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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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Israeli Foreign Minister Says Not Ruling Out Diplomacy to Stop Iran Nuclear Weapon
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar attends a joint press conference with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (not pictured), in Rome, Italy, Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Israel is not ruling out a diplomatic path to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Thursday, adding that there were signs that there could be indirect talks between Tehran and the United States.
“We don’t hold discussions with the Iranians, as you know, but they made it clear they are ready to an indirect negotiations with the US, and I will not be surprised if such negotiations will start.”
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, but Israel, the US, and several European countries have argued there is no civilian-use justification for the Iranian regime’s enriching large amounts of uranium to near weapons-grade levels.
The post Israeli Foreign Minister Says Not Ruling Out Diplomacy to Stop Iran Nuclear Weapon first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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This Book on the Jewish Connection to Israel Is a Must Read
An aerial view of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Ben M. Freeman’s The Jews: An Indigenous People deserves a spot on every Jewish person’s bookshelf, but especially Jews engaged in fighting the war in defense of Israel on campuses and elsewhere.
As the latest installment in his Jewish Pride trilogy, this book builds upon his previous explorations of Jewish identity and internalized anti-Jewishness, presenting a compelling argument for Jewish indigeneity to the Land of Israel — stressing this concept not only as essential to rebutting charges that Israel is a “settler-colonial” endeavor, but also as essential to Jewish identity and self-understanding.
The book is not only a historical analysis, but a call to action for Jews to reclaim their indigenous status with pride and conviction.
Freeman establishes his central thesis at the start: Jews are an indigenous people of the Land of Israel, and systematically dismantles the misconceptions that frame Jews solely as a religious group or as a people defined by exile and victimhood. Instead, he presents them as a distinct ethnonational group whose cultural, spiritual, and historical roots are deeply embedded in their ancestral homeland.
Importantly, his approach aligns with the framework actually used by global indigenous movements everywhere else, which assert indigeneity based on historical continuity, cultural persistence, and connection to the land, among other factors. Without the double standards that are all too frequently applied to the Jews, the case for Jewish indigeneity is actually quite cut and dry.
In particular, Freeman dedicates significant attention to the United Nations’ criteria for indigeneity, demonstrating how Jews meet these standards nearly perfectly. I say “nearly” because of the seven key criteria, one does fail to apply — namely the criterion that the “indigenous” people must be a minority in that land. But, as he rightly points out, this criterion is absurd: should an indigenous people who manage to reclaim their land suddenly no longer count as indigenous?
One wonders — although the book does not address this — if that criterion was adopted specifically to exclude Jewish indigeneity to the Land of Israel.
Freeman backs up his argument with historical discussions that are both thorough and accessible. He takes the reader on a journey through Jewish history, from the early origins of the Israelites in the land that would become Israel, through the ancient Jewish kingdoms, the destruction of the Second Temple, and the subsequent diasporic experiences. His discussion of the Hasmonean period and the Bar Kokhba revolt highlights the Jews’ continuous struggle to maintain sovereignty over their homeland. This history directly refutes the Anti-Zionists’ claim that Jewish connection to Israel is a modern political construct rather than an intrinsic and ancient reality.
And this isn’t just a history book. Freeman demonstrates how the denial of Jewish indigeneity fuels contemporary Jew-hate. He critiques the ways in which colonial frameworks have been misapplied to Israel and Zionism, showing how anti-Zionist rhetoric relies on distortions of Jewish history. He argues that rejecting Jewish indigeneity is not only intellectually dishonest, but also serves to weaken Jewish identity and agency.
Through this analysis, he makes a compelling case that reclaiming Jewish indigeneity is an act of empowerment and resistance against anti-Jewish erasure. This is one of the book’s most powerful contributions: it does not simply present historical facts, but actively seeks to reshape Jewish consciousness and self-perception.
Freeman’s writing is both scholarly and deeply personal. He weaves personal anecdotes and reflections into the broader historical and political discussion, grounding the text in a lived Jewish experience. Most originally (and refreshingly), he closes the book with a half-dozen personal interviews of people with quite varied Jewish identities, ultimately reinforcing his main theoretical points. The book’s balance of scholarship and emotional resonance means it has something to offer to scholars and laypersons alike. It fills a crucial gap in Jewish discourse, providing Jews with the language and framework to articulate their identity in a world that often seeks to erase or distort it.
At a time when Jewish history and rights are under increasing scrutiny and attack, The Jews: An Indigenous People offers a powerful and necessary response. Every Jew should read it, and every Jewish university student should have it in their toolkit.
Andrew Pessin is a philosophy professor and author, most recently, of Israel Breathes, World Condemns: The Trajectory of Campus Antisemitism to October 7, and the Aftermath. More information about him and his work is available at www.andrewpessin.com.
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How the Red Cross Is Facilitating Palestinian ‘Pay-for-Slay’
Palestinian terrorists and members of the Red Cross gather near vehicles on the day Hamas hands over deceased hostages Oded Lifschitz, Shiri Bibas, and her two children Kfir and Ariel Bibas, seized during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, to the Red Cross, as part of a ceasefire and hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
The International Committee of the Red Cross continues to facilitate rewards to imprisoned Palestinian terrorists, thus playing a central role in providing an “economic incentive” for terrorism.
Last week, the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs alerted families of Palestinian terrorist prisoners about the need to obtain Red Cross documentation to prove the terrorists’ eligibility for Pay-for-Slay salaries.
What is shocking is that when the terrorists’ families approach the Red Cross for the document, the Red Cross knows that the sole purpose of this document is to enable the terrorists to receive their terror rewards. And yet the Red Cross cooperates.
The following is the announcement that the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs posted on its Facebook page:
Posted text: “The period of financial aid for the prisoners [i.e., terrorists] whose names appear below ends in March 2025.
The families of the detainees among them must bring a document from the [Red] Cross or the most recent court session for those who have not been issued a Red Cross document.
As for the administrative detainees, they must bring the administrative extension together with the [Red] Cross document, if it was issued.
This is [to be done] by April 5, 2025 at the latest.
[PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, Facebook page, March 20, 2025]
Over a year ago, Palestinian Media Watch exposed that PLO Prisoners’ Affairs Commission Director Qadura Fares said that the Red Cross document is “the document that we established in our [prisoners’ law] as a main document [to confirm salary eligibility]” [Official PA TV, January 31, 2024].
Since the Red Cross plays such a central role for the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its terrorists, the Red Cross has great leverage. It could certainly condition its assistance to the PA’s terrorist prisoners on having the PA/Hamas permit it to visit the Israeli hostages. This should be a fundamental Red Cross demand and condition to the PA, as well as a basic demand by Israel to the Red Cross.
Itamar Marcus is Palestinian Media Watch (PMW)’s Founder and Director. Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.
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