Since the deadly terrorist attacks in Israel against innocent civilians on October 7, 2023, anti-Semitism has exploded on America’s college campuses. Hate crimes against Jews in America were already on the rise a couple of years prior to the attacks, but that dark day in October sparked a powder keg at our institutions of higher learning. Only recently did Columbia University finally take disciplinary action against the criminals who took over and vandalized the university’s library.
Shortly after innocent Israelis, Americans, and other victims were murdered by Hamas terrorists, the college campus arms of organizations supportive of Palestinians reared their ugly heads. “Protesters” targeted Jewish students and organizations on campus, including with physical violence and denial of access to classes. These students have been emboldened by professors and university faculty members who have promoted anti-westernism and anti-Semitism or crafted learning environments hostile to Jews and students who support Israel.
One such group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), has been behind several of the demonstrations on campuses that have seen (not enough) arrests. These demonstrations have served as a catalyst for long-overdue congressional oversight of higher education institutions receiving government money. University presidents have been put in the hotseat for their inaction in the face of violent demonstrators, and the heads of some of the most elite institutions in the nation have resigned.
These “protesters” — if you can even call them that with their use of violence and vandalism and support of terrorist organizations like Hamas — often employ emotional warfare to twist students’ perception of history and reality while also promoting anti-Semitic and violent rhetoric. This rhetoric includes innocuous sounding chants designed to illicit an emotional response, but which in reality mean horrific things. One of the most prevalent chants, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” refers to the complete destruction of the state of Israel and the eradication of the Jewish people. The students engaging in the chant claim to be “anti-Israel” or “anti-Zionist” but are either unaware or do not care about the words they are slinging.
These student groups’ emotional warfare, combined with the prevalence of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) instruction in colleges — which promotes a victim/oppressor world view — have promoted the delusion that terrorists who killed innocent people in a brutal surprise attack are the victims of the situation.
And this double whammy of insanity is having a disastrous effect on our students.
Most recently, a video went viral of a Temple University student holding a sign that said “Fuck the Jews” at a Barstool Sports bar. The bar is owned by Dave Portnoy — who is Jewish — meaning theses students felt so emboldened by the anti-Semitism present on their campus that they would feel comfortable ordering a Jew hating sign at a Jewish-owned business.
Since the video took off, two Temple students have been suspended for the sign, but this may just be the tip of the iceberg at the Pennsylvania school and many other schools across America. Temple University also houses its own SJP chapter, helmed by a student named Rishi Arun. Just this week, Mr. Arun called for the destruction of the United States at a panel honoring convicted Philadelphia cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. On social media, under Mr. Arun’s leadership, Temple SJP accused the American government of launching a “campaign” in “tandem with the Zionist entity’s resumption and escalation of the Gaza Genocide” and called the revocation of student visas “an act of war against all those who resist the presence of a new-age Gestapo in our cities kidnapping our loved ones.”
Temple SJP also demanded the university “declare itself a sanctuary, refuse to cooperate with the forces of state violence in all instances, and divest from Israel’s genocide.”
My organization, Center to Advance Security in America, has been advocating for transparency regarding campus anti-Semitism. We are currently engaged in a lawsuit based on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to uncover Biden Administration U.S. Department of Education records related to the pro-Hamas, antisemitic demonstrations at Columbia University in the Spring of 2024.
This madness will not stop until universities are hit where they feel it most: in the pocketbook. Many long-time wealthy donors to some of the worst offenders have pledged to withhold donations. But, regardless of the sizes of their endowments, most universities could not long survive without federal funding. Both Congress’ and the Trump administration’s hard look at schools housing these anti-Semitic demonstrations is a critical step to ending this hatred impacting students across the nation.
James Fitzpatrick is the Director of the Center to Advance Security in America, a former official in the Trump 45 administration, and an Army veteran.
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