” expressing its full support for those students affected by the recent antisemitic incidents.

The university also announced that it had submitted “all available evidence to the public prosecutor” regarding these two incidents and plans to initiate “disciplinary proceedings” against each of the perpetrators.

“These two acts, whose antisemitic nature seems clear, deserve a punishment commensurate with their severity,” the statement read.

French Minister of Higher Education and Research Philippe Baptiste strongly condemned the latest incidents, demanding a zero-tolerance approach.

“I stand with these young people, victims of antisemitism that must be opposed everywhere, including, sadly, in our universities. There is only one possible response: zero tolerance!” Baptiste wrote in a post on X.

Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF), also spoke out against the incident, calling it a disturbing example of rising antisemitism on campuses.

“This is not a pro-Palestinian campaign, it is a campaign of antisemitic intimidation,” Arfi said in a post on X.

The incidents occurred weeks after two international Jewish groups and a German watchdog published a report showing that antisemitism on European university campuses following Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion of Israel has fostered a “climate of fear” for Jewish students.

Then earlier this week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) released their own report which found that the vast majority of Jewish students around the world resort to hiding their Jewishness and support for Israel on campuses to avoid becoming victims of antisemitism.

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Radio-Canada Suspends Journalist After Antisemitic Comments Spark Outrage

Radio-Canada reporter Élisa Serret. Photo: Screenshot

A journalist at Canada’s national public broadcaster, Radio-Canada, has been suspended after using antisemitic language during a Monday television broadcast, prompting an official apology from the network.

On the news program “Sur le terrain,” correspondent Élisa Serret, reporting from Washington on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Israel, was asked why the US continues to support Jerusalem despite its recent military offensive in Gaza.

Serret responded, saying in French, “The Israelis, in fact the Jews, finance a lot of American politics” and control a “big machine.”

The journalist then went on to claim that the largest US cities and Hollywood are “run by Jews,” echoing long-standing antisemitic stereotypes and hateful rhetoric about supposedly outsized and nefarious Jewish power.

After Serret’s comments went viral, sparking outrage from political leaders and the local Jewish community, Radio-Canada issued an apology, describing her remarks as “”stereotypical, antisemitic, erroneous, and prejudicial allegations against Jewish communities.”

“These unacceptable comments violate Radio-Canada’s Journalistic Standards and Practices and do not reflect the views of the public broadcaster,” the statement read.

“As a result, the news department has decided to relieve the journalist of her duties until further notice,” it continued. “We are aware that these comments have offended many viewers. We sincerely apologize and regret this.”

The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), a Canadian Jewish advocacy group, strongly condemned Serret’s comments, accusing Radio-Canada of spreading “antisemitic lies.”

Eta Yudin, CIJA’s vice-president for Quebec, called on the public broadcaster to take concrete measures to keep antisemitic content out of Canadian homes.

“This incident cannot be allowed to pass without serious internal reflection on the damage such hateful rhetoric inflicts on our democratic values,” Yudin said in a statement. “Antisemitism is corroding the fabric of our society.”

Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault, who is responsible for overseeing the public broadcaster, also condemned the incident, saying that “antisemitism has no place in Canada” and describing Serret’s remarks as “pernicious antisemitic tropes.”

“When antisemitic language is used by journalists, or anyone in a position of trust, it risks normalizing hatred in deeply dangerous ways,” Guilbeault said.

Anthony Housefather, the government’s special adviser on Jewish community relations and antisemitism, denounced the incident, saying Serret’s remarks echoed “textbook tropes that are antisemitic under the IHRA definition,” referring to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which was adopted by the government in 2020.

Melissa Lantsman, a member of the opposition Conservative Party, criticized the public broadcaster for failing to “uphold the values of this country” by airing what she described as an “antisemitic rant.”

“Overt antisemitism on TV is part of the deep systemic rot corroding our society, and it flourishes when tax-funded institutions provide it with a platform,” Lantsman said in a statement.

“Canadians deserve better than excuses and carefully worded apologies,” she continued.

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Israeli Culture Minister Cuts Funding for Film Awards After Palestinian Drama Wins Top Prize, Chosen for Oscars Submission

A scene from “The Sea.” Photo: The Israeli Academy of Film and Television

Israeli Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar said his ministry will pull state funding for Israel’s Ophir Awards, which is the Israeli equivalent to the Oscars, after it awarded a top honor to a film that “defames” Israel’s “heroic soldiers,” he announced on Wednesday.

At this year’s Ophir Awards ceremony on Tuesday night, “The Sea” won best picture, which automatically makes the film Israel’s submission for the 2026 Oscars in the category of best international feature film. The drama, directed and written by Shai Carmeli-Pollak and produced by Baher Agbariya, also won best screenplay, best actor for the 13-year-old Palestinian Muhammad Gazawi, best supporting actor for Khalifa Natour, and best original score. The movie, filmed in Arabic and Hebrew, marks Gazawi’s first acting role.

The Ophir Awards are voted on by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, a nonprofit organization that is the Israeli version of the US-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. It has more than 1,000 members, including filmmakers, producers, content creators, and actors.

“The Sea” follows a 12-year-old Palestinian boy named Khaled, from a village near Ramallah, who gets the opportunity to go the beach for the first time in his life on a class trip to Tel Aviv. When he is forced to return home at a military checkpoint, while his classmates continue on to the beach, Khaled decides to risk his life and dodge Israeli authorities on his solo journey to reach the ocean. “The Sea” premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival this summer and received support from the Israeli Film Fund.

In a statement on X, Zohar said that after the “pro-Palestinian” film, “which defames our heroic soldiers while they fight to protect us,” won the award for best film at the “shameful” Ophir Awards on Tuesday night, he decided to discontinue funding for the ceremony.

“During my tenure – the citizens of Israel will not pay out of their pockets for a disgraceful ceremony that spits on the heroic IDF soldiers,” he added. “This great absurdity, that Israeli citizens are still paying out of their pockets for the disgraceful Ophir Awards ceremony, which represents less than one percent of the Israeli people – is over. Starting from the 2026 budget, this pathetic ceremony will no longer be funded by taxpayers’ money. The citizens of Israel deserve for their tax money to go to more important and valuable places.”

Several winners on stage at the Ophir Awards ceremony, including Carmeli-Pollak and Agbariya, sported a black T-shirt with a message that called for an end to the Israel-Hamas war and said in Hebrew and Arabic “a child is a child.” Others wore shirts that called for the return of the hostages abducted by Hamas-led terrorists from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and talked about the devastation taking place in Gaza during the ongoing war. Acclaimed Israeli director Uri Barbash received a lifetime achievement award at the ceremony, and in his acceptance speech, he condemned actions of the Israeli government and Zohar, pleaded for an end to the war, and called for solidarity between Jews and Arabs.

“It is our sacred duty to bring all the hostages back to their families immediately,” he said. “To end the accursed war and replace the ‘divide and rule’ regime that has declared war on Israeli society!”

Other movies that competed alongside “The Sea” for best film at this year’s Ophir Awards included Nadav Lapid’s “Yes,” “Dead Language – which made its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival and is an expanded version of the Oscar-nominated short film “Aya” – and Natali Braun’s “Oxygen,” which is about a single mother fighting to pull her son out of military service and his deployment to Lebanon.

Israel has had 10 nominations in the category of best international feature film at the Oscars but has yet to win. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will announce on Dec. 16 a shortlist of 15 contenders for the 2026 Oscar for best international feature film. The final list of nominations will be announced on Jan. 22, 2026, and the 98th Academy Awards will take place on March 15, 2026.

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