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As Colleges Tune Out for the Summer, Antisemitism Moves to Other Areas

A pro-BDS demonstration. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The shape of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and antisemitism was changed again in June by deadly attacks on Jews by “free Palestine” terrorists, by the Israeli and American attack on Iranian nuclear and regime facilities, and by the victory of Democratic Socialist BDS supporter Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor.

Taboos about bashing Israel in politics have been broken, as have taboos regarding overt expressions of antisemitic hatred in politics as well as culture.

BDS and antisemitism in June were dramatically reshaped by the war against Iran, and by expanding unrest in the US aimed at the Trump administration’s enforcement of immigration laws. The US attack against Iranian nuclear sites raised fears of Iranian backed terrorism directed against Jews and Jewish institutions to even higher levels.

In the case of street protests over immigration enforcement and then Iran, the same networks which had mobilized against Israel in 2023-2024 have been at work. These include pro-Hamas organizations, National Students for Justice in Palestine, the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and Within Our Lifetime, which have urged their members to join protests. Protests in Los Angeles and other cities against immigration enforcement prominently featured Mexican, Palestinian, Hamas and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine flags as well as slogans like “Death to the occupation, from the West Bank to LA.”

Individual attacks included:

A variety of incidents were reported on campuses including the destruction of a flower garden at the University of Michigan, for which Pro-Hamas activists took responsibility, swastikas carved into the exterior of a building at Georgetown University, and spray-painted Hamas slogans at Williams College, the University of Portland, the University of Denver, and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

The conflict between Israel and Iran has also raised the potential of attacks against Americans and Jews. The FBI announced that it was increasing surveillance of of Iranian cells in the US over fears of attacks. The FBI also arrested 11 Iranian illegals on various charges including several with Hezbollah connections. In one case, a pro-Israel summit in Dallas was canceled after organizers received “indirect and direct threats made by American, pro-Hamas, Jihadist groups, who issued calls to ‘target’ the Israel Summit and the private facility where the event was slated to be held.”

Underscoring the connections between Hamas and supporters in the West, freed hostage Shlomo Ziv reported that his captors had shown him images of protests at Columbia University and claimed that “You see, we have our own people everywhere,” and “that Hamas has an ‘army’ operating out of Gaza that focuses specifically on media and sending Hamas propaganda and messaging throughout America.”

Connections between Hamas and protestors at Columbia were also alleged in the Federal indictment of Tarek Bazrouk, who is being held on several charges of assault against Jewish individuals. Bazrouk is alleged to have been a member of a chat group that received updates from Hamas’ Al Qassam brigades spokesman.

Universities and colleges continue to reel from the Trump administration’s funding cutbacks and threatened restrictions of foreign students. While state allocations to public universities have been cut, private universities have yet to face additional pressures such as increased endowment taxes. Among those announcing cuts and layoffs was Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Many universities which provided bridge funding to researchers have now begun to scale back support. Efforts to solicit corporate and private funding have increased. In one case, Harvard University has turned to a Turkish private equity firm to fund a lab while Georgetown University continues to expand its dependence on Qatari donations, which includes ownership and operation of the School of Foreign Service in Doha. Yale University reportedly has begun to sell of its holdings in private equity in order to raise cash.

Other universities and consortia have sued to have new indirect funding cuts revoked, and another court ruled that the National Institutes of Health must restore funding to a number of DEI and LGBTQ grants that had been terminated, calling the administration’s move “racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community.” Yet another judge ruled that the administration had no power to bar international students from Harvard.

The administration’s losses in district courts over its ability to restrict foreign students and funding may also be pressuring it to compromise. Formal mechanisms to nominally protect Jewish students from harassment and intimidation are likely to be part of any agreement.

Elsewhere, universities have been pressured to take action to prevent the appearance of supporting antisemitic protests. Goldsmiths, University of London, published a long-awaited report documenting the extent of antisemitic harassment aimed at students and faculty. The independent report took three years to complete and does not name individuals responsible, but some indication was given when a number of organizations withdrew from engaging with the inquiry, charging that it “marginalizes Palestinians.”

The University of Toronto Governing Council was presented with an irregular motion that proposed banning encampments and adopting the IHRA working definition of antisemitism. Members of the council overwhelmingly rejected the proposals. University representatives apologized for letting a culture of antisemitism develop.

Efforts to reign in anti-Israel faculty and academic units have also been mixed. At Brown University, the notorious Center for Middle East Studies, a nexus of pro-Hamas activity and provider of K-12 resources, will become an independent unit. But at Harvard Divinity School the Religion and Public Life program, equally notorious for its hostility toward Israel and enthusiasm for Hamas, has been dismantled.

In contrast to ambiguous moves on the part of American institutions, universities in Europe continue to embrace BDS and anti-Israeli politics. Queen’s University in Ireland announced that it was following the example of Trinity College Dublin and ending all investment in Israeli companies and academic ties with Israeli universities. Increasingly European academics point to the attendance of students who have served in the military at Israeli universities as a rationale for boycotts.

With the summer break underway, faculty members are assessing the extent of damage to their institutions and professions caused by the Trump administration’s funding cuts and threats to foreign students. As key universities such as Harvard and Columbia inch toward concessions to administration demands, faculty members find themselves caught between their self-imposed cultural requirement to ‘resist’ Trump and the need to restore Federal funding.

States have also begun to introduce post-tenure reviews or eliminate tenure altogether for faculty.

Manipulation of tenure committees by radical anti-Zionist faculty members has long been a method to undermine and purge departments of pro-Israel scholars.

More evidence also continues to emerge regarding both the overall faculty support for pro-Hamas protests as well as individual cases of harassment and intimidation. One new lawsuit alleges that well known Israel hater, MIT professor Michel DeGraff, targeted Israeli graduate students with social media and letter writing campaigns which resulted in the students being harassed by strangers.

The intensity of antisemitic hatred among some faculty was illustrated in Britain where Middlesex University lecturer Tarek Younis demanded that “our work isn’t done until all Zionists are removed from our institutions and shamed, alongside all racists, into nothingness.” Younis also participated in a legal effort by Muslim lawyers to remove Hamas from the list of terror groups.

Another example came at the University of Sydney where biology instructor Fahad Ali was investigated by the police after stating on social media “F**k sanctions, I want Zionists executed like we executed Nazis.” A class action lawsuit has also been filed against the University of Sydney over explicit support for Hamas from other faculty members.

In an American example, well-known Israel opponent Jonathan Brown, chair of Georgetown University’s Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies and Alwaleed bin Talal chair of Islamic Civilization in the School of Foreign Service, called on Iran to conduct a “symbolic strike” against American forces in the Gulf region. The university administration claimed it was “appalled” by the statement.

BDS and anti-Israel activity on campus has diminished for the summer as activists participate in pro-Hamas, pro-Iran, and anti-Trump street protests. Several hunger strikes have ended including at Stanford University, while others have been launched — but the strategy attracted little attention this past academic year.

As if to illustrate the intersectional nature of opposition, BDS and Mamdani supporter, actor Cynthia Nixon, announced that her child has begun a hunger strike “for Gaza” along with other members of Jewish Voice for Peace. Nixon herself claims to have participated in a two day hunger strike in November 2023.

Finally, responding to the strikes on Iran, and in another illustration that the ‘Palestinian cause” is a stalking horse for broader anti-American and anti-Western movements, the National Students for Justice in Palestine attacked the US and Israel saying, “The unprovoked attacks the US and the Zionist entity have launched against Iran prove only one thing: imperialism in the region will not stop at suffocating Palestine. From Iraq to Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and now Iran, the Empire [sic] demands constant expansion and destabilization.”

The author is a contributor to SPME, where a version of this article was originally published. 

The post As Colleges Tune Out for the Summer, Antisemitism Moves to Other Areas first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Jews, Israelis Targeted in Austria Amid Surge in Antisemitic Incidents; Local Jewish Community Calls for Action

Illustrative: Pro-Palestinian protesters shout slogans and hold flags during a demonstration against Israel’s military action in the Gaza strip, in Vienna, July 20, 2014. Photo: REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

Austria is facing a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel rhetoric, prompting outrage from the country’s Jewish community and urgent calls for authorities to take swift action against growing anti-Jewish hatred.

On Saturday, a group of pro-Palestinian activists burst into the opening of the Salzburg Festival — one of the world’s premier events for opera, music, and drama — waving Palestinian flags and shouting antisemitic slogans.

As Austrian Vice-Chancellor Andreas Babler began his opening speech at the event, six individuals stormed the stage, aggressively waving Palestinian flags and shouting “Blood on your hands!” along with other antisemitic slurs.

The incident raised alarming questions about the event’s security, as the six protesters gained easy access while wearing fake, misspelled staff IDs with fictitious names, revealing a clear failure in background checks.

According to festival director Lukas Crepaz, security measures and control checks have been significantly strengthened. The six activists were arrested, and authorities continue to investigate the incident.

Elie Rosen, president of the Jewish Community (IKG) of Salzburg, Styria, and Carinthia, condemned the incident, calling the disruption of the Salzburg Festival’s opening a “targeted political provocation, carried by openly anti-Israel rhetoric.”

“Jewish life in Austria must not become the collateral damage of political agitation,” Rosen said in a statement. “We often hear powerful statements at commemorative events condemning antisemitism.”

“But where are Israel’s outspoken supporters when real solidarity is needed? Antisemitism takes many forms and frequently starts with the silence of the majority,” she continued. “Hatred toward Israel is not a legitimate form of protest.”

In a separate incident last week, an Israeli couple was denied access to a campsite in Ehrwald, a village in western Austria, after attempting to make a reservation to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.

According to local media, the couple attempted to register at the campsite, but after revealing their Israeli passports, they were denied entry and asked to leave, forcing them to find alternative accommodations.

“We have no place for Jews here,” the campsite operator reportedly told them.

When asked for comment, the campsite operators told the German newspaper Jüdische Allgemeine, “These people should much rather take care of the many children in Gaza. Otherwise, there is nothing to say.”

In another incident last week, a group of well-known Israeli classical musicians reported being refused service at a pizzeria in Vienna after staff overheard them speaking Hebrew.

One of the musicians recounted that while they were ordering their food, the waiter asked them which language they were speaking. When they replied Hebrew, the waiter allegedly told them, “In that case, leave. I’m not serving you food.”

“The initial shock and humiliation were profound. But what struck us even more deeply was what came next – or rather what didn’t. The people around us were clearly startled, some offered sympathetic glances … and then, quietly, they went back to their dinners, their conversations, their wine – as though nothing had happened,” one of the musicians wrote in a post on X.

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‘All of Our Strength’: Over 1,000 Pro-Israel Activists Gather in DC for Solidarity Conference

2025 Israel on Campus Coalition National Leadership Summit. Photo: ICC.

Over 1,000 Jewish students, faculty, and activists amassed in Washington, DC on July 27-29 to attend the Israel on Campus Coalition’s annual National Leadership Summit (NLS), an electric event which achieved creating the atmosphere of both a festival of Jewish elation and an academic conference.

Founded in 2002, the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) is a nonprofit organization that describes its mission as inspiring college students to defend and hold pride in the state of Israel. One of its major initiatives is the “microgrants” program, which helps pro-Israel campus groups organize events about Israeli culture and society. Another, the ICC Community Impact Fellowship, awards college students a $1,000 stipend for completing a leadership seminar in which they are trained in civic engagement, coalition building, and rapidly responding to antisemitic and anti-Israel events on their campuses.

Demand for a spot at this year’s 2025 conference exceeded the nonprofit’s capacity to host the thousands of students who signed up to be a conferee at what is recognized as the largest gathering of pro-Israel students in the country. Hundreds were waitlisted and encouraged to reapply next year. Those whom ICC did select were flown out to DC and billeted at the Capital Hilton, all expenses paid. They were joined – for the first time ever – by a delegation of faculty from the Academic Engagement Network (AEN) and staff from most major Jewish organization in the US, from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to StandWithUs (SWU).

“We just ultimately believe that we’re better when we use all of our strength as a movement,” ICC chief executive Jacob Baime told The Algemeiner on Monday during an interview. “And we’re not the only ones who feel that way. The other side does as well, having mounted a highly professionalized coalition, well-funded, well-coordinated effort with many groups involved. We need our partners and the different perspectives they hold too.”

When The Algemeiner last attended NLS, the world was not yet one year removed from Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, the deadliest day in modern Jewish history since the Holocaust. Jewish students and ICC staff, many of whom have family members and friends who were affected by the atrocities or were later drafted into the war it precipitated, were still laboring to comprehend what had become a new and unprecedented world – one in which classic antisemitic tropes had resurfaced to corrupt public debate, anti-Jewish violence occurred daily across the world, and anti-Zionist groups were taking over college campuses and converting them into outposts of antisemitic hate.

As such the event aimed to inspire Jewish students “take back the campus,” an effort advanced by an infantry of social media influencers.

This year’s NLS leaned more heavily into supplying students with information, facts, and statistics curated and presented by the most accomplished Middle East scholars, government leaders, and nonprofit executives in the global pro-Israel community. Social media influencers and celebrities took the stage as well, showcasing their strengths as spirited advocates who remind students why the issues under discussion relate to their contemporary experiences as young people and consumers.

Speakers included Alyza Lewin, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law; Col. Miri Eisin of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies; Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute; Miriam Elman of the Academic Engagement Network; and Dr. Ayal Feinberg, director of the Center for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights. On offer as giveaways were Douglas Murray’s recently published polemic On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization and Dina Powell McCormick and David McCormick’s co-authored book, titled Who Believed in You?: How Purposeful Mentorship Changes the World.

“We wanted students to engage with ideas that touch on the entirety of the campus ecosystem and the subjects they may be asked to comment on,” Baime explained to The Algemeiner. “Oct. 7, the war, and its aftermath have changed the American pro-Israel movement forever.”

The obverse side of the conference’s educational objectives was wholesome fun for the 800 college aged conferees in attendance. They were treated to a buoyant concert in the Hilton’s Presidential Ballroom featuring the jazz-pop fusion act “All of the Above” and the rapper Duvbear, an 18-year-old who is emblematic of what Generation-Z calls “rizz.” Celebrities such as former NBA player Meta World Peace, former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho, and professional boxer George Foreman III afforded the students quick meet and greets and selfies. Capital Hilton staff carted out pounds of food – Latin, Asian, and Kosher – from its kitchens every several hours, fostering opportunities for socializing and being photographed on an ICC-themed “red carpet.”

University of California, Davis rising junior Toby Jacob told The Algemeiner that the nonprofit’s strength is its staff.

“The staff here is so knowledgeable and so capable,” Jacob said. “It can feel really scary when you’re dealing with these like large scale issues in your student government, with your administration – and to have people who have the resources to walk you through it is vital.”

Tessa Veksler, an NLS 2025 moderator who became the most recognizable pro-Israel activist of Generation-Z after being elected the first Shabbat-observant president of the University of California, Santa Barbara’s student government, agreed.

“When I was on campus going through the worst of the worst, I knew that ICC had my back and that I could count on the staff and the organization to be there at a moment’s notice,” Veksler said. “They exceptionally equip students with the tools to be able to lead themselves, and so there is an expectation that if you are an ICC fellow that you take the tools ICC gives and put in the work to go and become involved in student government and be the person to make the impact.”

She continued, “It’s a remarkable thing, and there’s a reason why I have stayed as involved as I am.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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‘Devastated’: Wesley LePatner, Killed in Manhattan Mass Shooting, Was a Jewish Communal, Philanthropic Leader

A man holding a rifle walks into an office building at 345 Park Avenue shortly before a shooting that killed several people, in the Midtown Manhattan district of New York City, US, July 28, 2025, in a still image taken from surveillance video. Photo: Surveillance Camera/Handout via REUTERS

Wesley LePatner, an executive at Blackstone and a Jewish communal leader, was one of the victims of the mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan on Monday that killed four people and wounded a fifth in addition to the shooter, who died by suicide.

LePatner, 43, was an active member of the Jewish community and served on the UJA Federation of New York’s board of directors, which said it is “devastated by the tragic loss.”

“Wesley was extraordinary in every way — personally, professionally, and philanthropically,” the federation wrote in a statement on Tuesday. “An exceptional leader in the financial world, she brought thoughtfulness, vision, and compassion to everything she did. In 2023, we honored her with the Alan C. Greenberg Young Leadership Award at our Wall Street Dinner, recognizing her commitment to our community and her remarkable achievements, all the more notable as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated field.”

In her acceptance speech, LePatner said, “Never in my wildest imagination could I have believed that I would be up on this stage two decades later [after attending her first UJA Wall Street dinner]. UJA has many super-powers, but its most important in my view is its power to create a sense of community and belonging, and that ability to create a sense of community and belonging matters now more than ever.”

She also explained that “UJA stepped in early and fixed my feeling out of place by connecting me with senior Goldman Sachs women who were further along in their careers and personal lives, but equally committed to their Jewish community and identity.”

“I was an American,” she said, “but I was first and foremost Jewish.”

LePatner was also a supporter of Israel, leading a solidarity mission with UJA after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.

“In the wake of Oct. 7, Wesley led a solidarity mission with UJA to Israel, demonstrating her enduring commitment in Israel’s moment of heartache,” the UJA Federation of New York said in its statement. “She lived with courage and conviction, instilling in her two children a deep love for Judaism and the Jewish people.”

In addition to serving on the board of directors of the New York UJA, she was also on the board of trustees at The Abraham Joshua Heschel School — a pluralistic Jewish day school in New York. The Forward reported that school representatives wrote in an email that “there are no right words for this unfathomable moment of pain and loss.”

“It was a rare z’chut, a rare privilege, to know Wesley and to learn from her. She was a uniquely brilliant and modest leader and parent, filled with wisdom, empathy, vision, and appreciation,” they continued.

David Greenfield, CEO of the Met Council, posted on X that “Wesley was an amazing person who was also tremendously talented leader. She volunteered with her kids [at the Met Council] to feed those in need.”

LePatner graduated from Yale summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and met her husband on the first day of school in 1999.

She is survived by her husband and two children.

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