RSS
As a New School Year Begins, Antisemitism Seems Poised to Return to Campus
People walk on the Business School campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, April 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Faith Ninivaggi
A number of attacks on Jewish individuals, institutions, or facilities took place in July. One report showed that pro-Hamas protests and violence in the US are directly supported by networks connected with the Chinese Communist Party. The arrest of a “free Palestine” activist in New York on the charge of burning 10 police vehicles, apparently as part of anti-immigration enforcement protests, also demonstrates the unity of various movements.
In a letter to the House Homeland Security Committee’s Counterterrorism and Intelligence subcommittee, the Jewish Federations of North America estimated the American Jewish community spends $765 million on security, or 14% of the annual budget for the average organization.
In the international sphere, a new report revealed the depth to which antisemitism in Britain has been normalized after October 7, 2023. Hate marches, threats of violence, cancellation of artists and musicians, harassment in academia and medicine, official neglect, and selective policing of Jewish counter-protestors, were all documented in detail. These attitudes are largely within the educated middle class and are propelled by DEI institutions that regard Jews as all purpose oppressors.
The normalization of anti-Israel views in the US and abroad has been fed and permitted by mainstream news platforms obsessed with tendentious views including The New York Times which continues to spotlight anti-Israel Jews. An analysis of headlines in the Times indicates most expressed sympathy with Palestinians and less than 10% with Israel.
Statements by the head of the BBC’s news department, Deborah Turness, in defense of a discredited documentary regarding the imaginary distinction between Hamas’ military and political wings reflected ignorance of both the facts and British law, but more significantly, a devotion to a tendentious framework that shaped reporting against Israel.
In another incident, a leaked BBC memo revealed instructions that “how much aid has crossed into Gaza is irrelevant” and that broadcasters should say the current distribution system, which cuts off Hamas theft and profiteering, doesn’t work.
Negotiations continued in July between the Trump administration and various universities regarding responses to antisemitism, DEI and hiring practices, and funding. Columbia University reached a settlement with the government that would will see $400 million in Federal funding and access to future funding restored in exchange for banning race based quotas and DEI statements in admissions, increased transparency surrounding admissions, hiring, and foreign gifts. The university will pay $200 million to the Federal government and another $21 million to Jewish faculty, students, and custodial staff to settle civil rights violations. The university did not admit to wrongdoing.
There will be no changes to shared governance, which places pro-Hamas faculty in control of university policies particularly with regard to pedagogy, and no consent decree involving Federal supervision. But a university administrator will make reports to an outside arbitrator, and disciplinary proceedings will be moved from faculty control to the administration. The IHRA definition of antisemitism was adopted, a mask ban implemented, and the university promised to expand Title VI and Title VII supervision and antisemitism training from outside groups.
In an obviously related development, Columbia announced the expulsion, suspension, and degree revocations affecting over 70 students involved in the spring 2024 encampments and building takeovers. Barnard College also reached a settlement with Israeli and Jewish students who had alleged the school had faced “pervasive discrimination.”
Columbia’s concessions were also motivated in part by embarrassing revelations from leaked text messages that acting president Claire Shipman had complained about an outspoken Jewish trustee, Shoshana Shendelman, whom she accused of being a “mole” working against the school, and suggested hiring an “Arab.”
Reports late in the month suggested Harvard was considering a similar deal with the government, with fines up to $500 million. In moves that signaled Harvard’s acquiescence to Federal demands, the university suddenly dismantled all of its DEI and associated websites. It was unclear whether this simply moved or renamed existing units or represented structural changes.
Harvard’s efforts came as university president Alan Garber again warned that Federal actions including the higher endowment tax could cost the university $1 billion a year. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has also called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Harvard’s disclosures to bondholders, alleging massive overvaluation of its investments in private equity. A Federal investigation that found Harvard had violated the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli students increased pressure further, as did comments from US Education Secretary Linda McMahon that the finding jeopardized Harvard’s accreditation.
With all eyes on the headline cases, universities have begun to rapidly adapt to the new realities. One change being made by universities is increased hiring of Title VI coordinators to handle civil rights complaints. The move promises more middle and upper level managers of the sort which have systematically disregarded Jewish students and supported their attackers. In one July example, a lawsuit filed by an Israeli Harvard student against the university detailed the abuse he received at the hands of fellow students and the university’s support for his attackers.
More substantively, the University of California system has banned student governments from boycotting Israel. The decision cited specific guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health regarding eligibility for grants. UCLA also agreed to pay Jewish plaintiffs $6 million to settle discrimination complaints regarding pro-Hamas protests that barred their full access to campus. As part of the settlement the university entered into a permanent consent decree forbidding it from excluding Jews from any part of campus.
During the summer break anti-Israel faculty members have been vocal regarding their antipathies. Other faculty continue to leverage their authority to make statements regarding Gaza and the Trump administration’s approach to higher education. The impact of faculty antisemitism was noted in a lawsuit against Stanford University by an Israeli post-doctoral research alleging that his supervisor subjected him to a hostile work environment, permitted his research to be sabotaged by a research assistant, and then terminated him on false charges.
A new survey of faculty purported to show that only a small minority (3%) of US faculty members could be considered fundamentally antisemitic but a larger number (54%) regarded Israel as an “apartheid state.” Most appear concentrated in Middle Eastern, gender, and ethnic studies. An overwhelming majority of faculty characterized themselves as liberal, and regard climate change and President Trump as existential threats.
Elsewhere, the International Sociological Association suspended the membership of the Israeli Sociological Society in solidarity with the Palestinians and of “failure to condemn genocide in Gaza.” The association also offered a statement in solidarity with Iran and condemning the “escalating military aggression carried out by the governments of Israel and the United States against Iran, which has affected the lives of ordinary citizens of Iran” and which “represents a violation of international law.”
Similarly the European Association of Social Anthropologists announced guidelines for implementing its BDS policies. The group pledged to “not collaborate with Israeli academic institutions until Israel complies with International Law and International Humanitarian Law and ends the occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory” but claimed that “motion targets collaborations with academic institutions, however it does not per se target individuals, even those based at Israeli institutions. In this regard, it cannot be considered discriminatory.”
While K-12 education is in recess for the summer, a variety of reports including from mainstream sources have noted the sector’s growing anti-Israel radicalism, notably in teachers’ unions.
After a carefully orchestrated campaign by activists, the National Education Association (NEA) voted at its annual representative meeting to officially cut ties with the ADL and to stop using any of its consultants, programming, or materials, citing anti-Palestinian bias and the need to promote “liberatory education.” The group also accused Israel of “genocide” and ‘ethnic cleansing,” and demanded an end to US support.
The “DroptheADL” campaign was created by several academics including those associated with the “Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism” and anti-Israel activists in the K-12 space. The move was condemned by Jewish groups, but endorsed by several local NEA branches. The decision was later overturned by the group’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors.
The NEA’s structural antipathy towards Jews, however, was demonstrated in its 2025 handbook which discusses the “12 million victims of the Holocaust from different faiths” without mentioning Jews, plans to “educate members and the general public about the history of the Palestinian Nakba,” and “use existing digital communication tools to educate members about the difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.” After being exposed, the document was removed from the NEA website. Archived versions remain available.
In another sign of growing radicalism, the United Federation of Teachers endorsed Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral candidacy in New York. Observers note that the union was responding to Mamdani’s radicalism and his promise to end any mayoral oversight of the city’s schools, a long-time sticking point in relations between the union and the city.
The problem of antisemitism disguised as “anti-Zionism” in Massachusetts public schools had been highlighted by a series of hearings which exposed the hostility of unions and their leaders to Israel and to Jews. The efforts have now culminated in a new report documenting antisemitic incidents and hate crimes within Commonwealth schools. The California Teachers Association, at the urging of “CTA for Palestine,” has also expressed its opposition to a bill to combat antisemitism and discrimination in K-12 education, claiming that it is censorship, and urged its members to lobby instead for “liberated ethnic studies.”
The impact in K-12 education has been seen in lawsuits against Seattle public schools which allege a Jewish student had to hide in a locked classroom to avoid mobs of her peers. Another suit alleges a Virginia private school promoted Hitler as a “strong historical leader,” hung Palestinian flags in the school, and expelled Jewish students who complained.
The author is a contributor to SPME, where a version of this article was originally published.
RSS
Antisemitism at European Universities Has Created ‘Climate of Fear,’ New Report Finds
Krakow, Poland, October 5: Pro-Palestinian activists in front of the Institute of Sociology at Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Photo: Artur Widak via Reuters Connect
Antisemitism on European university campuses rivals what has ensued in the US since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, fostering a “climate of fear” for Jewish students, according to a new report by two Jewish groups and a German watchdog.
B’nai B’rith International, the European Union of Jewish Students, and democ, a Berlin-based organization of academics and media professionals, on Tuesday published a comprehensive report titled “A Climate of Fear and Exclusion: Antisemitism at European Universities.”
“When Jewish students fear being violently harassed on campus, when in the most prestigious universities Jewish students might find swastikas or death threats on their personal property, when they are not allowed access to spaces and events due to their presumed Zionism — the free speech argument is a canard,” B’nai B’rith director of European Union affairs Alina Bricman said in a statement. “The lack of action on the part of academic institutions is shameful.”
The document recounts a slew of incidents that took place at the most prestigious higher education institutions across the continent, including Cambridge University, the University of Amsterdam, and Delft University of Technology. Some were perpetrated by extreme anti-Zionist groups tied to terrorist organizations while others struck as random acts of hatred, terrorizing in themselves for intimidating Jewish members of the campus community.
At the University of Strasbourg, someone assaulted a group of Jewish students while shouting “Zionist fascists”; the University of Vienna hosted an “Intifada Camp,” a pro-Hamas encampment; at the Free University of Brussels campus in Solbosch, a pro-Hamas group illegally occupied an administrative building and renamed it after a terrorist. Throughout Europe, anti-Zionists damaged property to the tune of hundreds of thousands of Euros, desecrated Jewish religious symbols, graffitied Jewish students’ dormitories with swastikas, and carried out gang assaults on Jewish student leaders.
In many cases, university leaders acceded to the demands of these pro-Hamas activists and terminated partnerships with Israeli institutions, as happened in Belgium.
“By renouncing limited partnerships with Israel, the authorities not only gave in to political pressure but also endangered freedom of expression and the diversity of ideas on their campuses,” the report’s authors wrote. “This attitude, far from protecting academic values, allowed ideologies to take precedence over fundamental principles of research and academic freedom.”
It continued, “These events are not isolated acts. They reflect a climate of siege-like hostility towards Israel that now permeates Belgium, from the media to universities, from the north to the south, from the right to the left. The Palestinian cause has gradually become the core of a genuine ‘civil religion’ or ‘secular religion.’”
The situation calls for a prompt defense of the university’s values, as well as the universal principles Europe claims to hold.
“The documentation gathered in this report makes it clear that we are dealing with highly coordinated, transnational networks that operate as part of a global movement,” said Grischa Stanjek, co-executive director of democ. “They strategically disguise an antisemitic agenda in the language of human rights to gain legitimacy. University leaders are making a grave mistake if they treat these events as local flare-ups instead of what they are: calculated manifestations of a global, anti-democratic campaign.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
RSS
Synagogue in Chile Vandalized With Antisemitic Graffiti, Prompting Outrage, Investigation
The gate of Santiago’s Bikur Cholim Synagogue defaced with red paint and antisemitic graffiti, including a poster targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Screenshot
Chile’s authorities launched an investigation after a synagogue in Santiago was defaced with antisemitic graffiti and slogans, an act that has sparked outrage in the local Jewish community.
On Friday night, the gate of Santiago’s Bikur Cholim Synagogue was vandalized with red paint and a poster depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a bullet hole in his forehead.
An unknown individual spray-painted antisemitic slogans, including “If you keep silent, you’re part of genocide,” an apparent reference to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Israeli Ambassador to Chile Peleg Lewi condemned the outrage, noting that antisemitic incidents are rare in the country.
Vandalizacion y ataques a Sinagogas anoche en Santiago !
Estoy seguro que @GobiernodeChile luchará contra el antisemistismo en Chile! pic.twitter.com/feWR09cny1— פלג לוי – Peleg Lewi (@peleg_lewi) August 23, 2025
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Lewi explained, Chile has seen only a few minor antisemitic incidents — a stark contrast to other countries around the world, which have experienced a surge in anti-Jewish hate crimes.
He also stressed the importance of maintaining calm and warned against bringing the Middle East conflict into Chile.
Local authorities have launched an investigation into the vandalism, but no arrests have been made so far.
The Jewish Community of Chile denounced the incident, stressing that such antisemitic acts cannot be accepted or tolerated.
“Acts of hatred cannot be downplayed, normalized, or justified by political or ideological slogans; they must be forcefully and universally condemned,” the group said in a post on X.
“Chile is a country that values freedom of worship, and that means we must respect, care for, and protect one another, regardless of our beliefs,” the statement read. “Vandalism of a holy site is not just an attack on a community but on the coexistence and peace of the entire country.”
Condenamos rotundamente el ataque a una sinagoga de Santiago. Lamentablemente no es la primera vez que ocurre.
Los actos de odio no pueden ser relativizados, normalizados o justificados bajo consignas políticas o ideológicas: deben ser condenados con fuerza y de manera… pic.twitter.com/CTAHqDs6yh
— Comunidad Judía de Chile (@comjudiachile) August 24, 2025
Alberto van Klaveren, Chile’s Foreign Minister, also condemned the vandalism of the Bikur Cholim Synagogue.
“No expression of hatred or violence can be normalized; there is no argument that justifies intimidation or discrimination,” Klaveren said in a post on X. “The only way to express dissent in a democracy is through open and respectful dialogue.”
On Sunday, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) warned that the incident in Chile was the latest reminder that antisemitism remains a global threat.
“No synagogue should ever be vandalized,” the statement read.
RSS
Trump Admin Reviewing Visas of ‘Terrorist Sympathizers’ Set to Appear at Palestinian Conference in Detroit
Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The Trump administration is reviewing and may block the visa applications of speakers scheduled to appear at the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit, Michigan later this week over links to terrorism, The Algemeiner has learned.
A spokesperson for the US State Department told The Algemeiner that officials have “noted” the gathering, set to take place from Aug. 29-31, and will closely monitor visa applications for invited international speakers, citing a preponderance of “terrorist sympathizers” on the program’s lineup.
“Given the public invite lists seems to include a number of terrorist sympathizers, we are going through and ensuring all international speakers slated to attend the conference are being placed on a ‘look out’ status for visa applications, so we are alerted if a request is submitted and can ensure they are appropriately processed,” the spokesperson said.
“In every case, we will take the time necessary to ensure an applicant does not pose a risk to the safety and security of the United States and that he or she has credibly established his or her eligibility for the visa sought, including that the applicant intends to engage in activities consistent with the terms of admission,” the spokesperson added.
The conference will feature dozens of radical anti-Zionist activists, academics, artists, and political organizers, including US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
Tlaib’s appearance at last year’s iteration of the People’s Conference for Palestine sparked intense backlash, with critics pointing out the event’s connections to Wisam Rafeedie and Salah Salah, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terrorist organization.
The conference is convened by a coalition that includes the Palestinian Youth Movement, Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, among others. Several of these groups have maintained ties with PFLP, openly supported boycott efforts against Israel, and called for an arms embargo in the wake of Israel’s military campaign against Hamas. The programming highlights sessions on “Documenting Genocide” and “Breaking the Siege,” rhetoric that critics argue mischaracterizes Israel’s actions as it seeks to defend itself against terrorist attacks following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
The Detroit gathering is expected to attract thousands of attendees, with dozens of speakers and activists scheduled to participate. Among the roster are well-known anti-Israel figures such as Linda Sarsour, Miko Peled, and Chris Smalls. Sarsour has erroneously compared Zionism to “white supremacy in America” and accused Israel of perpetuating “Jewish supremacy.”
Arabs comprise about 21 percent of Israel’s population and include full rights of citizenship, including the ability to serve in parliament and on the Supreme Court as well as the ability to protest openly against the government.
The planned presence of several foreign terror sympathizers has sparked outrage among observers.
Abed Abubaker, a self-described “reporter” from Gaza, is expected to make a physical appearance at the Detroit conference. Abubaker has repeatedly praised the Hamas terrorist group as “resistance fighters” on social media and won a “journalist of the year” award from Iran’s state-controlled media outlet PressTV. In a January 2025 post, he showered praise on long-time Hamas leader and Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, saying that the terrorist’s “love of resistance and land is seen very clearly.” In a March 2025 post, Abubaker posted that international supporters of the Palestinian cause should “attack your governments.” He also defended Hamas’s murdering of dissidents, saying that the victims were “collaborating” with Israel.
Some of the speakers have been convicted and imprisoned in Israel for terrorist activity.
Omar Assaf, a former member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and Lama Ghosheh, a Palestinian journalist from East Jerusalem, are scheduled to speak at the conference. Assaf spent eight years in jail for his role in the DFLP, which was previously a US-designated terrorist group, and Ghosheh received a three-year sentence from an Israeli court in 2023 for inciting violence and praising terrorism in the West Bank and Gaza.
Mosab Abu Toha, a Gaza-born writer, is also set to appear at the conference. Abu Toha’s social media posts reveal he has denigrated the Israeli hostages held in Gaza, denied the murder of the Bibas children, and spread fake news and antisemitic remarks. In other posts, he referred to Israeli soldiers as “killers” and criticized international media for “humaniz[ing]” them.
Perhaps most striking, Hussam Shaheen was slated to speak at the conference. He spent 27 years in prison for attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder but was released earlier this year as part of a temporary Israel-Hamas ceasefire that saw Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Israeli hostages. However, Shaheen’s name no longer appears on the list of speakers on the conference’s website.
US-based speakers also have extremist associations. Hatem Bazian, for example, co-founded Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that has become notorious for intimidating Jews on university campuses, as well as American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a nonprofit he now chairs which has sponsored a series of anti-Israel protests following Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. Bazian works as a senior lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. On Tuesday, The Algemeiner reported on recent comments by Bazian in which he accused Jews of exploiting antisemitism to make money and claimed that Israel wants to conquer most of the Middle East, including Mecca and Medina, the holiest sites in Islam.
The event will also host Mahmoud Khalil, one of the leaders of the anti-Israel encampment movement at Columbia University. Khalil rose to national prominence after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained him in March for what the Department of Homeland Security alleged to be leading “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.” Khalil, who became a permanent US resident last year, was released from detention in June when a federal judge ordered his release. The activist also drew scrutiny last month after he refused to condemn Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities during a CNN interview.
Since returning to the White House earlier this year, the Trump administration has launched an overhaul of the US visa system, part of what officials describe as an effort to root out individuals sympathetic to terrorism or those espousing antisemitic views. The sweeping measures include expanded social media vetting for new applicants, continuous monitoring of the 55 million current visa holders, and the revocation of thousands of student visas.
Panels at this week’s conference in Detroit will touch on subjects such as US military aid, legal accountability, and grassroots organizing, all presented through an anti-Israel lens, according to the event website.