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The Time to Stop Campus Antisemitism Is Now

Pro-Hamas demonstrators at Columbia University in New York City, US, April 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

JNS.orgLast summer, I sent my annual message to more than 300 college presidents and administrators asking them to take concrete steps to combat antisemitism on their campuses and to work to implement student codes of conduct more appropriately.

I warned my colleagues in higher education about an increasing campus culture permitting—and even encouraging—antisemitism and provided them with some steps to help make Jewish students feel safer.

I never dreamed that my words would be so prophetic or that the message that I sent this summer would be so much more dire.

After an academic year that saw unprecedented antisemitic rhetoric and actions on campus, Jewish students and faculty are shaken. With their safety not secured on many campuses, I’m already hearing from Jewish students and alumni asking what can be done when the fall term begins.

Alpha Epsilon Pi International Fraternity (AEPi) has devoted a great deal of time and resources to providing our undergraduates with security and awareness training and we continue to work with local officials and campus security to make sure they identify Jewish institutions and protect them.

Last month, I again sent college presidents and campus administrators our annual message about protecting Jewish students and managing a safer and more equitable campus—but this year’s message is much more strident. The concern for Jewish students is very real and if campus administrators think that simply taking the summer off is going to make things better or easier, they’re wrong. We’ve already seen some college administrations reducing punishments for those who broke campus codes of conduct. Just this week, Harvard did so. This has put Jewish students on edge.

In my message to administrators, I emphasized several key points:

The need to protect Jewish students, faculty and staff will be paramount this fall and universities should already be working with their security teams; local, state and federal law enforcement agencies; and the campus and local Jewish communities to identify and protect Jewish institutions including places of worship, Hillel and Chabad facilities and AEPi fraternity houses.

AEPi urges all higher education institutions to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s definition of antisemitism so that conduct officers and other administrators can clearly identify and immediately quash antisemitic activities and speech. This should, in no way, be seen as an attempt to limit free speech, but rather an attempt to limit hate speech that, we know, often leads to the ostracization of Jewish students and violence against them.

AEPi demands that university administrators ensure that all students and student organizations comply with university codes of conduct and the policies and procedures of the campus. This includes not allowing unregistered events, protests or illegal encampments. Universities must not be afraid to enforce their own rules.

Campus administrations must develop, implement and communicate their plans for keeping Jewish students and institutions safe immediately. Waiting until the beginning of the fall term is too late and will create a dangerous campus culture.

AEPi’s Antisemitism Response Center (AEPi ARC), a partnership with the ADL, is a resource to provide confidential consulting on the needs of the Jewish students that make up the campus community. Helpful resources can be found on the AEPi ARC website.

AEPi will work with campus administrators throughout the year with opportunities for staff development and education. For example, last year, in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks and at the outset of the campus protests against Israel, AEPi hosted a webinar with campus administrators to help identify and curb antisemitic speech and activities. We will be planning similar opportunities for university staff in the coming academic year.

AEPi’s primary focus is to protect our students and help ensure their safety. The 2024-2025 academic year will be an especially difficult one for Jewish students as, too often, campus administrators allow Jewish students to be marginalized or terrorized. We cannot stand for that, and we will work aggressively to protect our students and the entire Jewish community.

I should add that, as of this moment, I have not heard back from any college presidents or campus administrators.

We want to work cooperatively with our partners in university administrations and that’s why we sent these messages now, long before the start of the fall term, so we can begin putting in place policies and procedures that will protect our students.

In Tamid 32a, the Talmud asks: “Who is the wise person? The one who foresees the consequences.”

We know that the consequences of ignoring the rise in campus antisemitism will be the acceptance of Jew-hatred, an increasingly hostile and violent culture for Jews, and the inevitability of a campus tragedy. Let’s be wise together and work to avoid that.

Starting. Right. Now.

The post The Time to Stop Campus Antisemitism Is Now first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Israel Readies for a Nationwide Strike on Sunday

Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron

i24 NewsThe families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are calling on for a general strike to be held on Sunday in an effort to compel the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal with Hamas for the release of their loved ones and a ceasefire. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.

The October 7 Council and other groups representing bereaved families of hostages and soldiers who fell since the start of the war declared they were “shutting down the country to save the soldiers and the hostages.”

While many businesses said they would join the strike, Israel’s largest labor federation, the Histadrut, has declined to participate.

Some of the country’s top educational institutions, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, declared their support for the strike.

“We, the members of the university’s leadership, deans, and department heads, hereby announce that on Sunday, each and every one of us will participate in a personal strike as a profound expression of solidarity with the hostage families,” the Hebrew University’s deal wrote to students.

The day will begin at 6:29 AM, to commemorate the start of the October 7 attack, with the first installation at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. Further demonstrations are planned at dozens of traffic intersections.

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Netanyahu ‘Has Become a Problem,’Says Danish PM as She Calls for Russia-Style Sanctions Against Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

i24 NewsIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become a “problem,” his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen said Saturday, adding she would try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war.

“Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen told Danish media, adding that the Israeli government is going “too far” and lashing out at the “absolutely appalling and catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and announced new homes in the West Bank.

“We are one of the countries that wants to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet obtained the support of EU members,” she said, specifying she referred to “political pressure, sanctions, whether against settlers, ministers, or even Israel as a whole.”

“We are not ruling anything out in advance. Just as with Russia, we are designing the sanctions to target where we believe they will have the greatest effect.”

The devastating war in Gaza began almost two years ago, with an incursion into Israel of thousands of Palestinian armed jihadists, who perpetrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

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As Alaska Summit Ends With No Apparent Progress, Zelensky to Meet Trump on Monday

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the press conference after the opening session of Crimea Platform conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 August 2023. The Crimea Platform – is an international consultation and coordination format initiated by Ukraine. OLEG PETRASYUK/Pool via REUTERS

i24 NewsAfter US President Donald Trump hailed the “great progress” made during a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he was set to meet Trump on Monday at the White House.

“There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway,” Trump told reporters during a joint press conference after the meeting.

Many observers noted, however, that the subsequent press conference was a relatively muted affair compared to the pomp and circumstance of the red carpet welcome, and the summit produced no tangible progress.

Trump and Putin spoke briefly, with neither taking questions, and offered general statements about an “understanding” and “progress.”

Putin, who spoke first, agreed with Trump’s long-repeated assertion that Russia never would have invaded Ukraine in 2022 had Trump been president instead of Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump said “many points were agreed to” and that “just a very few” issues were left to resolve, offering no specifics and making no reference to the ceasefire he’s been seeking.

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