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Germany’s Parliament Moves to Combat Antisemitism at Universities
Students at Berlin’s UdK University display palms stained with red to symbolize blood during a Nov. 13 pro-Hamas protest. Photo: Screenshot
Germany’s federal parliament, the Bundestag, overwhelmingly passed a motion on Wednesday to address antisemitism and hostility toward Israel in schools and universities, seeking to combat a surge in pro-Hamas demonstrations on campuses and antisemitic incidents across the country.
After the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Germany has seen a record increase in antisemitic incidents and disruptive pro-Hamas protests, including the occupation of university buildings. The Oct. 7 atrocities, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 hostages were abducted to Gaza, started the Israel-Hamas war.
The parliamentary motion stipulates that the federal government — in collaboration with the ministers of education and the German Rectors’ Conference, an association of state and state-recognized universities — must ensure that antisemitic behavior in educational institutions results in sanctions.
“This includes the consistent enforcement of house rules, temporary exclusion from classes or studies, and even … expulsion,” the motion reads.
According to the proposal, the federal government should also increase funding for research on antisemitism and contemporary Jewish studies, while also supporting cooperation with Israeli science and opposing any boycott of the Jewish state.
The motion aims at halting the activities of groups promoting antisemitism, including the boycott, divestment, and, sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward its eventual elimination. Leaders of the movement have repeatedly stated their goal is to destroy the world’s only Jewish state. Last year, Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), classified BDS as a “suspected extremist case.”
Germany previously adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which has been widely accepted by Jewish groups and lawmakers across the political spectrum. It is now used by hundreds of governing institutions — including the US State Department, European Union, and United Nations — and presumably will be the basis for enforcing last week’s resolution.
According to the definition, antisemitism “is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” It provides 11 specific, contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere. Beyond classic antisemitic behavior associated with the likes of the medieval period and Nazi Germany, the examples include denial of the Holocaust and newer forms of antisemitism targeting Israel such as demonizing the Jewish state, denying its right to exist, and holding it to standards not expected of any other democratic state.
Last week, when presenting the resolution against campus antisemitism, parliamentary officials emphasized that Jewish and Israeli students, faculty, and staff are “exposed to strong hostility and personal threats, increasingly violence.”
“The brutal massacre perpetrated by the terrorist organization Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, in Israel, and the war in the Gaza Strip … have brought the Middle East conflict back into focus, especially in schools and universities,” officials said.
Jewish students at German universities widely expressed a growing sense of insecurity and uneasiness following Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel, amid a slew of incidents purportedly meant to protest the war in Gaza.
In December 2023, for example, police were forced to clear a lecture hall at the Free University of Berlin occupied by pro-Hamas activists. That incident came days after dozens of students at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) staged a protest that involved them sitting around a table with their palms facing outwards painted in red ink to symbolize blood. While the gesture was apparently intended to condemn the German government’s support for Israel’s defensive military operation in Gaza, several observers noted a striking similarity with the notorious lynching of two Israeli military reservists, Vadim Nurzhitz and Yosef Avrahami, in the West Bank city of Ramallah in October 2000. One of their killers appeared at the window of the police station delightedly displaying his blood-stained palms to the appreciative crowd gathered outside following the murder of the two Israelis.
Germany’s education minister said in December 2023 that students who engage in antisemitic agitation could face expulsion from their universities, addressing concerns voiced by the Jewish student union.
A year later, the University of Leipzig canceled a lecture by Israeli historian Benny Morris following student protests described by the school as “understandable, but frightening in nature.” Morris, one of Israel’s leading public intellectuals, was scheduled to deliver a lecture about extremism and the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, in which the Jewish state secured its independence, at the university on Thursday as part of a lecture series on antisemitism. However, the university nixed the event after various groups, including Students for Palestine Leipzig, called for the lecture to be canceled, arguing Morris — who has expressed political opinions associated with both the left and the right — held “deeply racist” views against Palestinians.
To help combat an atmosphere of hostility toward Israelis and Jews, last week’s resolution calls for increased support and training for educators. It also requires students to engage more with Jewish life, including visiting a memorial site at least once during their school years.
Additionally, it demands more security for Jews at universities, regardless of whether they are students, staff, or faculty.
The Left Party (Die Linke) and the newly formed left-populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) were the only parties not to support the measure, with the former abstaining and the latter voting against it. Left Party member Nicole Gohlke criticized the initiative, stating that its proponents were calling for the use of the police and intelligence services instead of building bridges and creating spaces for dialogue.
In November, the parliament had already reaffirmed its stance against antisemitism with a broader resolution, one of its goals being to stop supporting organizations and projects that spread antisemitism or question Israel’s right to exist.
Germany has experienced a sharp spike in antisemitism amid the war in Gaza. In just the first six months of 2024 alone, the number of antisemitic incidents in Berlin surpassed the total for all of the prior year and reached the highest annual count on record, according to Germany’s Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS).
The figures compiled by RIAS were the highest count for a single year since the federally-funded body began monitoring antisemitic incidents in 2015, showing the German capital averaged nearly eight anti-Jewish outrages a day from January to June last year.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), police registered 5,154 antisemitic incidents in Germany in 2023, a 95 percent increase compared to the previous year.
The post Germany’s Parliament Moves to Combat Antisemitism at Universities first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Dutch Nurse Under Police Investigation for Alleged Threats Against Israeli Patients
Pro-Hamas demonstrators march in the Dutch city of Nijmegen. Photo: Reuters/Romy Arroyo Fernandez
A Muslim nurse in the Netherlands is under police investigation after allegedly threatening to administer lethal injections to Israeli patients — an incident that has sparked public outrage and intensified fears over rising antisemitism and patient safety in Europe’s health-care systems.
The comments were widely circulated by Israeli influencer Max Veifer, who also exposed a recent case in Australia where two nurses were suspended for two years over antisemitic threats and remarks.
In a video shared on social media, Veifer denounced Dutch-Muslim nurse Batisma Chayat Sa’id’s remarks as a serious violation of medical ethics.
“Someone like that should be prosecuted and barred from treating patients. Imagine your grandparents being cared for by someone so hateful,” the Israeli influencer said.
Zorgwekkende dreiging op Instagram: Nederlandse verpleegkundige is bereid om “zionisten een extra spuitje te geven” en bereid “zionisten te laten sterven binnen de gezondheidszorg.” pic.twitter.com/xTnXNi1wH5
— CIDI
(@CIDI_nieuws) July 29, 2025
The incident was sparked when an Israeli-Dutch woman living in the Netherlands commented on a social media post by far-right politician Geert Wilders, who cautioned about what he called the country’s looming radical Islamization by 2050.
A social media account belonging to the Muslim nurse also commented on the post, claiming it would happen by 2027, to which the Israeli woman responded, “Your dream is our nightmare. But people wake up from nightmares. Our Netherlands, our Israel.”
“Nothing belongs to you! My grandparents built the Netherlands. I was born and raised here, and I will do everything in my power to help this country get rid of the Zionist cancer,” the nurse further replied.
“You know what I’m doing with Zionists — giving an extra injection as a nurse specialist. Letting them go to heaven!” Sa’id continued.
When the Israeli woman threatened to report her, Sa’id replied: “Haha, try your best! I don’t have a boss — I’m the boss! All Zionists can die, inside healthcare and beyond, and I’m happy to help with that!”
Shortly after her posts gained widespread attention, Sa’id deleted all her social media accounts, insisting that her identity had been stolen and that she was not responsible for such comments.
On Wednesday, local police detained Sa’id for questioning, but she denied the allegations, asserting that someone had impersonated her online.
“It seems someone is pretending to be me, posting false and defamatory statements,” the nurse said. “I want to make it clear — I hold no hatred toward Jews or any people, race, religion, or identity.”
Even after announcing plans to file an identity theft complaint, she faces skepticism from authorities, who have assigned a digital forensics expert to scrutinize her online accounts.
Last year, an account under her name also posted threatening messages aimed at Jewish people, including “Your time will come — don’t spare anyone,” and another in which she described the burial of Israelis in Gaza as “a dream come true.”
Earlier this year, two Australian nurses — Ahmad Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh — gained international attention after they were seen in an online video posing as doctors and making inflammatory statements during a night-shift conversation with Veifer.
The widely circulated footage, which sparked international outrage and condemnation, showed Abu Lebdeh declaring she would refuse to treat Israeli patients and instead kill them, while Nadir made a throat-slitting gesture and claimed he had already killed many.
Following the incident, New South Wales authorities in Australia suspended their nursing registrations and banned them from working as nurses nationwide.
They were also charged with federal offenses, including threatening violence against a group and using a carriage service to threaten, menace, and harass. If convicted, they face up to 22 years in prison.
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French Authorities Halt Gaza Evacuations After Palestinian Student Expelled Over Viral Antisemitic Posts
Anti-Israel demonstration supporting the BDS movement, Paris France, June 8, 2024. Photo: Claire Serie / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
French authorities have halted evacuations from Gaza after a Palestinian student was expelled from the prestigious Sciences Po Lille and placed under investigation, following the viral circulation of hundreds of antisemitic posts praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and calling for the murder of Jews.
The incident drew widespread condemnation and public outrage, prompting French ministers to demand answers and call for an investigation into how the Gazan student was allowed into the country in the first place.
On Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced that all further evacuations from Gaza would be suspended pending the completion of the investigation into the student’s background.
After receiving a scholarship, 25-year-old Nour Atalla, a Palestinian from Gaza, arrived in the country in early July to begin her master’s degree in law and communications this fall at the Institute of Political Science in Lille, northern France.
Barrot confirmed that discussions are ongoing about the student’s possible return to Gaza, making clear that she must leave the country pending the investigation’s outcome.
“She has no place at Sciences Po, nor in France,” the top French diplomat said.
On Thursday, local authorities reported that a criminal investigation is underway into Atalla, with the public prosecutor in Lille confirming the case was opened for “apology of terrorism, apology of crimes against humanity using an online public communication service.”
Barrot admitted lapses in the screening process that allowed her entry and has mandated a comprehensive review of everyone evacuated from Gaza to France.
“The security checks, carried out by the French services and Israeli authorities, did not detect the antisemitic content,” the French diplomat said.
Atalla is one of 292 Gazans admitted to the country following a court ruling that opened the door for Gazans to seek refugee status based on their nationality.
She was offered a place at Sciences Po Lille University based on “academic excellence” and following a recommendation by the French consulate in Jerusalem.
On Wednesday, the university announced it had revoked Atalla’s enrollment after hundreds of her past antisemitic and violent social media posts went viral, sparking widespread condemnation from political leaders and members of the local Jewish community.
In several of these posts, she glorified Hitler, praised Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, called for the execution of Israeli hostages and the killing of Jews, and expressed support for terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
In one post, Atalla shared a video of Hitler giving a speech about Jews, writing, “Kill their young and their old. Show them no mercy … And kill them everywhere.”
In another post shared on Oct. 7, 2023, the day of the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, she wrote, “We must do everything we can to match the bloodshed — as much as possible.”
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Florida State University Student Suspended for Allegedly Assaulting Jewish Classmate at Gym
Female student at Florida State University, believed to be graduate student Eden Deckerhoff, who allegedly assaulted male Jewish classmate at gym on campus. Photo: Screenshot/StopAntisemitism
Florida State University has suspended a female student who allegedly assaulted a Jewish male classmate at the Leach Student Recreation Center on Thursday after noticing his wearing apparel issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“F—k Israel, Free Palestine. Put it [the video] on Barstool FSU. I really don’t give a f—k,” the woman said before shoving the man, according to video taken by the victim, who filmed the encounter. “You’re an ignorant son of a b—h.”
According to StopAntisemitism, a Jewish civil rights advocacy group, the assailant is graduate student Eden Deckerhoff. Florida State University (FSU) reportedly employs her mother, Rosalyn Deckerhoff, as a teaching professor in its College of Social Work.
“The matter is being reviewed for potential criminal charges and for charges under the FSU Student Code of Conduct,” the university said in a statement on Tuesday. “While this process is underway, the student shown prominently in the video has been prohibited from returning to campus. Our commitment to swiftly and effectively responding to incidents of hate is unwavering. We appreciate the prompt report of this incident, which allowed us to address this instance of antisemitism without delay.”
It continued, “Florida State University strongly condemns antisemitism in all forms and follows Florida law, which protects Jewish students and employees from discrimination motivated by antisemitism, harassment, intimidation, and violence.”
The incident is a surprise occurrence at FSU, which has not come under the same scrutiny as many other US universities for allegedly allowing antisemitism to fester on campus.
In 2024, as a tide of antisemitic discrimination swept across the US, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) directed the state university system to streamline the transfer process for Jewish students seeking to leave a school where they have a “well-founded fear of antisemitic persecution.”
Under the new policy, the State University System of Florida and the Florida College System may waive certain transfer application requirements that would “unnecessarily” delay transferring from one school to the next. The policy also affords Jewish students more time to submit their applications and relieves them of minimum credit requirements that would also prevent or delay their matriculating at a new campus.
“With leaders of so-called elite universities enabling antisemitic activities rather than protecting their students from threats and harassment, it is understandable that many Jewish students are looking for alternatives and looking to Florida,” DeSantis, who was seeking the 2024 Republican nomination for president of the United States at the time, said in a press release. “Throughout my tenure as governor, we have implemented measures to safeguard our Jewish communities from hatred in the K-20 school system, and with this announcement, we want to again make it clear that Jewish students are welcome to live and learn in Florida, where they will be respected and not persecuted due to their faith.”
DeSantis had previously enacted policies to curb extreme anti-Zionist activity on higher education campuses in Florida.
Following the Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the state’s university system, working in consultation with the governor, directed public universities to “deactivate” chapters of the national group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) for defending Hamas following the Palestinian terrorist group’s invasion of the Jewish state earlier that month. In a memo, State University System of Florida chancellor Ray Rodrigues referenced how, following Hamas’s onslaught, the National Students for Justice in Palestine organization called for a “Day of Resistance” on college campuses across the US, distributing propaganda aimed at demonizing Israel and seemingly defending Hamas.
In December 2021, DeSantis’ office issued a statement advising Florida State University not to allow the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), with which it was an institutional partner, from operating a boycott of Israel on its campus. The association had just moved towards — and ultimately arrived at — an endorsement of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.