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US Congress Tells Elite Colleges to Disclose New Policies on Encampments, Antisemitic Protests
Demonstrators take part in an anti-Israel demonstration at the Columbia University campus, in New York City, US, Feb. 2, 2024. REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
Two US congressional committees on Thursday asked 10 of America’s most prestigious universities to disclose their plans for preventing another academic year of antisemitic discrimination and riotous pro-Hamas protests.
Coming amid a congressional investigation of how elite colleges responded to an explosion of antisemitism on college campuses after Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, the communication is the sixth led by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, this month. It demands an accounting of any new policies that schools such as Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley have enacted to preclude the possibility that students will, as they did last academic year across the country, illegally occupy school property and flout rules which proscribe hate speech and racial abuse.
“Last year, many colleges and universities appeared caught off-guard by the protests, disruptions, threats, and encampments that flooded campus, often to the detriment of Jewish students,” wrote Foxx, as well as House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO). “While that is no excuse for the failures we saw last year, colleges and universities are now acutely aware of the consequences across their campuses that stem from insufficient leadership. Refusals to impose basic discipline, hold bad actors accountable, and restore order on campus in the face of disruptions, violence, and hate will make life worse for all students, including Jewish students.”
They continued, “Congressional hearings since Oct. 7 featured shocking testimony revealing the horrific first hand experiences of Jewish students simply trying to receive an education on campus. Since then, however, the university has had the entire summer to plan for the upcoming school year. As such, we expect that your institution will be ready, willing, and able to prevent such antisemitic conduct and disruptions that violate campus policies and the law and, when such conduct cannot be prevented, hold those responsible for such conduct accountable with real consequences.”
Foxx and Smith then noted that a pro-Hamas demonstration held in Washington, DC on July 24, in which protesters destroyed public property and created a float that depicted Israeli Prime Minister as an antisemitic caricature, was organized by many of the student groups that engaged in similar conduct at school. Expressing concern that such activity may be directed and funded by agents of the Iranian government, they warned the colleges that “the problem of antisemitic harassment, disruption, and violence” still poses a threat to the safety of Jewish students.
“As the fight against antisemitism continues, we will not rest until American colleges and universities restore a safe learning environment for students,” they concluded. “Colleges and universities extraordinary benefits through the tax code and through many forms of federal funding. The American people expect basic accountability in return.”
Foxx has not wavered in her efforts to hold elite universities responsible for what is widely perceived as a politically motivated refusal to uphold the civil rights of Jewish students and protect them from antisemitic hatred. Since last December, the hearings and investigations she has convened have directly led to the resignations of three Ivy League presidents and a growing awareness among the American public of radicalism at schools that annually receive millions of dollars in federal funding.
In just the past week, she subpoenaed Columbia University to hand over documents related to its handling of antisemitism and implored US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen to provide suspicious activity reports on anti-Zionist groups that may be linked to hostile foreign powers.
“You will be held accountable for your records,” she told Northwestern University president Michael Schill in May, speaking to all the universities who appeared before her committee. “Congress will not stand by while you violate your obligations to uphold Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, fail to protect Jewish students, cut deals advancing divestment, and promote terrorism and radical antisemitic ideologies.”
Some universities have already taken steps to avoid her scrutiny.
This week, the University of California (UC) system announced a ban on encampments, a major policy decision aimed at the conduct described in Foxx’s letter. Additionally, George Washington University suspended Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a major source of last year’s convulsions, for the entire fall term and Harvard University mounted signs across its property which explicitly state that “erecting or maintaining a tent or temporary structure” violates school rules.
However, critics argue that such policies may lack teeth, pointing to the dozens of pro-Hamas protesters whose disciplinary charges were dropped over the summer. Columbia University punished only a few and restored to good standing most of the students who were involved in occupying an administrative building and staging a riot after vowing to expel them, according to a new report. Meanwhile, Harvard University “downgraded” the disciplinary sanctions it levied against several pro-Hamas protesters it punished for illegally occupying Harvard Yard.
Commenting on Columbia University’s amnestying its protesters in a statement issued on Monday, Foxx maintained that protesters must be punished when they violate school rules.
“More than three months after the criminal takeover of Hamilton Hall, the vast majority of the student perpetrators remain in good standing. By allowing its own disciplinary process to be thwarted by radical students and faculty, Columbia has waved the white flag in surrender while offering up a get-out-of-jail-free card to those who participated in these unlawful actions,” she said. “Breaking into campus buildings or creating antisemitic hostile environments like the encampment should never be given a single degree of latitude — the university’s willingness to do just that is reprehensible.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post US Congress Tells Elite Colleges to Disclose New Policies on Encampments, Antisemitic Protests first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Merz Says Criticism of Israel in Germany Has Become Pretext for Hatred of Jews
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends celebrations of the newly completed renovation of Reichenbach Strasse synagogue in Munich, Germany, Sept. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday that criticism of Israel was increasingly being used in Germany as a pretext for stoking hatred against Jews.
Speaking at an event to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Central Council of Jews, Merz said that antisemitism had “become louder, more open, more brazen, more violent almost every day” since the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, that ignited the Gaza war.
“‘Criticism of Israel‘ and the crudest perpetrator-victim reversal is increasingly a pretext under which the poison of antisemitism is spread,” he said.
Germany is Israel‘s second biggest weapons supplier after the US, and has long been one of its staunchest supporters, in part because of historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust – a policy known as the “Staatsraison.”
Last month, however, Germany suspended exports of weaponry that could be used in the Gaza Strip because of Israel‘s plan to expand its operations there – the first time united Germany had acknowledged denying military support to its long-time ally.
The decision followed mounting pressure from the public and his junior coalition partner over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
In his speech in Berlin on Wednesday, Merz mentioned his about-turn, saying that criticism of the Israeli government “must be possible,” but added: “Our country suffers damage to its own soul when this criticism becomes a pretext for hatred of Jews, or if it even leads to the demand that Germany should turn its back on Israel.”
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Israeli Anti-Missile Laser System ‘Iron Beam’ Ready for Military Use This Year
Iron Beam laser defense system. Photo: X/Twitter screenshot
A low-cost, high-power laser-based system aimed at destroying incoming missiles has successfully completed testing and will be ready for operational use by the military later this year, Israel’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
Co-developed by Elbit Systems and Rafael Advance Defense Systems, “Iron Beam” will complement Israel’s Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow anti–missile systems, which have been used to intercept thousands of rockets fired by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, by Hezbollah from Lebanon, and by the Houthis in Yemen.
Current rocket interceptors cost at least $50,000 each while the cost is negligible for lasers, which focus primarily on smaller missiles and drones. “Now that the Iron Beam’s performance has been proven, we anticipate a significant leap in air defense capabilities through the deployment of these long-range laser weapon systems,” the ministry said.
After years in development, the ministry said it tested Iron Beam for several weeks in southern Israel and proved its effectiveness in a “complete operational configuration by intercepting rockets, mortars, aircraft, and UAVs across a comprehensive range of operational scenarios.”
The first systems are set to be integrated into the military‘s air defenses by year-end, it said.
Shorter-range and less powerful laser systems are already in use.
Iron Beam is a ground-based, high-power laser air defense system designed to counter aerial threats, including rockets, mortars, and UAVs.
“This is the first time in the world that a high-power laser interception system has reached full operational maturity,” said defense ministry Director-General Amir Baram.
Rafael Chairman Yuval Steinitz said that Iron Beam, which is built with the company’s adaptive optics technology, “will undoubtedly be a game-changing system with unprecedented impact on modern warfare.”
For its part, Elbit was working on the development of high-power lasers for other military applications, “first and foremost an airborne laser that holds the potential for a strategic change in air defense capabilities,” CEO Bezhalel Machlis said.
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Iran and European Ministers Make Little Progress as Renewed UN Sanctions Loom, Diplomats Say
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks during a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Tehran, Iran, July 12, 2025. Photo: Hamid Forootan/Iranian Foreign Ministry/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian and European ministers made little progress in talks on Wednesday aimed at preventing international sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program being reimposed at the end of this month, two European diplomats and one Iranian diplomat said.
Britain, France, and Germany, the so-called E3, launched a 30-day process at the end of August to reimpose UN sanctions. They set conditions for Tehran to meet during September to convince them to delay the “snapback mechanism.”
The offer by the E3 to put off the snapback for up to six months to enable serious negotiations is conditional on Iran restoring access for UN nuclear inspectors – who would also seek to account for Iran‘s large stock of enriched uranium – and engaging in talks with the US.
The status of Iran‘s enriched uranium stocks has been unknown since Israel and the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June.
TALKS WITH EUROPEANS FOLLOWED ACCORD WITH IAEA
Wednesday’s phone call between the E3 foreign ministers, the European Union foreign policy chief, and their Iranian counterpart followed an agreement between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency last week on resuming cooperation, including, in principle, the inspection of nuclear sites.
Several Western diplomats have said, however, that the accord is not detailed enough, sets no timeframe and leaves the door open for Iran to continue stonewalling.
There has also been no indication of a willingness from Iran to resume talks with Washington.
Iran says it is still refining how it will work with the IAEA.
In the call, Iran‘s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi expressed willingness to reach a “fair and balanced” solution, according to a statement on Iranian state media.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has entered into dialogue with the International Atomic Energy Agency with a responsible approach … on how Iran will fulfil its safeguards obligations in the new situation … It is now the turn of the opposing parties to use this opportunity to continue the diplomatic path and prevent an avoidable crisis,” Araqchi said.
GERMANY SAYS IRAN HAS NOT MET CONDITIONS
Germany’s foreign ministry said on X that the E3 had “underscored that Iran has yet to take the reasonable and precise actions necessary to reach an extension of Resolution 2231,” adding that sanctions would be reimposed unless there were “concrete actions in the coming days.”
The sanctions would hit Iran‘s financial, banking, hydrocarbons, and defense sectors.
Four European diplomats and an Iranian official said before the call that the most likely scenario would be the E3 going ahead with a reimposition of sanctions.
An Iranian diplomat said Tehran had reiterated that it would retaliate if the decision to restore UN sanctions was made.
“The understanding in Tehran is that the UN sanctions will be reimposed. That is why Tehran refuses to give concessions,” an Iranian official said.
The West says the advancement of Iran‘s nuclear program goes beyond civilian needs, while Tehran says it wants nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes.