“Unprecedented levels” of antisemitism against American Jewish students

May 2, 2024 by Jill

from Religion Media Centre:

Armed police have been called in to break up university demonstrations in America, which have sprung up in support of Palestine and against Israel’s action in the war in Gaza.

The escalation comes with increasing accusations of antisemitism and stories of Jewish students living in fear on campus. Jewish News reports that signs with swastikas and antisemitic slurs have been reported at university demonstrations, and there are accusations that protesters openly call for Hamas to kill Israelis, chanting that Tel Aviv should be bombed, and incidents of masked protestors blocking Jewish students and “Zionists” from entering campuses.

The US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the White House condemns “the antisemitic language that we’ve heard of late”.

The Simon Weisenthal Center, the Holocaust-education and human rights organisation, called on Columbia University to protect Jewish students who are experiencing unprecedented levels of antisemitic harassment. The Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, defended the police action at Columbia, saying outsiders were whipping up anti Jewish feeling among students.

The US House of Representatives has just passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act which requires the US Department of Education to define antisemitism based on the definition used by the International Holocaust Remembrance alliance.

Columbia University calls upon NYPD to clear pro-Palestinian activists from an occupied building, as adversarial leftist protests return to American campuses by Eugyppius on substack