How Our College Campuses Became Hotbeds of Antisemitism

While most Americans grieve and reel in horror after the brutal massacre of Israelis, a shocking number of students and faculty on our college campuses are cheering on Hamas – while oppressing, alienating, and verbally assaulting Jewish students.

These are the fruits of DEI indoctrination on campus. The far left’s hateful bigotry is becoming clear for all to see, and it is stunning many who had no idea how bad it has become.  

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) have coordinated multiple protests across dozens of American university campuses. SJP’s national chapter called Hamas’ terror attack a “historic win” for the “Palestinian resistance.” 

These students have the absolute right to speak freely. But the rest of us are free to judge them based on their words and deeds. These protests and other actions at our colleges show that anti-Semitism is a growing threat on campus. Many of our Jewish college students are alarmed. 

Including students right here at Ohio State University.

OSU Students for Justice in Palestine took to Instagram to promote their rally to "uplift and honor our resistance and our martyrs” and their “heroic” resistance “to Zionism and Western imperialism.” 
The organization has nearly 3,000 followers and even sells merchandise.

University professors across the nation are coming under fire for hateful comments, appalling treatment of Jewish students, and a shocking show of support for terrorists. 

A Stanford professor was suspended for forcing Jewish students in two of his classes to stand in a corner while he called them “colonizers.” He also shrugged off the deaths of “only” 6 million Jews in the Holocaust and called Hamas terrorists “freedom fighters.” A rabbi who spoke to students said they were left traumatized and dehumanized.

A Columbia professor called the Hamas massacre of Israeli and American citizens on October 7 "awesome" and a "stunning victory”." Professor Joseph Massad faced calls for his resignation back in 2004 after accusations that he antagonized Jewish and Israeli students in the classroom. He faces them again today, as an online petition calling for his removal quickly amassed more than 30,000 signatures.

A Yale professor, Zareena Grewal, stated on X: “Prayers for Palestinians. Israel is a murderous, genocidal settler state and Palestinians have every right to resist through armed struggle.” She reacted to the massacre by tweeting, “It’s been such an extraordinary day!” Her X bio describes herself as a “radical Muslim.” Yale defended her right to free speech but a petition calling on the university to fire her collected more than 25,000 signatures in one day. 

Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Virginia issued a statement calling the Hamas massacre “a step towards a free Palestine.” And a professor there is now under investigation by the state’s attorney general for offering students extra credit to attend a SJP event to “stand in solidarity with Palestinians resisting occupation.”  

An Albany Law School professor tweeted, “Long live the Palestinian resistance & people of Gaza” who are “tearing down the walls of colonialism & apartheid.” She added, "As the Biden admin builds more walls at US borders, the people of the world are rising up & tearing walls down. The Palestinians are a beacon for us all.”  

New York University Student Bar Association President Ryna Workman wrote in the student newspaper, “Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life”and refused to condemn Hamas. In a story that made national headlines but garnered little sympathy, Workman lost a job offer from a prestigious law firm because of her comments.   

Pro-Palestinian protestors and Antifa members at the University of Washington lobbed homophobic slurs at a reporter while chanting ‘From the River to the Sea’ and intifada,’ well-known code words for the destruction of Israel and a call to massacre of Jews.

‘Intifada’ chants were common at UCLA’s Pro-Palestine protest, where pro-Hamas students wore masks to conceal their identities. The chants calling for the murder of the Jewish people were also heard on campus at the University of Minnesota. 

A professor at the University of North Carolina raised an Israeli flag to counter a pro-Palestinian protest and was pushed aside. 

At Columbia University, an Israeli student was assaulted by a suspect who tore down photos of Israeli hostages the victim had posted. The suspect hit the victim with a stick, breaking his finger and lacerating the victim. 

Despite all this fury on campus the silence of university leaders was deafening. 

30 student organizations at Harvard University signed a letter by the university’s Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee and Harvard Graduate Students for Palestine that claims they “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.” 

Then came the backlash.

The Harvard Crimson reported: “A billboard truck drove through the streets surrounding Harvard’s campus Wednesday and Thursday, digitally displaying the names and faces of students allegedly affiliated with student groups that signed onto a controversial statement on Hamas’ attack on Israel.”

Talk about buyer’s remorse – many student organizations immediately removed their signatures. The Harvard Arab Alumni Association even requested mental health support for students who supported terrorism. 

Days after all this, Harvard’s president finally responded to the flap, stating the organizations supporting Hamas do not speak for Harvard or university leadership. 

Many donors and alumni believe the statement fell short. It was not enough for an Israeli board member of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, who resigned his post because the school was not supporting the Israeli people or calling “Hamas for what it is, a terrorist organization.”

Here in Columbus, The Wexner Foundation (a New Albany-based nonprofit that develops Jewish leaders in America and Israel) abruptly ended its ties and millions in funding to Harvard over the university’s failure to address acts of terrorism by Hamas. The foundation created the Wexner Israeli Fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership in 1989. The program admits 10 Israeli government and public sector leaders into its master’s program every year. 

A statement said students in the program “no longer feel marginalized at HKS, they feel abandoned."

The Wexner Foundation said its leaders were "stunned and sickened over the dismal failure of Harvard’s leadership to take a clear and unequivocal stand against the barbaric murders of innocent Israeli civilians by terrorists."

Harvard is not alone.

The University of Pennsylvania is losing a prominent donor, former U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman. He cut off funding to UPenn for its silence on Hamas’ attack. A board of trustees member also resigned his post. UPenn’s president later issued a statement saying they “should have moved faster to share our position strongly and more broadly.” 

Many of these stories have left the American public dismayed and confused. Where is this hatred towards Israel and our Jewish students coming from? Why are these protests and comments so vile?

You would think that this is where our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices would step in, calling out hateful comments against Jewish students and ensuring their protection from personal attacks.

These offices are supposed to protect everyone from every background, right?

Wrong.

Turns out that “DEI bureaucracies are hotbeds of antisemitism.” A 2021 study published by the Heritage Foundation discovered university DEI staff routinely show their bias against Israel on their Twitter accounts. 96% of their tweets and retweets about Israel were critical of the Jewish nation. 

Words like apartheid, colonial, and even genocide and ethnic cleansing were tweeted or retweeted by DEI staff when talking about Israel.

Some examples straight from the study: 

“...the State of Israel is guilty of the human rights crimes of apartheid and persecution. Settler colonialism is fundamentally violent. And it begets violence.”

“...one cannot teach radical geog/critical urban theory without a curriculum on this settler colonialism & apartheid.”

“Re Palestine, you gotta understand: there’s no ‘controversy.’ Most people around the world know that Israel brutally colonizes the Palestinians. The issue is only ‘controversial’ because Zionists pitch a fit whenever anybody speaks this truth.”

“israel has a particular loathing for children. they target them with violence specifically and intentionally every single day.”

‘from the river to the sea’ means that we will decolonize every block and every grain of sand in palestine. go ahead and fuel people to make us look like we’re bloodthirsty for the death of jews when you’ve just killed 42 family members in one airstrike.”

This much is clear: DEI staff is not there to protect all students from hate and ensure all people on campus are treated with dignity.

They exist to promote a political agenda. Tragically, that agenda seems to be working.

If the proof above was not enough, here is more.

Anti-Semitic incidents on campus grew dramatically to 244 in the 2020-2021 school year, up from 181 during the prior year despite the virtual academic calendar.

According to a nationwide survey, nearly 3 out of 5 Jewish college students have experienced or seen an anti-Semitic incident. 84% of Jewish students surveyed see anti-Semitism as a threat to America.

Perhaps worst of all – 1 in 6 college students “found the historical reality or death toll of the Holocaust not very believable, not at all believable or were unsure.”

Now it all makes sense. DEI has our students confused and horrifically misinformed. 

DEI staff and some of our professors have led students to question an objective truth: violent acts of terrorism are evil. 

These social justice warriors will not protect our Jewish students. They will shame and humiliate them instead. 

All our students deserve fair and equal treatment. DEI programs and departments on campus are doing just the opposite.

Now is the time to stand with our Jewish friends, neighbors, and college students. 

And to stand against all forms of bigotry and discrimination, even if they come disguised in the wolf’s clothing of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.