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Feds to probe University of North Carolina’s response to harsh anti-Israel speech
(JTA) – Earlier this month, a pro-Israel group of North Carolinians told the federal government that their state’s flagship public university should be investigated for allowing anti-Israel rhetoric on campus.
Now the government has taken them up on it.
The U.S. Department of Education announced today that it has opened a new Title VI investigation into the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, along with two others into George Mason University and Newark Public Schools, related to complaints of mistreatment based on “shared ancestry.” The investigations round out a busy year for the department’s civil rights office, which has doubled down on antisemitism- and Islamophobia-related complaints at universities and K-12 schools since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
Although the department does not publicly reveal the reasons for any of its open Title VI investigations, a staffer confirmed in a letter viewed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that its UNC investigation is related to a complaint filed earlier in the month by a lawyer affiliated with a pro-Israel nonprofit in the state.
David E. Weisberg filed the complaint Dec. 7, alleging that a member of the university faculty and a guest speaker on campus both made anti-Israel comments in the weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Reached for comment, Weisberg said that the information in the complaint came from Peter Reitzes, a board member of Voice4Israel of North Carolina, a registered 501(c)3 that posted the complaint in full online.
“UNC-Chapel Hill has fostered a hostile campus environment towards Jewish and pro-Israel students for years,” Reitzes told JTA in an emailed statement. “I hope OCR’s investigation leads to UNC providing Jewish and pro-Israel students and faculty with a safe and productive campus environment that is institutionally neutral on Israel and the Palestinians.”
Weisberg’s complaint details two incidents of alleged anti-Israel or pro-Hamas rhetoric at UNC to which he believes the administration should have responded more strongly. In the first, a Communications professor, E. Chebrolu, allegedly stated during two different classes that “Israel and the United States do not give a shit about international law or war crimes” and that Israel is “a clearly fascist state committing a genocide under the guise of it supposedly being the only democracy in the Middle East.”
In the second incident, a guest speaker at an event endorsed by two UNC departments and hosted on UNC’s campus was recorded stating that “October 7, for many of us from the region, was a beautiful day.” The speaker, Rania Masri, co-director of a North Carolina environmental group, said she would “not be in the least bit apologetic of the violence of the oppressed or the occupied,” adding, “Let us demand the eradication of Zionism.”
Hamas gunmen killed some 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, on Oct. 7, and kidnapped more than 200.
In a Dec. 22 letter to Weisberg, Dan Greenspahn, a staffer at the Department of Education’s civil rights office, confirmed that its investigation was related to his complaint. Greenspahn wrote that the department will investigate “whether the University responded to alleged harassment of students based on national origin (shared Jewish ancestry) in a manner consistent with the requirements of Title VI,” while noting that opening an investigation does not mean the department believes the complaint has merit.
Questions sent to representatives at the Department of Education and UNC were returned with automatic messages indicating their offices are closed until the new year.
In his complaint, Weisberg claims that for UNC to allow such incidents is in violation of a shared agreement the university struck with the Department of Education in response to a 2019 Title VI complaint. In that agreement, administrators agreed to respond to and investigate incidents of antisemitic harassment on campus and hold antisemitism training for staff. The case stemmed from a complaint filed by the Zionist Organization of America over a conference related to the Gaza Strip the university held jointly with Duke University. The conference featured a satirical performance by a rapper that critics said was antisemitic.
Weisberg’s complaint also alleges that UNC has a responsibility to follow the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s controversial definition of antisemitism, which includes some forms of criticism of Israel. While the definition has been widely adopted, including by new Department of Education guidelines refined under the Trump administration, it has also been criticized by some scholars who say the definition could punish speakers for legitimate criticism of Israel. A bill introduced in North Carolina’s general assembly in April, pushing the state to adopt the IHRA definition, has not yet been signed.
Congress has taken a particular interest in UNC in its efforts to address campus antisemitism. A resolution in the U.S. Senate condemning antisemitic rhetoric on campus specifically references a statement posted on social media by the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine reading, “it is our moral obligation to be in solidarity with the dispossessed, no matter the pathway to liberation they choose to take. This includes violence.” (The statement was later deleted.)
JTA requests for comment to George Mason University and Newark Public Schools regarding their own Title VI investigations were not returned; an automated message from GMU’s representative also stated they were closed for the holidays.
GMU has made some headlines since Oct. 7 for antisemitism- and Islamophobia-related activities on its Fairfax, Virginia campus. The public university issued an Oct. 31 statement condemning video of someone ripping down an Israeli hostage poster on campus, as well as efforts to dox the perpetrator; the school also banned a 28-year-old man from campus for four years for allegedly passing out antisemitic flyers and deleted several student emails that were sent on a reply-all listserv criticizing the university’s perceived failure to address Muslim students’ concerns.
With these latest schools, the Department of Education looks set to round out the year with 38 Title VI shared ancestry investigations opened into colleges and K-12 schools since Oct. 7. Of those, JTA has confirmed that at least 11, and likely more, are related to antisemitism, with some of those cases referencing incidents that predate Oct. 7. Several other schools have said they were not told why they were being investigated.
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The post Feds to probe University of North Carolina’s response to harsh anti-Israel speech appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Jerry Seinfeld Compares ‘Free Palestine’ Movement to KKK at Duke Event for Former Hamas Hostage
Jerry Seinfeld attends the premiere of Netflix’s “Unfrosted” at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, April 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/David Swanson
Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld said during an appearance at Duke University on Tuesday that supporters of the “Free Palestine”movement are worse than the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan group.
Seinfeld, whose youngest son attends the school in Durham, North Carolina, made the remarks while introducing Omer Shem Tov, a former Hamas hostage who was kidnapped by terrorists from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. He was freed after 505 days in captivity as part of a ceasefire agreement in February. Hundreds attended the event at Duke’s Page Auditorium to hear Shem Tov speak about experiences in a discussion on stage with the event’s moderator, North Carolina State Sen. Sophia Chitlik (D-Durham). The event was organized largely by Chabad at Duke, with sponsorship from Duke’s Provost’s Initiative on the Middle East, university centers, and Jewish student groups on campus.
During Seinfeld’s opening remarks, he said, “Free Palestine is, to me, just — you’re free to say you don’t like Jews. Just say you don’t like Jews.”
“By saying ‘Free Palestine,’ you’re not admitting what you really think,” he continued. “So, it’s actually — compared to the Ku Klux Klan, I’m actually thinking the Klan is actually a little better here because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ OK, that’s honest.” His comments were reported by Duke’s student newspaper, The Chronicle.
Only Duke students, staff, and faculty were permitted to attend the event. Seinfeld’s appearance was a surprise and was not publicized beforehand. A university spokesperson told The Chronicle on Tuesday night that Seinfeld had “requested his appearance not be announced beforehand, given Omer Shem Tov’s experiences were the focus of the event.”
“Duke does not preview the remarks of speakers who are invited to campus, and the invitation of speakers to campus does not imply any endorsement of their remarks,” the spokesperson added.
Mason Herman, a senior at Duke and student president of the school’s Chabad, told NBC News that Chabad and the university are not responsible for remarks made by an invited speaker. “This event was highlighting the fact that there are more than 40 hostages still in Gaza,” he said. “To one, raise awareness of that fact, and two, to share their plight while in captivity. And to share Omer’s story.”
The last time Seinfeld spoke publicly at Duke was when he delivered the school’s commencement address in May 2024. His older son graduated that year from Duke. The school’s decision to have Seinfeld deliver the commencement address was criticized by some because of his pro-Israel views and dozens of students walked out of the ceremony in protest. Seinfeld’s daughter, Sascha, who is now a reporter for Bari Weiss’ news outlet The Free Press, is also an alum of Duke.
After the deadly massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Seinfeld posted a message on Instagram that said, “I Stand With Israel,” and shared that he lived and worked on a kibbutz in Israel when he was a teenager. In December of the same year, Seinfeld’s family traveled to Israel to meet with families of Israeli hostages and others impacted by the attack. During the trip, there was a missile attack, and the family had to seek shelter.
Seinfeld later said the experience gave him an understanding of what it means to live through and experience a war. He also told Weiss during an emotional interview that the trip was “the most powerful experience of my life.” He added that when he made “Seinfeld” in the 1990s, he thought that antisemitism was “seemingly a relic of history books.”
Seinfeld talked more about that trip to Israel during his remarks at Duke on Tuesday. He said his family visited Israel to “call attention to the plight of the hostages” and met with “several groups of hostage family members,” with whom they connected in a “heartbreaking moment.”
“So, to be here tonight and experiencing this is really incredible,” the comedian said before Shem Tov’s address on stage.
Shem Tov, who was 20 years old when he was kidnapped, told the crowd on Tuesday that he remembers being kicked, punched, and spit on as he was taken into captivity. “You cannot take your life for granted,” he told the audience, as reported by The Chronicle. “You have to understand that in a split second your life could change.”
Hamas-led terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas is still holding captive 48 people who were abducted and 20 of those hostages are believed to be alive.
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‘You’re Next’: Anti-Israel Activist, Ex-Barnard College Student Promotes Death Threat Against Netanyahu
A pro-Hamas demonstrator uses a megaphone at Columbia University. Photo: Mike Segar via Reuters Connect.
Amid concerns about rising political violence in the US following the murder of Charlie Kirk, anti-Israel campus activist and former Barnard College student Maryam Iqbal shared a social media post this week calling for the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“You’re next,” said the post by an account named EV HardSnipe, in response to Netanyahu’s writing that he was praying for Kirk, a prominent conservative activist who was shot and killed at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
“Praying for @charliekirk11,” read the original post by Netanyahu.
EV HardSnipe’s death threat was shared by Iqbal, who along with US Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter was suspended from school during the 2023-2024 academic year for their role in a riotous, unauthorized anti-Israel protest at Columbia University in New York.
“Political killings are heinous acts; the reactions have been equally disturbing. Within the campus context and beyond, free speech has become limited only to some groups, especially on the progressive left, and discouraged and silenced when it concerns topics like antisemitism, Israel, and Zionism — and for that matter, any subject that is perceived to be conservative,” Asaf Romirowsky, executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME), told The Algemeiner in a statement. “As we are still coming to grips with the assassination of Charlie Kirk who was a staunch advocate of discourse and free exchange of ideas no matter what opinions were shared, we are now seeing students on campus engaging in vilification of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu using Kirk’s Zionist views as an excuse to do so.”
Responding to The Algemeiner‘s request for comment on the incident, a Barnard College spokesperson said, “The person associated with the tweet did not enroll at Barnard College for the current academic year.”
She added, “Barnard is committed to maintaining a campus that is safe, welcoming, inclusive, for all members of our community. We do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or threats of violence, which is made clear in our expectations for community conduct and policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment.”
Columbia University and Barnard College have been hubs of campus antisemitism, with particular hostility directed toward Israelis and Zionists, amid the war in Gaza. After Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Columbia produced several indelible examples of campus antisemitism, including a student who proclaimed that Zionist Jews deserve to be murdered and are lucky he is not doing so himself and administrative officials who, outraged at the notion that Jews organized to resist anti-Zionism, participated in a group chat in which each member took turns sharing antisemitic tropes that described Jews as privileged and grafting.
Amid these incidents, the university struggled to contain the anti-Zionist group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which in late January committed an act of infrastructural sabotage by flooding the toilets of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) with concrete. Numerous reports indicate the attack may have been the premeditated result of planning sessions which took place many months ago at an event held by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP) — a literary society, according to the Washington Free Beacon. During the event, the Free Beacon reported, ADP distributed literature dedicated to “aspiring revolutionaries” who wish to commit seditious acts. Additionally, a presentation was given in which complete instructions for the exact kind of attack which struck Columbia were shared with students.
In July, Barnard College settled a lawsuit brought by 36 Jewish students who accused the administrations of Barnard and Columbia of failing to address a toxic outbreak of antisemitism that roiled their campuses.
Barnard administrators themselves effectively facilitated anti-Zionist activity on campus, according to the students’ complaint, citing an incident in which school officials invited anti-Israel activist Hatem Bazian, known for saying, “It’s about time we had an intifada in [the US],” to speak at a “Day of Dialogue” event in January 2024. While Jewish community advocates criticized the invitation for platforming ideologies which openly call for the destruction of Israel, the college defended Bazian as a “renowned scholar.”
Meanwhile, pro-Hamas students allegedly responded to dog whistles they heard emanating from the administration.
“Why are you here?” a pro-Hamas activist asked a Jewish student identified in court documents as John Doe, during a period of campus unrest, several days after Bazian spoke on campus. “Are you here as a Jew? … Well, we’re fighting against you.”
In a major victory for Jewish students, the college also agreed never to engage with CUAD, which emerged after the Oct. 7 attacks as one of the most militant anti-Israel groups in American higher education for its role in building takeovers and physical assaults on Jewish students.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Netherlands, Ireland Will Not Participate in Eurovision if Israel Joins, Broadcasters Announce
A logo of the Eurovision Song Contest is seen in front of the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, May 1, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The national broadcasters for both Netherlands and Ireland announced this week they will not compete in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest if Israel also participates due to the country’s military actions in the Gaza Strip during the current Israel-Hamas war.
Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS made the announcement on Friday, a day after Irish broadcaster RTE said it will not join the Eurovision “if the participation of Israel goes ahead.”
“AVROTROS can no longer justify Israel’s participation in the current situation, given the ongoing and severe human suffering in Gaza,” the Dutch company said in a statement. The broadcaster said its participation in the 2026 Eurovision “will not be possible as long as Israel is admitted by the EBU [European Broadcasting Union].” AVROTROS explained that if the EBU bans Israel from the international competition, the Dutch broadcaster “will gladly take part” in the Eurovision next year.
The organization, which is part of the Dutch public broadcasting umbrella NPO, manages Dutch participation in the Eurovision and holds broadcasting rights for the competition. The Netherlands has participated in the contest since its first year, back in 1956, and has won five times.
RTE Director General Kevin Bakhurst said the Irish broadcaster’s participation in the Eurovision alongside Israel would be “unconscionable” because of the “ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza.” Ireland’s Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers said he supports and “absolutely respect[s]” RTÉ’s decision. Ireland has participated in the song contest since 1965 and has won the competition seven times.
The national broadcasters of Spain, Slovenia, and Iceland have also threatened to boycott the 2026 Eurovision if Israel participates. Broadcasters have until mid-December to pull out of the 2026 Eurovision in Vienna, Austria, without any penalty. The EBU is expected to make a decision about Israel’s participation before the end of the year at its General Assembly.
“We understand the concerns and deeply held views around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. We are still consulting with all EBU members to gather views on how we manage participation and geopolitical tensions around the Eurovision Song Contest,” Eurovision director Martin Green said in a statement. “It is up to each member to decide if they want to take part in the contest and we would respect any decision broadcasters make.”
The 2026 Eurovision will take place in Vienna in May. Austrian singer JJ won this year’s competition in Basel, Switzerland, with his song “Wasted Love,” and he has also called for Israel to be banned from the 2026 competition.