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Harvard’s Report Is Finally Enough for Media to Admit Antisemitism Exists on Campus … Or Is It?

Supporters of the Palestine Solidarity Committee at Harvard University. Photo: Harvard PSC

Antisemitism on US college campuses is in the news again, and this time, most of the media are contradicting themselves.

Harvard University’s final report by the Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias was released amid pressure by the US administration on Harvard and other universities to crack down on antisemitic violence and bias.

The task force conducted 50 listening sessions with some 500 people, with the aim of collecting testimonies and an insight into the antisemitism occurring on campus.

Using Anti-Zionist Jews as Fuel to Diminish a Report on Antisemitism

Despite the report’s publication, NBC continued to invalidate the Jewish experience on Harvard’s campus:

Out of all of the Jewish students and faculty members this reporter could have spoken with, she chose Violet Barron, a self-proclaimed anti-Zionist Jew and founder of Jews for Palestine on campus. She was, unsurprisingly, unhappy with the Harvard report, having been heavily involved in anti-Israel campus protests.

Other anti-Zionist Jews also gave testimonies. Perhaps NBC might have been interested in the one who reported on how uncomfortable they were when they heard their peers glorifying terrorism.

There are some people who have glorified what happened on Oct 7th. That was triggering and harmful for me. [Undergraduate involved in anti-Zionist campus organizing]

The Guardian Tokenizes Anti-Zionist Jews

The Guardian acknowledged the findings of the Harvard report. However, the UK outlet is nothing but consistent. In 2024, at the peak of campus clashes, it published an opinion piece by Jewish anti-Zionist Arielle Angel, which referred to protests as “non-violent” and antisemitism as Jewish “discomfort” that has “justified a powerful attack on academic freedom and First Amendment rights.” Angel also insisted that “crackdowns” on the illegal encampments are part of a right-wing agenda.

Continuing the trend, The Guardian published another op-ed, this time by an anti-Zionist Jewish Harvard professor, Atalia Omer, on Friday — just a week and a half after the Harvard antisemitism report was released.

Omer writes, “Harvard is conflating Jewish identity with political loyalty to Israel. That’s a dangerous mistake.”

Omer continues:

The report was compiled and published in response to widespread pressure from donors and pro-Israel advocacy groups. It claims to document a crisis of antisemitism on campus. But what it actually reveals is Harvard’s willingness to redefine Jewish identity in narrow, ideological terms: to exclude and erase Jews who dissent from Zionism.

Finding an “under-represented” point of view doesn’t change the reality for the majority of Jewish Americans and Israelis at Harvard and other universities. It is also bold and offensive to invalidate the official IHRA working definition of antisemitism.

But it seems to fit The Guardian’s narrative — that the antisemitism “crisis” is alleged. It accuses the university of giving in to “pressure” to allow anti-Zionism to be included under the umbrella of antisemitism as the IHRA defines it.

If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why are we witnessing Nazi swastikas and Hamas’ red triangles tagged on Jewish homes and institutions? Why are visibly Jewish students being harassed by pro-Palestinian demonstrators? Why are Jewish students being forced to defend their identities and their connection to Israel in the face of politics and war out of their control? Why are we being told that Zionism is racism?

Other Coverage of the Harvard Antisemitism Report

Outlets like The New York Times and CNN wrote in-depth articles on the report. They detailed its findings, along with its recommendations for how to encourage a more tolerant atmosphere on campus.

They did a pretty thorough job this time, but it’s worth remembering that when chaos and clashes were at their peak, the media attempted to “both side” the events and significantly minimize what Jewish students endured.

There should be no doubt — antisemitism ran rampant on Harvard’s campus. It still does. The media just refused to accept it at face value, and news consumers may have been misled.

Unfortunately, what was missing in these in-depth pieces was a reminder that Harvard is just one school out of many across the country (Columbia University being a significant one) that suffered a massive spike in antisemitism and violence against Jews and Israelis.

The media were often concerned with “free speech” and “censorship.” This has gone beyond that.

Here are some of the more disturbing occurrences testified to by Harvard’s students and faculty, which took place over the last year and a half. The media failed to report on it last year.

This included online bullying via a Harvard social discussion board on the Sidechat platform:

The comments were so awful, along lines of “Israel deserved what they were getting,” many people in support of Hamas. There was no room for conversation because of the anonymity… People in support of Jewish identities got downvoted. Anything in support of Hamas would be upvoted. – [Undergraduate student]

This testimony describes the true intentions of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) groups:

The strategy used by BDS groups involves encouraging students and faculty to avoid normalizing relations with Jewish students. This involves social shaming, which is a particularly harmful tactic in academia. [Undergraduate student]

This frightening testimony concerns fear of harassment and ostracization reminiscent of 1930s Germany:

I feel lucky I don’t look Jewish. I know if I do the “wrong thing” I might get the antisemitism. So, put your headphones in, make sure you’re not outwardly Jewish, and just walk to class. [Undergraduate student]

First Amendment rights and free speech should also hold a different weight at private institutions. Students should feel safe to hold an Israeli flag on campus, just as pro-Palestinian students hold the Palestinian flag and express their opinions.

We shouldn’t need a 300-plus page report to get the media to report on it correctly. More than 300 pages of evidence are also more than enough to understand the connection between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

The post Harvard’s Report Is Finally Enough for Media to Admit Antisemitism Exists on Campus … Or Is It? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld

US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria

President Donald Trump’s administration will release more than $5 billion in previously approved funding for K-12 school programs that it froze over three weeks ago under a review, which had led to bipartisan condemnation.

“(The White House Office of Management and Budget) has completed its review … and has directed the Department to release all formula funds,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the U.S. Education Department, said in a statement, adding funds will be dispersed to states next week.

Further details on the review and what it found were not shared.

A senior administration official said “guardrails” would be in place for the amount being released, without giving details.

Early in July, the Trump administration said it would not release funding previously appropriated by Congress for schools and that an initial review found signs the money was misused to subsidize what it alleged was “a radical leftwing agenda.”

States say $6.8 billion in total was affected by the freeze. Last week, $1.3 billion was released.

After the freeze, a coalition of mostly Democratic-led states sued to challenge the move, and 10 Republican US senators wrote to the Republican Trump administration to reverse its decision.

The frozen money covered funding for education of migrant farm workers and their children; recruitment and training of teachers; English proficiency learning; academic enrichment and after-school and summer programs.

The Trump administration has threatened schools and colleges with withholding federal funds over issues like climate initiatives, transgender policies, pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s war in Gaza and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

Republican US lawmakers welcomed the move on Friday, while Democratic lawmakers said there was no need to disrupt funding in the first place.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon separately said she was satisfied with what was found in the review and released the money, adding she did not think there would be future freezes.

The post Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says

Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo

Israel will resume airdrop aid to Gaza on Saturday night, the Israeli military said, a few days after more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave.

“The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations,” the military added in a statement.

The post Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.

i24 NewsUS President Donald Trump on Friday said the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas did not want to make a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.

“Now we’re down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn’t want to make a deal,” Trump said.

The comments followed statements by Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the effect that Israel was now considering “alternative” options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending the terror rule of Hamas in the coastal enclave.

Trump added he believed Hamas leaders would now be “hunted down.”

On Thursday, Witkoff said the Trump administration had decided to bring its negotiating team home for consultations following Hamas’s latest proposal. Witkoff said overnight that Hamas was to blame for the impasse, with Netanyahu concurring.

Trump also dismissed the significance of French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognize an independent Palestinian state.

Macron’s comments, “didn’t carry any weight,” the US leader said.

The post Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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