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Nearly 1 in 3 Jewish college students has witnessed or experienced antisemitism on campus, survey finds
(JTA) – Nearly one in three current Jewish college students has witnessed or experienced some form of antisemitism on campus, according to a new survey.
The survey was released today by Jewish on Campus, a student-founded antisemitism watchdog group, and conducted by the polling firm Ipsos, which surveyed more than 1,000 college students nationwide who identify as Jewish and approximately 2,000 who rfeflect the general population of students and are largely not Jewish. The survey was conducted between March and May and has a credibility interval — similar to a margin of error — of 3.1%.
Of the Jewish students, 14% said they had directly experienced antisemitism on campus, while another 16% said they had witnessed an antisemitic incident.
The findings regarding personal experiences of antisemitism show a lower rate than a similar survey conducted by Hillel International and the Anti-Defamation League in 2021, which found that a third of Jewish respondents had personally experienced some form of antisemitism on campus in the previous year.
Jewish organizations have long expressed concern over campus antisemitism, particularly having to do with student conflicts over Israel but also relating to bigotry from across the political spectrum. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump signed an executive order on antisemitism that spurred a series of federal civil rights complaints from Jewish and pro-Israel groups, including Jewish on Campus, alleging that public universities have not done enough to respond to antisemitism on their campuses.
Protecting Jews on campus is also a prominent feature of the Biden administration’s national plan for combating antisemitism, which was unveiled this spring.
The federal complaints and resulting investigations, which in some cases predated the Trump administration and have continued into Biden’s tenure, have spurred some universities to change their policies. Last school year, months after downplaying the threat of antisemitism on his campus, the president of the University of Vermont issued a formal apology to Jewish students and promised to improve the school’s techniques for addressing the issue.
The Jewish on Campus survey also found that 84% of Jewish respondents believe antisemitism is a threat to the country, and that more than a third had heard of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel that has a pronounced presence on college campuses. The words “Israel” and “Zionism” do not appear in the survey results.
Notably, among respondents from the general population, the survey found that only 11% had heard of BDS. Nearly twice as many, meanwhile, 21%, said they had heard of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, a group best known for a controversial definition of antisemitism that a range of Jewish groups have pushed universities to adopt, in many cases successfully.
Jewish on Campus CEO Julia Jassey said in a statement that the survey should push college students and administrators to “meet this moment and take antisemitism seriously.”
The survey “underscores the urgency of our mission to elevate the voices and experiences of Jewish students,” Jassey’s statement said. “As the new school year begins, these findings provide key evidence of the breadth and depth of antisemitism students face.”
While Jewish on Campus has surveyed campus antisemitic activity in the past, it relied on self-reported data. This was the group’s first survey conducted via a reputable polling firm. It joins a series of studies, conducted by the ADL, American Jewish Committee and others, that aim to measure bigotry against Jews by tallying reported incidents or polling the public — yielding a range of results and sparking debate over which statements or actions, especially regarding Israel, count as antisemitism.
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Germany’s Halt to Arms Exports to Israel Is Response to Gaza Expansion Plans, Chancellor Says
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
Germany’s decision to curb arms exports to Israel comes in response to Israel’s plan to expand its operations in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.
“We cannot deliver weapons into a conflict that is now being pursued exclusively by military means,” Merz said. “We want to help diplomatically, and we are doing so.”
The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s plans to expand military control over the enclave have pushed Germany to take this historically fraught step.
The chancellor said in the interview that the expansion of Israel’s operations in Gaza could claim hundreds of thousands of civilian lives and would require the evacuation of the entire city of Gaza.
“Where are these people supposed to go?” Merz said. “We can’t do that, we won’t do that, and I will not do that.”
Nevertheless, the principles of Germany’s Israel policy remain unchanged, the chancellor said.
“Germany has stood firmly by Israel’s side for 80 years. That will not change,” Merz said.
Germany is Israel’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the US and has long been one of its staunchest supporters, principally because of its historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust – a policy known as the “Staatsraison.”
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Newsom Calls Trump’s $1 Billion UCLA Settlement Offer Extortion, Says California Won’t Bow
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference, accompanied by members of the Texas Democratic legislators, at the governor’s mansion in Sacramento, California, U.S., August 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Saturday that a $1 billion settlement offer by President Donald Trump’s administration for UCLA amounted to political extortion to which the state will not bow.
The University of California says it is reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by the Trump administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over pro-Palestinian protests.
UCLA, which is part of the University of California system, said this week the government froze $584 million in funding. Trump has threatened to cut federal funds for universities over anti-Israel student protests.
“Donald Trump has weaponized the DOJ (Department of Justice) to kneecap America’s #1 public university system — freezing medical & science funding until @UCLA pays his $1 billion ransom,” the office of Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post.
“California won’t bow to Trump’s disgusting political extortion,” it added.
“This isn’t about protecting Jewish students – it’s a billion-dollar political shakedown from the pay-to-play president.”
The government alleges universities, including UCLA, allowed antisemitism during the protests and in doing so violated Jewish and Israeli students’ civil rights. The White House had no immediate comment beyond the offer.
Experts have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the Republican president’s threats. The University of California says paying such a large settlement would “completely devastate” the institution.
Large demonstrations took place at UCLA last year. Last week, UCLA agreed to pay over $6 million to settle a lawsuit by some students and a professor who alleged antisemitism. It was also sued this year over a 2024 violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters.
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Trump Nominates State Dept Spokeswoman Bruce as US Deputy Representative to UN
FILE PHOTO: U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce speaks during her first press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was nominating State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations.
Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January.
In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a “fantastic job” as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump’s Republican Party holds a majority.
During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory.
Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years.
She has also authored books like “Fear Itself: Exposing the Left’s Mind-Killing Agenda” that criticized liberals and left-leaning viewpoints.
In a post after Trump’s announcement, Bruce thanked him and suggested that the role was a “few weeks” away. Neither Trump nor Bruce mentioned an exact timeline in their online posts.
“Now I’m blessed that in the next few weeks my commitment to advancing America First leadership and values continues on the global stage in this new post,” Bruce wrote on X.
Trump has picked former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his U.N. envoy. Waltz’s Senate confirmation for that role, wherein he will be Bruce’s boss, is still due.
Waltz was Trump’s national security adviser until he was ousted on May 1 after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides on military strikes in Yemen. Trump then nominated Waltz as his U.N. ambassador.
