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Documented Proof: Outrages Happening on College Campuses Against Israel
In March, anti-Israel activities on college campuses were characterized by the rapid revival of resolutions or referendums, which frequently accused Israel of genocide:
The Tufts University student government approved a Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) resolution that demanded divestment from Israel, the end of study abroad programs in Israel, boycott of specific products on campus, and university acknowledgement of the Palestinian “genocide.” Jewish students report having been spat on and verbally abused during the debate, which was not conducted according to established procedure. The university rejected the call for BDS, and claimed it would investigate abuse of Jewish students.
The University of California at Santa Cruz student government approved a boycott resolution calling on the university system to divest from Israel and companies working in Israel.
The Barnard College student government approved a motion to present a BDS referendum to the student body. The referendum calls for “1. Divesting all stocks, funds, and endowment and refrain from further investment in companies profiting from or engaging in Israeli apartheid; 2. Canceling the opening of the Tel Aviv Global Center; 3. Ceasing the Dual Degree Program between Columbia University and Tel Aviv University.”
Union Theological Seminary’s student government passed a resolution demanding divestment, and calling to “End all promotion of Israeli Settler-colonialism via academic ties through including but not limited to Fulbright Israel as well as hosting any Zionist speakers amplifying settler-colonial propaganda.”
Vanderbilt University administrators canceled a student government vote on a BDS resolution after warning the measure would contravene state law regarding divestment from Israel. In response, protestors occupied an administration building for 22 hours where they reported “inhumane” treatment by police, including denial of bathroom access. Twenty-five students were arrested and 16 were suspended.
Protests demanding divestment were held at other campuses including a disruption of the annual Honors Convocation at the University of Michigan, the University of California at Santa Barbara, UCLA, Edinburgh University (where a building was occupied overnight), University College London (where a room was occupied, and demands for divestment were issued), and at Emerson College, where 13 students were arrested protesting the inauguration of the new president.
Pro-Israel speakers were harassed and canceled at a number of campuses:
At the University of Kentucky, protestors disrupted a speech by pundit Ian Haworth, causing the police to clear the building, after which protestors pulled a fire alarm. No arrests were made. One protestor was quoted as saying “Wow, okay, we disrupted it successfully.’ That was our whole thing, we don’t want this individual to even have space to speak at our institution.”
At the University of California at Irvine, the Jewish Studies program head stated that he could no longer hold public events related to Israel due to persistent harassment by pro-Hamas protestors, and that even talks on Yiddish and the Holocaust had been disrupted. No disciplinary measures have been taken by the university.
A talk at Indiana University by former Hamas member Mosab Hassan Yousef was also canceled after the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter accused him of “Islamophobia,” resulting in threats from the local Muslim community.
A talk at Georgetown University Law School by an Israeli reservist was disrupted by pro-Hamas protestors, who warned the speaker’s “proximity to these crimes make it likely that he contributed to the war crimes and genocide in Gaza.”
The Muslim Student Association at Concordia University demanded the institution ban “Islamophobic language,” and also provided a long list of terms that would result in a group being banned. These included “jihadist,” “Hamas supporter,” “rape apologist,” “Islamist,” “Shariah,” and many more.
Harassment of Jewish and Israeli students also continued on campuses:
At Concordia University, members of the Supporting Palestinian Human Rights club trapped Jewish students gathered in a Chabad room, banging on walls and screaming at them until campus security arrived. The pro-Hamas students were not sanctioned.
Pro-Hamas students continue a blockade of a main gate at the University of California at Berkeley, with reports indicating Jewish students are avoiding the area after incidents of harassment. The university later agreed to “post observers who can monitor and report on the situation” at the site.
At Exeter University, Jewish students manning a CAMERA on Campus booth in a student union were surrounded by a mob of more than 100 people, and forced to flee. Exeter had been previously known for faculty and student celebrations of the October 7 massacre and denialism regarding sexual abuse by Hamas.
University facilities vandalized by pro-Hamas protestors include a computing laboratory at Cambridge University and inside a student union at Manchester University, where “kikes out” and “up Hamas” were scrawled. Jewish institutions on campus also continued to be vandalized, including the Queens College Hillel (which also received threatening messages), the University of Texas at Austin’s Hillel building, along with buildings associated with Zionists — including the Golda Meir Library at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, which was vandalized with “Free Palestine.”
One new study shows that Jewish students are hiding their identities, and pay a social penalty for supporting Israel. Another study indicates that very liberal students know they are expected to not be friends with Israel supporters but at the same time know they are not supposed to discriminate. Overall, the conformist culture of elite schools in particular helps amplify anti-Israel attitudes.
Faculty members continue to take aggressive stances attacking Israel and in defense of Palestinians and Hamas. Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) chapters dedicated to supporting SJP chapters continue to spread to “raise awareness about settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, genocidal policies and actions, and everyday violence against Palestinians,” and are invariably accompanied by claims that “pro-Palestine speech” is being “silenced.”
Faculty are also at the forefront of normalizing pro-Hamas viewpoints. One example at Barnard College is a session called “Resistance 101” hosted by the Barnard Center for Research on Women which featured Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leader Khaled Barakat. Upon questioning, Columbia University canceled what it called an unsanctioned event, which was then moved to a private space on campus. Observers argued that the event constituted material support for terrorism since the PFLP is a designated terrorist organization.
Faculty members have taken the lead in demanding their universities terminate relationships with Israel. University of Turin faculty members voted to end a research agreement with Israeli universities. The University of Montreal’s SGPPUM faculty union also voted to demand the university cut off relations with Israeli universities as well as demand an arms embargo and a ceasefire.
The US Department of Education continues to open investigations of antisemitism at colleges and universities, as well as public schools, and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce expanded its own investigation to include UC Berkeley. Committee chair Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) noted that Harvard’s failure to comply with a subpoena for documents could result in a cutoff of some $625 million in Federal funding.
Anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda from K-12 teachers remained a focal point in March. Elementary school indoctrination was one focus, as was targeting Jewish teachers:
The Stanford University Arboretum Children’s Center for children of university employees was decorated with Palestinian flags and watermelon symbols.
Berkeley (CA) elementary school students were directed to write “stop bombing babies” on notes, and attach them to the door of the school’s only Jewish teacher.
The Maplewood (NJ) school district distributed an email encouraging teachers to discuss Ramadan in the context of the “Israeli genocide” against Palestinians.
The systemic nature of antisemitism at the K-12 levels, and the manner in which teachers’ unions have been co-opted by anti-Israel activism, was demonstrated in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Teachers Association hosted a webinar, developed with the help of Jewish Voice for Peace, entitled “The Struggle Against Anti-Palestinian Racism,” which was described as an exploration of questions including “What is anti-Palestinian discrimination? How does Palestine fit into the larger framework of colonialism and imperialism? What are Zionism and anti-Zionism, and what are their histories? Why is anti-Zionism not antisemitism?”
Mass public protests aimed at disrupting transportation and commercial activities also continued in March. Protestors demanding a “ceasefire” blocked the San Francisco Airport, the New York Times and New York Post printing plant, London’s Liverpool Station, and the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum. Britain’s leading counter-extremism official warned that pro-Palestinian protests were making London a no-go zone for Jews and that radicalization was spreading throughout British society.
Protestors repeatedly vandalized locations associated with Israel, such as Effy’s Cafe on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and Nanas Kitchen in Narberth (PA). Protestors also disrupted the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council gala, the opening of the Amsterdam Holocaust museum, which was attended by Israeli president Isaac Herzog, and an Israeli speaker at the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum.
Private dwellings were attacked, including a rock thrown through a window of a home and mutilation of hostage posters displayed outside a home in Newton (MA). A protest at a real estate fair in Teaneck (NJ) synagogue, which allegedly advertised homes in the West Bank, was protested by Palestinian-Americans who drove from nearby Paterson. Several bottles were thrown at attendees and at police. A similar real event in Brooklyn was canceled due to security concerns.
The result of continued protests, harassment and vandalism targeting Jewish individuals and institutions is a growing need for security measures including physical protection and secrecy regarding venues.
It’s a troubling time to be Jewish in America — especially on campus.
The author is a contributor to SPME, where a different version of this article originally appeared.
The post Documented Proof: Outrages Happening on College Campuses Against Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Northwestern University Touts Progress on Addressing Campus Antisemitism Amid Federal Scrutiny
Signs cover the fence at a pro-Palestinian encampment at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. on April 28, 2024. Photo: Max Herman via Reuters Connect.
Northwestern University on Monday touted its progress in addressing the campus antisemitism crisis, issuing a statement containing a checklist of policies it has enacted since being censured by federal lawmakers over its handling of pro-Hamas demonstrations which convulsed its campus during the 2023-2024 academic year.
“The university administration took this criticism to heart and spent much of last summer revising our rules and policies to make our university safe for all of our students, regardless of their religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, or political viewpoint,” the statement said. “Among the updated policies is our Demonstration Policy, which includes new requirements and guidance on how, when, and where members of the community may protest or otherwise engage in expressive activity.”
The university added that it has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a reference tool which aids officials in determining what constitutes antisemitism, and begun holding “mandatory antisemitism training” sessions which “all students, faculty, and staff” must attend.
“This included a live training for all new students in September and a 17-minute training module for all enrolled students, produced in collaboration with the Jewish United Fund,” it continued. “Antisemitism trainings will continue as a permanent part of our broader training in civil rights and Title IX.”
Other initiatives rolled out by the university include an Advisory Council to the President on Jewish Life, dinners for Jewish students hosted by administrative officials, and educational events which raise awareness of rising antisemitism in the US and across the world. Additionally, Northwestern said that it imposed disciplinary sanctions against several students and one staff member whose conduct violated the new “Demonstration and/or Display Policies” which regulate peaceful assembly on the campus.
“In closing, although Northwestern has made significant progress in the fight against antisemitism on campus, the university remains vigilant and will continue to do what is necessary to make our campus safe,” the statement concluded. “Importantly, the fight against antisemitism is NOT [sic] a zero-sum game. All members of our communities on campus — all religions, races, national origins, genders, sexual orientations, and political viewpoints — deserve to feel safe and know that our rules will be enforced to protect them against hate, discrimination, harassment, and intimidation. Northwestern is committed to this principle.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, Northwestern University struggled for months to correct an impression that it coddled pro-Hamas protesters and acceded to their demands for a boycott of Israel in exchange for an end to their May 2024 encampment.
University president Schill denied during a US congressional hearing held that year that he had capitulated to any demand that fostered a hostile environment, but his critics noted that part of the deal to end the encampment stipulated his establishing a scholarship for Palestinian undergraduates, contacting potential employers of students who caused recent campus disruptions to insist on their being hired, creating a segregated dormitory hall that will be occupied exclusively by students of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Muslim descent, and forming a new advisory committee in which anti-Zionists students and faculty may wield an outsized voice.
The status of those concessions, which a law firm representing the civil rights advocacy group StandWithUs described as “outrageous” in July 2024, were not disclosed in Monday’s statement.
Northwestern University is not the only school creating distance between itself and the anti-Zionist movement, a step many colleges have taken in response to US President Donald Trump’s vowing to cut the flow of taxpayer funds supplementing their budgets should they refuse to crackdown down on illegal protests and antisemitism. Following the Trump administration’s cancelling of over $400 million in federals contracts and grants awarded to Columbia University, former interim president Katrina Armstrong proposed a list of reforms the school would agree to undertake — in areas ranging from undergraduate admissions to campus security — to restore the funds.
Armstrong later resigned from her position, saying in a statement which explained the decision that she wishes to return to her role as executive director of the university’s Irving Medical Center, as well as several other positions she holds.
Meanwhile, Harvard University recently fired a librarian whom someone filmed ripping posters of the Bibas children, two babies murdered in captivity by Hamas, off a kiosk in Harvard Yard and denounced him as “hateful.” Additionally, it paused a partnership with a higher education institution located in the West Bank, a move for which prominent members of the Harvard community and federal lawmakers had clamored in a series of public statements. The Trump administration initiated a review of $9 billion in taxpayer funds it receives anyway, prompting interim president Alan Garber to defend Harvard’s handling of the issue.
“For the past fifteen months, we have devoted considerable effort to addressing antisemitism,” Garber said. “We have strengthened our rules and our approach to disciplining those who violate them. We have enhanced training and education on antisemitism across our campus and introduced measures to support our Jewish community and ensure student safety and security.”
Northwestern University is in the Trump administration’s crosshairs too. It is one of 60 universities being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights over its handling of campus antisemitism, a project that will serve as an early test of the administration’s ability to perform the essential functions of the agency after downsizing its workforce to increase its efficiency.
“The department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite US campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in March. “US colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by US taxpayers. That support is a privilege, and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Northwestern University Touts Progress on Addressing Campus Antisemitism Amid Federal Scrutiny first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pressure Mounts on UN Members to Block Reappointment of Controversial Anti-Israel Official
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The United Nations is facing growing pressure to block the reappointment of Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who has an extensive history of using her role to denigrate Israel and seemingly rationalize the terrorist group Hamas’s attacks against the Jewish state.
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is set to reappoint Albanese for another three-year term on Friday, despite calls from several countries and NGOs urging UN members to oppose her reappointment due to her controversial remarks and alleged pro-Hamas stance.
Since taking on the role of UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories in 2022, Albanese has been at the center of controversy due to what critics, including US and European lawmakers, have described as antisemitic and anti-Israel public remarks.
In the months following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities, across southern Israel, Albanese accused Israel of perpetrating a “genocide” against the Palestinian people in revenge for the attacks and circulated a widely derided and heavily disputed report alleging that 186,000 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli actions.
She has also previously made comments about a “Jewish lobby” controlling America and Europe, compared Israel to Nazi Germany, and stated that Hamas’s violence against Israelis — including rape, murder, and kidnapping — needs to be “put in context.”
Last year, the United Nations launched a probe into Albanese for allegedly accepting a trip to Australia funded by pro-Hamas organizations.
In the past, she has also celebrated the anti-Israel protesters rampaging across US college campuses, saying they represent a “revolution” and that they give her “hope.”
On Monday, US Rep. Brian Mast, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to the president of the UNHRC, Ambassador Jürg Lauber, to express his strong opposition to Albanese’s reappointment.
In the letter, Mast claimed that Albanese has failed to act “in an independent capacity with a professional, impartial assessment, and maintain the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.”
“Ms. Albanese unapologetically uses her position as a UN special rapporteur to purvey and attempt to legitimize antisemitic tropes, while serving as a Hamas apologist,” the letter read.
“In her malicious fixation, she has even called for Israel to be removed from the United Nations while likening Israel to apartheid South Africa,” Mast wrote in a letter signed by six fellow lawmakers. “Regrettably, Ms. Albanese’s rhetoric has perverted the very institution and its foundational principles in which she was appointed to serve.”
Governments worldwide, including France, the UK, Germany, Canada, and the Netherlands, have condemned her statements as antisemitic and urged that she not be given another term in her role.
Last month, 42 members of the French Parliament publicly urged the government to oppose Albanese’s reappointment, arguing that it “would send a regrettable signal to victims, human rights defenders, and states committed to credible multilateralism.”
This week, British Labour Member of Parliament David Taylor also objected to Albanese’s reappointment, saying “there is no place for such alleged antisemitism on the international stage.”
“Albanese’s response to the largest antisemitic massacre of the 21st century was to describe it as ‘a response to Israel’s oppression,’” Taylor told the Jewish Chronicle. “She described Israel as being a ‘settler colonial conquest.’”
“Making statements of this nature in a UN capacity is abhorrent and does so much damage to communities already torn apart by horrific violence, going against everything the United Nations stands for,” Taylor said.
Human rights groups and NGOs have also campaigned to prevent the anti-Israel rapporteur from receiving a second term.
UN Watch, a Geneva-based NGO, has organized a petition against her reappointment, which has garnered over 83,000 signatures.
Last month, Maram Stern, executive vice president of the World Jewish Congress, sent a letter to the president of the UNHRC urging him to reject the renewal of Albanese’s mandate, citing what she described as the UN official’s history of anti-Israel animus and antisemitic statements.
“Ms. Albanese has repeatedly made public remarks that propagate harmful antisemitic tropes, question the legitimacy of the State of Israel, and employ rhetoric that undermines the credibility of the Human Rights Council itself,” the letter read. “Her persistent lack of objectivity and failure to uphold a balanced and impartial approach required of her as special rapporteur compromises her credibility as an independent expert.”
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) also urged UN Members to reject Albanese’s second term, saying she “has systematically demonstrated a troubling pattern of conduct and expression that is incompatible with the responsibilities, neutrality, and integrity expected of a UN special rapporteur.”
“Her actions not only betray the victims of terrorism and antisemitism but also are a stain on the credibility of the Human Rights Council itself,” the AJC wrote in a letter.
The post Pressure Mounts on UN Members to Block Reappointment of Controversial Anti-Israel Official first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Three Jewish Coaches Lead Teams in NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Final Four
Florida Gators head coach Todd Golden and Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl talk before the game as Auburn Tigers take on Florida Gators at Neville Arena in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect
The men’s 2025 NCAA Tournament Final Four bracket includes four No. 1 seed teams, three of which have Jewish coaches who will lead the way in the two national semifinals taking place on Saturday.
Auburn University Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl has contributed Auburn’s success in the NCAA in part to God and his Jewish faith. He described Israel as the “ancestral homeland for the Jewish people” and called for the release of American-Israeli Edan Alexander from Hamas captivity at a post-game conference last month. He also took the Auburn team on a trip to Israel, where they made stops at the Western Wall and Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center.
The Tigers will compete on Saturday in the NCAA Tournament Final Four against the Florida Gators whose Jewish coach, Todd Golden, is an Israeli citizen who previously played two years professionally for Maccabi Haifa in Israel.
In 2009, Golden was co-captain of the USA Open Team, coached by Pearl, that won gold at the Maccabiah Games, which is an international multi-sport event for Jewish and Israeli athletes. Golden has been the coach of the Tigers for two seasons, but prior to that he was the assistant coach at Columbia, the head coach at San Francisco, and even worked under Pearl. Golden was director of basketball operations for the Auburn staff for the 2014-15 season and was promoted to assistant coach for the 2015-16 campaign.
Duke and Houston also play each other on Saturday in the Final Four. The head coach of the Duke Blue Devils, Jon Scheyer, also formerly played in Israel and holds Israeli citizenship. He played professionally for Maccabi Tel Aviv from 2011-12. In October 2023, not long after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Scheyer commented on the conflict and said in part: “My heart breaks for the people in Israel — that have hostages, American lives that are taken, mourning loved ones.” Scheyer is leading Duke to the Final Four in only his third year as head coach.
The Houston Cougars – the fourth men’s team competing in the Final Four – do not have a Jewish coach, but they have a player who was born in Israel and played for Israel’s national youth squad. Guard Emanuel Sharp, who is the son of Derrick Sharp, was part of Israel’s under-16 national basketball team and also played for Maccabi Tel Aviv for over a decade.
This year’s Final Four have a combined record of 135-16. Since seeding began in 1979, this is only the second time in history that all four No. 1 seeds advanced to the Final Four. It previously happened in 2008. Larry Brown was the last Jewish coach to win the NCAA Tournament when he led Kansas to the victory in 1988.
The 2025 NCAA Tournament Final Four begins on Saturday, with two national semifinals taking place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, and ends on Monday with the national championship.
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