The Anti-Defamation League called on American universities Wednesday to take "meaningful steps to ensure an inclusive campus climate for all students in response to a series of disturbing anti-Israel and anti-Semitic actions at US colleges in 2019" as the nation prepares for the resumption of classes in the coming weeks and months.
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The ADL issued a series of recommendations for how institutions of higher learning should act when anti-Israel activism fuels anti-Semitism on campus.
"We anticipate a significant uptick in anti-Israel activity once students are able to return to campuses," ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt said in a statement.
"Some of the more radical expressions of anti-Israel sentiment that we witnessed last year morphed into outright anti-Semitism. Many of these manifestations left Jewish students feeling besieged and threatened. At a time when anti-Semitism in the US has spiked to historic levels and against the backdrop of COVID-19, which has revived old anti-Jewish conspiracies, college presidents and university administrators should take steps to prevent this prejudice from violating norms on campus and diminishing the educational experience of these students."
The report, Anti-Semitism and the Radical Anti-Israel Movement on US Campuses in 2019", provides an in-depth look at the major activities and organizations sponsoring them.
"The report notes that while most anti-Israel activism takes the form of legitimate political expression, a significant segment of the activism reported in 2019 contributed to an atmosphere in which Jewish students felt under attack – and from which anti-Semitism sometimes emerged," ADL said in a statement.
In September, anti-Israel activist Alison Weir, "who has a long history of employing anti-Semitism tropes and associating with Anti-Semitism including white supremacists," delivered a lecture at Clovis Community College in California," ADL said, pointing out an example of such incidents. "In 2009, Weir accused Israel of engaging in organ harvesting of poor and needy individuals and Palestinians. In 2008, Weir described Judaism as such a ruthless and supremacist faith. Given this history, Weir's presence on campus was seen by Jewish students as legitimizing discrimination against them," ADL said.
