The Trump administration has abruptly withdrawn $400 million (1.4 billion shekel) in federal funding from Columbia University, The New York Times reported, signaling that at least nine other campuses could face similar consequences. This dramatic move is part of an escalating government approach toward universities that allegedly failed to protect Jewish students and faculty during campus protests.

The targeted institutions appear on an official administration list compiled by the Department of Justice, comprising both public universities and Ivy League schools. Faculty leadership at many of these institutions have strongly contested characterizations of their campuses as centers of antisemitism, pointing out that while some Jewish students reported feeling unsafe, most protesters demonstrated peacefully, with many participants being Jewish themselves.

The Trump administration has prioritized confronting higher education institutions. President Donald Trump recently threatened via social media to penalize any school permitting "illegal" protests. On January 30, just ten days after taking office, he signed an executive order focused on combating antisemitism, specifically targeting what he described as "anti-Jewish racism at 'leftists' universities."

On February 3, Trump established a multiagency task force to implement this mandate. The group appeared to act swiftly following a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Barnard College – a Columbia University partner school – on February 26. Two days later, the administration published its list of ten schools under investigation, including Columbia, which had been the site of significant pro-Palestinian encampments last year.

Federal officials indicated they would visit these institutions as part of a review process to determine "whether remedial action is warranted." By Friday, the administration announced the cancellation of millions in grants and contracts with Columbia University.

The move represents a significant escalation in the federal government's approach to campus protests related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Critics have questioned whether such financial penalties might infringe on academic freedom and First Amendment rights, while supporters argue stronger measures are necessary to ensure Jewish students feel safe on campus.

University administrators across the country are now reportedly reviewing their policies regarding campus demonstrations, concerned that similar federal funding cuts could dramatically impact their operations and research programs.

The post Trump cuts $400 million grant to Columbia University appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

"This is the battle of our lives. Jews are afraid to speak up for fear of being identified. You can't wear a kippah at America's largest and most prestigious universities. Jewish students in Berlin and Munich had no chance to change their situation, but here in America, we have the mandate to change this. We must help our students on campuses fight back," says Alan Dershowitz, a prominent US Jewish legal scholar.

These words from Dershowitz need to be read repeatedly to comprehend the magnitude of the crisis facing American Jewry amid a wave of antisemitism, along with the challenges of maintaining Jewish-American identity and fundamental questions about previously stable aspects of identity.

On the 20th floor of the Yale Club in New York, with Manhattan's powerful urban landscape as a backdrop, an outsider might not have grasped the intensity of the storm affecting those present. The conference was organized by the Israeli group Shurat HaDin, led by attorney and activist Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, bringing together major influencers and advocacy organizations across the spectrum of American Jewry – all united in a common goal: creating unity and cooperation between activist organizations in combating antisemitism and eliminating this phenomenon.

Unprecedented Hatred

"Hamas' deadly attack a year ago shocked Israel both at home and abroad. Instead of embracing innocent victims, the world turned against Israel with unprecedented hatred, blood libels, calls for genocide, and violence. Our enemies celebrated the massacre of Jews, distorted facts, ignored acts of assault, and openly supported Hamas. Our goal is to fight back on the public relations front and ensure every Jew feels safe anywhere in the world," Darshan-Leitner said.

The 86-year-old Dershowitz doesn't shy away from describing the reality he sees in light of the terror prevailing on campuses, even if it deviates from American political correctness. "Professors and deans with anti-Israel agendas stand and knowingly lie. They teach students false academia. Today, to be something in America, you must be anti-Zionist. I spoke with two deans – both pro-Israel, and they refuse to speak. They're afraid, they're silent. They're trembling with fear. We're in great danger – more than during McCarthyism."

Beyond the current crisis, the senior legal expert looks ahead with a dark forecast, "These people on campuses represent America's future – they'll soon be writing for The New York Times, sitting in major companies doing business with Israel. In a few years, they'll be in government, and they'll all be anti-Zionist. This is a clear and present danger to Israel and American Jewry.

"Consider the situation at UCLA: If you identify as a Zionist, 14 fraternities will prevent you from speaking and suspend you. This is literally Berlin University 1933 at the beginning of anti-Jewish contempt. This is a critical problem, and that's why we must respond and be present as American Jewry. Fight, not lower our heads thinking this is a passing storm – this is classic antisemitism."

"Uniting Hearts and Minds"

Among the conference speakers was comedian Michael Rapaport, who had never visited Israel before the war. Since then, he has visited five times and become an influential voice in the US, fighting against pro-Palestinian incitement. Rapaport represents the activist Jew who refuses to bow down, stands against hatred, and fights back.

"I cannot stand idly by in the face of such events, everything happening in Israel, 101 hostages and their families, and the hatred here at home. It's frustrating, but it's what unites us. So many hearts have been broken. So many family trajectories stopped in their tracks," Rapaport said. "We did nothing to deserve this hatred. On Oct. 8 morning, here in New York, while people in Israel were still being slaughtered, burned alive, and assaulted, pro-Palestinian activists came to Times Square and celebrated – 'from the river to the sea'! They can't claim there was a false 'genocide' then.

"I won't give any justification to these terrorists who carried out the massacre. We're neck-deep in anti-Jewish rhetoric, and now violence too. I never thought I'd have to admit that in 2024 New York, Jews would need to be afraid. I'm disgusted by what happened at the formerly prestigious Columbia University.

"We need to fight with our hearts, our prayers, our minds – stand strong and not take a step back. Don't consider any alternatives. I encourage all of you to stand tall. Learn more about your Judaism. Learn about our history. Stand tall and proud. No guilt. We've done the guilt thing long enough. No more shame. We've done enough. No stammering."

When Rapaport finished speaking, it seemed the audience needed someone like him to speak to them at eye level, in New York vernacular, without fear, instilling the hope they so desperately need. "In Israel, soldiers fight for the Jewish state; here, each of us is a warrior for Judaism and Israel."

British historian Douglas Murray then took the stage. Responding to Nitsana Darshan-Leitner's question about what makes him such a staunch defender of Israel and the Jewish people, he replied, "Journalists should be honest and try to expose lies. The bigger the lie being spread, the greater your duty to unravel it.

"The blatant injustice toward Israel, the way this small country is the subject of so many condemnations worldwide, the deep unfairness in media coverage of Israel, and the lack of empathy toward Israel. Israel is the only country in the region where an American would want to live, yet so many want to destroy it," Murray added. "I've seen the IDF in action from the front line. I've seen these impressive men and women carrying out missions that no one should have to perform. They do it out of love, not hate, and above all this, they have to bear the world's condemnation."

A Matter of Numbers

When asked why he thinks so many hate the Jewish state, he responded, "It's a numbers game – there aren't many Jews in the world compared to the number of people who hate Jews. Israeli media has a small budget compared to Al Jazeera. There's an illusion that if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved, peace will break out across the world. This is exactly the clever Soviet framing from the 1960s regarding Israel, the ANC framing that this is the human rights issue of our generation, and if you solve it, you'll be justified like Nelson Mandela. And that's what minds have been misled to believe.

"The idea that solving the Palestinian crisis will solve many problems is fundamentally flawed. Even Blinken said we need to focus on a 'two-state solution.' All this has become official policy of both Left and Right politics."

Murray didn't skip over the hatred spreading in America among progressive pro-Palestinian organizations, "Most professors and students in America think they know the world. If they know one thing, it's 'don't be a Nazi.' They don't understand that they themselves can be the Nazi. When they chase students at Columbia and scream at them 'go back to Poland' because they wear a kippah, they can be the Nazi.

"If any other minority received the treatment American Jews have received in the past year, there would be endless investigations. But that's not happening. To you, American Jews, I call to build alliances. Don't forget your friends who were always there. Be united."

The post 'The battle of our lives': US Jewish community confronts campus antisemitism appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

For the first time in over two decades, no graduates from Ramaz, an elite Jewish high school on New York's Upper East Side, will be attending Columbia College this fall, The New York Post reported Sunday. The school cited rising antisemitism on campus as a contributing factor to this unprecedented shift.

According to a statement provided to The New York Post by Ramaz, "For the first time in over 20 years, we will not have a Ramaz graduate enrolling in Columbia College." The school noted that while one student enrolled in Columbia's School of General Studies and three in the Columbia-affiliated Barnard College, none chose to attend Columbia College itself.

Ramaz indicated that anti-Israel protests and hostility toward Jewish students at Columbia during the previous semester played a role in its graduates' decisions. "Ramaz provides as much information as possible about the situation at various colleges of interest, and we have given priority to issues surrounding the horrific rise in antisemitic instances at some schools, so that our students and their families are able to make informed decisions about which colleges are right for them," a school representative told The New York Post.

Rory Lancman, a prominent Jewish civil rights activist and Columbia Law School graduate, expressed his concerns about the current climate at Columbia. "Jewish families are voting with their feet and choosing colleges and universities that take antisemitism seriously," said Lancman, who serves as the director of corporate initiatives and senior counsel at the Louis Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. He added, "I would not recommend my daughters to apply to Columbia or other colleges that aren't committed to protect them as Jews."

The Ivy League institution has been grappling with significant turmoil in recent months. Columbia President Minouche Shafik recently resigned after leading the university for just one year, a period marked by constant and sometimes destructive anti-Israel protests. Her resignation followed closely on the heels of three university deans stepping down after the exposure of a "very troubling" text chain that disparaged Israeli and Jewish students' concerns about rising antisemitism on campus.

In April, a large group of masked protesters broke into a Columbia academic building, seizing control and draping it with a giant flag calling for "intifada." Video footage captured a demonstrator using a hammer to break through a glass-paneled door and securing it with what appeared to be a bike lock.

Hundreds of students were arrested on trespassing charges for refusing to dismantle a campus encampment, which triggered the building takeover. However, many of those involved in vandalism, rioting, and trespassing subsequently avoided criminal charges.

The protests and anti-Israel sentiment were fueled by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which terrorists killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took over 240 hostages. As of Aug. 19, 115 Israelis remain held hostage, of whom 41 have been declared dead, having either been killed in the massacre or in captivity.

Columbia University declined to comment when contacted by The New York Post regarding the Ramaz situation.

The post Elite Jewish high school graduates shun Columbia appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

In a concerning development at Cal. State University Los Angeles (CSULA), pro-Palestinian protesters barricaded a building, trapping Campus President Berenecea Johnson Eanes, inside her office. The protesters, who had already established encampments on another part of the campus more than a month ago, escalated their actions on June 12 by creating barriers with furniture, overturned golf carts, and tables in front of the Student Services Building and surrounding plaza.

BREAKING NEWS: 8 hours into the @CalStateLA student services building occupation:

- The entrance/exits are under the control of rogue pro-Pal activists and vandals

- A handful of employees, Including the University's President remain trapped and claim to be sheltering in place.… pic.twitter.com/AlibgrggOW

— Chris Cristi (@abc7chriscristi) June 13, 2024

 The college instructed employees within the Student Services Building to shelter in place, while employees elsewhere on campus were advised to leave. Erik Hollins, a campus spokesperson, confirmed the tense situation, stating, "I can confirm that there are still a small number of administrators in the building. We are working through options to bring this fluid situation to the best resolution possible."

The protesters, many of whom covered their faces, stationed themselves in front of the building's entrance, reinforcing their barricade with copy machines and furniture removed from inside the building. Pro-Palestinian graffiti covers many windows.

Pro-Hamas agitators have vandalized and barracaded the entrances to the student services building at Cal State L.A.

The school's president and several other faculty members are essentially being held hostage inside.

Karen Bass & Gavin Newsom are yet again, nowhere to be found. pic.twitter.com/eMYpVrAahW

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) June 13, 2024

 While the presence of campus police appeared minimal, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has not been requested to intervene thus far. The school referred to the group as engaging in "unauthorized protest activity." Some protesters have even brought in food, supplies, and diapers, indicating their determination to maintain their occupation for an extended period.

Meanwhile, in a shocking revelation, top administrators at Columbia University were caught mocking and dismissing concerns raised by Jewish students and alumni about the alarming rise of antisemitism on campus. Leaked text messages between high-ranking officials, captured during a panel discussion on Jewish life at the university, expose a disturbing attitude of indifference and disdain toward the plight of the Jewish community.

The incident unfolded on May 31, during a panel discussion organized as part of the university's alumni reunion festivities. The panel, titled "The Past, Present, and Future of Jewish Life at Columbia," featured speakers such as the former dean of Columbia Law School, David Schizer, who co-chaired the university's task force on antisemitism, and a rising junior, Rebecca Massel, who covered the campus protests for the student newspaper.

Unbeknownst to the panelists, several top administrators were present in the audience, including Josef Sorett, the dean of Columbia College; Susan Chang-Kim, the vice dean and chief administrative officer of Columbia College; Cristen Kromm, the dean of undergraduate student life; and Matthew Patashnick, the associate dean for student and family support.

I am not shocked that deans at @Columbia aren't dismissive about Jewish students' concerns.

What I am shocked about is that they're accusing the Jews of exploiting this moment for "fundraising potential."

It's like they're following every antisemitic trope in the book. https://t.co/kRm7ZOO4LK

— Shai Davidai (@ShaiDavidai) June 13, 2024

Throughout the nearly two-hour panel, Chang-Kim was actively texting her colleagues, and they were responding in kind. As the panelists offered frank assessments of the climate Jewish students have faced, the administrators responded with mockery and vitriol, dismissing claims of antisemitism and suggesting, in Patashnick's words, that Jewish figures on campus were exploiting the moment for "fundraising potential."

The administrators expressed skepticism that Jewish students had experienced targeting or discrimination, with Chang-Kim questioning, "Did we really have students being kicked out of clubs for being Jewish? This is difficult to listen to but I'm trying to keep an open mind to learn about this point of view," Chang-Kim texted Sorett.

The text messages also used vomit emojis to describe an op-ed about antisemitism by Columbia's Campus Rabbi Yonah Hain. "And we thought Yonah sounded the alarm…" Kromm wrote derisively to Chang-Kim and Patashnick, referring to Hain's column expressing concern about the "normalization of Hamas" on campus.

The post CSU protesters trap campus president in barricade; Columbia administrators mock antisemitism concerns appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

In a post on X, Columbia University Assistant Professor Shai Davidai reported that he received a message from COO Cas Holloway saying he has been allowed back on campus after a month of being denied entry due to safety concerns.

"No apology. No explanation," he wrote in the post. "I believe this is a perfect example of 'too little, too late.'"

On April 23, Davidai's security card was deactivated and campus security prevented Davidai from entering the main campus due to the possibility of being harmed by violent pro-Palestinian protesters who had illegally camped on the main lawn.

In response to Holloway, Davidai wrote: "I hope that one day, when you get a chance to reflect back on the past seven months, you will realize how morally wrong it was to deny me entry to campus and your own personal responsibility in doing so." He continued, "I hope that the administration realizes that just because the symptom (i.e., the illegal encampment) has been treated for now, it doesn't mean that you have dealt with the root cause."

I was just informed by the COO of @Columbia that beginning tomorrow, I will be granted entry to main campus.

No apology. No explanation.

I believe this a perfect example of "too little, too late".

Nevertheless, I am still willing to work with this administration to fight… pic.twitter.com/9xpgqyZQXN

— Shai Davidai (@ShaiDavidai) May 19, 2024

 He pointed to the university's congressional investigation and two civil rights lawsuits while warning Holloway that Jewish students do not feel safe on campus and that "the school needs to come up with a concrete plan on how to deal with the pro-Hamas professors and the pro-Hamas organizations."

The post Shai Davidai admitted back to Columbia campus appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Anti-Israel protests have been taking place in the campuses of the top universities in the United States and the West ever since October 7; the protest intensified with the beginning of the invasion of the Gaza Strip in mid-November.

Many people have redacted the motives behind the phenomenon to "antisemitism," but the truth is much more complex, and good old hatred of Jews is merely the tip of the iceberg in a well-oiled, well-timed, and well-organized campaign whose effects have been trickling down for years and were just waiting to erupt.

In April, the protests expanded to dozens of campuses and took a violent turn. In addition to flags of support raised for Hamas and Hezbollah and the burning of Israeli and American flags, protesters at several institutions clashed with police, called for an intifada and to "burn Tel Aviv," and threw firecrackers and teargas. At Columbia University, the rioters went further when hundreds of them broke into a university building, smashed windows, barricaded themselves inside for hours and, according to one maintenance worker, held him hostage.

How did Columbia University, whose official seal, which includes the explicit name of God and the name of the angel Uriel in Hebrew, and whose first president, Samuel Johnson, said that as soon as a child has mastered English, he should begin to learn Hebrew, "the mother of all languages and eloquence," become a bastion of anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism? And how did students from the most liberal wing of the world's most prestigious institutions become defenders of terrorists whose values completely contradict everything these protesters believe in?

Same ideology, different terminology

"Workers of the world, unite!" Karl Marx declared in the Communist Manifesto. The father of communism's most famous quote accurately reflects Marx's ideology: ignore your national, religious, or moral affiliation and celebrate your class affiliation.

Canadian psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson argues that by the end of the 1960s, it was clear to all that communism, in all its forms, had failed colossally and he blames the adoption of Marxism by the younger generation in the West on another ideological current, postmodernism. According to Peterson, after Marxism collapsed, postmodernists, who were also Marxists, were forced to change their rhetoric. They have replaced the proletariat and the struggle of the working class with the bourgeoisie with a struggle of oppressed against the oppressor, when in fact it is just the same ideology in different dress.

Here Marxist theories combine with the dominant cluster of theories in academic institutions in Western countries this century, critical theories. Critical theories are largely based on Marx's view that any struggle can be summed up as the oppressor versus the oppressed but add a dichotomous view in which once a person belongs to one of the camps, he is either an oppressor or oppressed. All the oppressed desires is equality, while the oppressor's sole desire is to preserve his privilege.

In this way, everyone who belongs to the group of oppressors is bad, even if that person is an infant, while members of the oppressed group are considered good even if they are terrorists who murdered the infant who belongs to the oppressors. Even if a person from the oppressed group is a successful person with high status, and even if he states that he is not oppressed, the critical theorists will reply that he has been "conditioned" to think this way by the oppressors. This constitutes a winning combination of an unfounded and irrefutable theory, together with the bigotry of low expectations.

The last colonialist

One of the most prevalent critical theories in the United States in recent years is critical race theory (CRT). The theory accepts the foundations of critical theory but also takes it another step forward: the Black race is inherently oppressed and therefore Black people are good, while the white race is the oppressor and thus the bad guys. The popularity of the theory stems from the American trauma of slavery, racism toward Black people, and what their ancestors did to Native Americans.

This is where American ignorance about Israel and the Palestinians, especially among young Americans, comes in. They believe that Israelis are white colonialists and accordingly bad, while Palestinians are brown natives and accordingly good. When even according to their own hollow moral assessment they ignore the fact that many Israelis are dark-skinned and came from Arab countries. In addition, these young Americans have bought into the lies of certain intellectuals – more about them later – that Israel invaded the State of Palestine and stole its lands. They ignore the fact that there are archaeological findings proving a Jewish presence in the Land of Israel as far back as before 1000 BCE, when the Arab conquest of the Levant and the Land of Israel came almost two thousand years later, in the seventh century CE.

These young people, wallowing in the guilt of the sins of their ancestors, seek to cleanse their conscience by fighting the last representative of white colonialism against the dark-skinned natives- i.e., Israel. Most of the non-Muslim students who march wearing keffiyehs on the streets of Western cities today do so not out of antisemitic motives, but from a place of identification with those they perceived as victims, as "oppressed."

Foreign funding

According to the U.S. Department of Education, since 2012, the Qatari regime has given $3,281,809,223 to about 28 universities across the United States. The Saudis and United Arab Emirates together contributed more than $2 billion during this period, in addition to about half a billion dollars from other Arab countries, such as Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria, and even the Palestinian Authority, whose name was apparently removed from the Department's list for an unknown reason.

Some of these funds go to the advancement of Marxist and postmodern thought, and others are directed to more concrete anti-Israeli goals, such as Israeli Apartheid Week, campus advocacy activities about the Nakba, Palestine Film Week,  and more.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Students for Justice for Palestine (SJP), the Black Panthers, and other extremist and antisemitic groups trained students involved in the current campus protests for months.

It is not only Arab countries that feature on the list of prominent donors to academic institutions in the United States. In second place on the list of donors is China, which transferred about $1.733 billion, Russia about $141 million, and even Venezuela has donated $4 million in the past twelve years, which brings us to a discussion of the "Red-Green alliance."

Dr. Kobby Barda, a researcher of American politics, wrote on the social network X that the Chinese modus operandi manifests itself in two ways: physical and cognitive. China's physical operations manifest in the production of synthetic opioid drugs, especially fentanyl, their distribution to Mexico, from where they enter the United States, which has led to a spike in the country's overdose death rate, with 109,600 people dying from opioid overdose in 2022. Its cognitive operations are reflected in the money that China transfers in various ways to American institutions, professors, and students. In the same way as investment from the Arab world, these funds are used to endear China and its culture to the American public; indeed, since China began to invest in American academia, almost no studies critical of China have come out of leading institutions in the United States.

The radical left ignores dark, fascist, and illiberal tendencies: the staunch opposition to abortion, the inferior status of women, the desire to impose Sharia law, support for terrorism, and antisemitism. Some circles on the Western left are willing to swallow antisemitism when it takes on the guise of "anti-Zionism," as, after all, it is white colonialism that is the enemy.

Anti-Western sentiment

If you ever look at feed on TikTok USA, you will see many young people who claim that America is the worst country in the world, the most racist country in the world, the evilest country in the world, and so on. These statements are not made in a vacuum and express something far deeper than just the rants of spoiled and disgruntled teenagers. The West has become ashamed of its values, its achievements, in what made it the world's leading civilization; to describe this shame it has come up with terms like "white guilt" – feelings of guilt for being a white person, especially a white American – now embellish the discourse of the world's greatest power.

Last November, the Chinese app was flooded by a wave of young Americans promoting a letter written by arch-terrorist Osama bin Laden and expressing solidarity with its contents, some even saying that the September 11 attacks, which killed 3,000 Americans, were justified and inevitable from Bin Laden's perspective. At the height of this phenomenon, I read Bin Laden's 2002 essay and expected to encounter some kind of intellectual challenge, but to my disappointment what I found was an inexhaustible cache of lies, historical distortions, and theories that ranged from "unfounded" to "absolutely baseless."

It is no coincidence that pro-Palestinian demonstrators burn American flags, chant "Death to America," desecrate American national monuments with graffiti, place keffiyehs on statues of America's founders, and replace American flags with Palestinian posters. A common term in American discourse is "Judeo-Christian values," and its accepted interpretation is Western values. Israel is not the disease, but only the symptom; the real disease in their eyes is Western values, liberty, and individual freedom. America is the West, and Israel is merely its representative.

The American philosopher Harvey Mansfield seems to have been right when he asserted that the principal task of contemporary conservatism is to save liberalism from liberals.

"The Corona Effect"

Fact One: Pictures of dead or people bleeding are never a pleasant sight, all the more so when children are involved.

Fact Two: Tens of thousands of people were killed in Gaza, many of them were filmed and photographed and these images were uploaded to social networks and television channels.

Result: The average American Joe, who knows nothing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, sits and scrolls through the feed of his favorite social network and see in video after video and photo after photo, destroyed cities and countless dead people, and from here the path to supporting Gaza is short. He does not have enough time, attention, or interest in studying the subject in depth, reading about the history of the conflict, about Gaza before and after 2005, and he comes from Cancel and Woke culture that has long dismissed the possibility of dialogue with the other side and encourages the cowardly solution to "cancel it," and designate it as beyond the pale.

We were exposed to the mass panic created by social media content and its effects at the beginning of the coronavirus when without the horror videos from China, it is not at all certain that lockdowns, certainly not such aggressive ones, would have been imposed in so many countries around the world.

Ironically, perhaps the most significant factor in creating such a shallow culture of discourse in the United States and the West is social networks, which have immeasurably deepened societal polarization and driven the parties to a monolithic way of thinking and almost complete separation from the opposing camp. When a person does not study a subject in depth and does not hold a dialogue with those with opposing opinions, he refrains from challenging himself, and when he does not challenge himself, he degenerates. Many young Americans are confident in the justice of their path and values, but these perceptions are based on shaky foundations and when someone challenges their worldview, which they have no ability to explain rationally and profoundly, they immediately go on the defensive and react aggressively.

Intellectual autism

The younger generation is completely unaware of the horrors that took place under communism in the Soviet Union and China, and, as has often been the case in history, the students have taken the wrong side.

According to a recent Harvard University survey, nearly 45 percent of respondents aged 18-29, the group that makes up the majority of campus protesters, said they don't know enough about the situation in Gaza to form an opinion, and that was only the respondents willing to admit it.

Their lack of knowledge makes them easy prey for the phenomenon that Hebrew University philosopher Prof. Elhanan Yakira calls "intellectual autism." Academics who believe in radical postmodern and Marxist theories pounce on a single published lie, often using it in their articles, while they and their colleague build interpretation upon interpretation into a mound of lies as if they were absolute truth.

In his book "Industry of Lies: Media, Academia, and the Israeli-Arab Conflict" journalist Ben-Dror Yemini cites several such examples, among them an article published in The New York Times in 2011 by Prof. Joseph Massad of Columbia University Professor Joseph Massad of Columbia University in which he wrote that Netanyahu had called for the expulsion of 1.6 million Arab citizens of Israel in a speech at the UN.  He constructed around this a whole theory about apartheid within Israel, adding that Tel Aviv is the only city in the West where there are no Muslims. Of course, these claims were outright lies, and, accordingly, so too was the theory constructed upon them. Incidentally, Netanyahu's only reference to Israeli Arabs in that speech was to state that "Israel will continue to preserve the full rights of the Arab citizens of Israel."  While lies may not have legs, unfortunately, they do have an effect.

The big question

We should not ignore the dangers and potential impact of the student protests, but it is important that we view them in perspective. Most Americans still support Israel, according to a recent Morning Consult poll. In addition, they would like colleges to ban political demonstrations, and the vast majority support the heads of colleges and universities asking police to protect campuses from violence. While these protests concern Israel in the short term, they are perhaps more relevant to the United States and the West in the long run.

President Abraham Lincoln once said: "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." The question the West must answer is not where it stands in the struggle between Israel and Hamas or the Palestinians, but whether it is capable of fighting forces that threaten to destroy them from within.

The post What is the real motivation behind the pro-Palestinian protests on campus? appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The May 14 Israeli independence celebration and the May 15 Palestinian Nakba commemoration caused competing rallies around the world.

Tensions flared at Tel Aviv University on Monday as students gathered to mark the Palestinian Nakba Day. Hundreds of demonstrators congregated in front of the university gates, holding signs and chanting slogans to commemorate the forced evacuation of Palestinians during the 1948 war and to demand the right of refugees to return. Police maintained a heavy presence between the opposing groups. Activist Yoseph Hadad and right-wing MK Almog Cohen were in attendance, raising Israeli flags across from watermelon-bearing protesters.

Yoseph Haddad is standing against terrorist-suppoters who enjoy freedom in our country protesting right fucking here in Tel-Aviv University. pic.twitter.com/lwswANzeYy

— Adam Albilya - אדם אלביליה (@AdamAlbilya) May 15, 2024

In Haifa, thousands of flag-waving Palestinians marched and called for Israel to end the war in Gaza. Meanwhile, jubilant celebrations broke out in song and dance at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City as Memorial Day ended and Independence Day began. Thousands danced, sang, and prayed for the Jewish state. Many shared videos on X of IDF soldiers near the Gaza border singing the Israeli national anthem, Hatikva.

#IDF #Soldiers on a break sing near the #Gaza border!#Israel #IDFHeroes #AmYisraelChai #Israel76 #BringThemHomeNow #NeverForgetNeverForgive #YomHaatzmaut #YomHaatsmaout #YomHaAzmaut pic.twitter.com/4BZwJnxrXl

— Ora Levitt  חיילת צה"ל  עם ישראל חי (@IDFsoldiergirl) May 14, 2024

Yum HaZikaron (Memorial Day) has ended, and Israel's Independence Day is starting. The Kotal (Western Wall) with celebrations and prayers for the Jewish state pic.twitter.com/agKhA6Qjyq

— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) May 13, 2024

In London, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign posted on its website a call to "take collective action in your workplace to stand in solidarity with Palestinians resisting the ongoing Nakba." It instructs readers to "Discuss with your colleagues what kind of action is best suited to your workplace and its circumstances." It recommends organizing a lunchtime walk-out in solidarity with Palestinians or a film screening to educate colleagues about the Palestinian struggle. It asks readers to circulate a petition calling on employers to speak up in solidarity with Palestine or for the divestment of pension fund holdings from companies complicit in Israel's attacks.

On the Jewish state's 76th Independence Day, President Joe Biden wrote in a letter to President Isaac Herzog, "The United States is proud of our enduring relationship with Israel. As the first country to recognize Israel as an independent state in 1948, our bonds are underpinned by shared democratic values, common interests, and cultural affinities. In the Wall Street Journal, the Helmsley Charitable Trust took out a full-page ad displaying the 1948 Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, hoping to contrast the growing anti-Israel sentiment in the US and remind readers of the Jewish people's ancient tie to the land.

The State of Israel was established 76 years ago. Throughout those years, Israel and the U.S. have been—and will remain—partners in democracy, their people bound by common values and interests.

The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel: https://t.co/gBEiZT0aev pic.twitter.com/Kc86UJQhFK

— Helmsley Charitable Trust (@HelmsleyTrust) May 14, 2024

The post Independence Day celebrations, Nakba commemorations clash worldwide appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

At a rally in New Jersey on Saturday that attracted a crowd of 100,000, former President Donald Trump voiced his support for "Israel's right to win its war on terror." He claimed the October 7 attack would not have occurred under his watch. Addressing pro-Palestine protests on American college campuses, Trump stated, "When I'm president, we will not allow colleges to be taken over by violent radicals. If you come here from another country and try to bring jihadism, anti-Americanism, or antisemitism to our campuses, we will immediately deport you, you'll be out of that school."

Trump also called on President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party to "return the donations of all antisemites, America haters, and financiers of chaos who have funded the chaos on our campuses." He criticized Biden's decision to "withhold shipping weapons to Israel as they fight to eradicate Hamas terrorists in Gaza," asserting, "I support Israel's right to win its war on terror. Is that okay? I don't know if that's good or bad politically. I don't care. Gotta do what's right."

"You could take the 10 worst presidents in the history of our country, and add them up ... and they haven't done the damage to our country that this total moron has done," Trump said to a cheering crowd. "The gloves are off. He's a bad guy … he's the worst president ever, of any country. The whole world is laughing at him, he's a fool," continued Trump.

While New Jersey is not often a focal point in presidential elections, Trump held a rally on a South Jersey beach near Pennsylvania, likely attracting attendees from the crucial Keystone State. "As you can see, today, we're expanding the electoral maps because we are going to officially play in the state of New Jersey. We're going to win the state of New Jersey," Trump told the crowd. "Millions of people in so-called blue states are joining our movement based on love, intelligence, and a thing called common sense."

However, national outlets like the Cook Political Report rate New Jersey as "solid Democratic," and the state has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988. Trump lost New Jersey by double digits in both of his presidential campaigns.

The post Trump vows support for Israel's 'right to win its war on terror' at NJ rally appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The recent image of a pro-Hamas student at George Washington University brandishing a poster calling for a "final solution" was horrifying. But it was also deeply ironic. Because on the very same campus in Washington, DC, where that Nazi slogan was invoked last month, actual Nazis were repeatedly welcomed in the years before World War II.

In October 1933, Gustav Struve, an official of Nazi Germany's embassy in Washington, spoke on the GW campus under the auspices of the university's German Club. In February 1934, Gerrit Von Haeften, Third Secretary of the German Embassy, visited GW to address the German Club's Valentine party. And in May 1937, two Nazi representatives, the wife and daughter of the German embassy's Chancellor, Franz Schulz, participated in an event on campus sponsored by GW's International Studies Society.

Friendly attitudes toward Nazi Germany appear to have permeated the campus. The visits by Nazi officials proceeded without any sign of objections or protests – unlike, for example, at Columbia University, where hundreds of students held multiple protest rallies when the Nazi ambassador, Hans Luther, was invited to that campus in 1933.

Both the German Club and the International Studies Society at GW held screenings of films that were "procured through the German Consul," according to the student newspaper, The GW Hatchet. At least one of the events also included displays of foreign flags; The GW Hatchet's coverage included a large image of Nazi Germany's swastika flag.

That was in April 1937, four years after Hitler came to power, after the Nazi regime's boycott of Jewish businesses, the nationwide book burnings, the Nazi takeover of German universities, the mass firing of Jews from most professions, and the mob violence against Jews in Berlin and elsewhere. It also was after the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, which stripped German Jews of their citizenship.

Yet The GW Hatchet, which was published by the university, continued to run advertisements from the Nazi government's tourism department and touted upcoming summer tours by GW students to Europe that included visits to Nazi Germany. During those years, GW maintained a junior-year student exchange program with the Nazi-controlled University of Munich, despite the purging of Jewish faculty, implementation of a Nazi curriculum, and mass book-burning at the Munich school.

The Hitler regime viewed such exchanges with American universities as a way to soften the Nazis' image abroad. The Nazi official in charge of sending German students to American universities was quoted, in the New York Times, as describing the German students in such exchanges as "political soldiers of the Reich." But that did not deter GW from participating in the program.

GW was not the only American university to sponsor student exchanges with Nazified German universities, as Stephen Norwood documented in his book, "The Third Reich in the Ivory Tower." But not every American school with ties to Germany turned a blind eye when the Nazis rose to power and took over the country's universities. Williams College, for example, terminated its student exchanges with Germany as a protest against Nazi policies. GW did not.

Some GW students who spent a year at the University of Munich returned with upbeat reports about the new Germany. GW student Mary-Anne Greenough, for example, stated in a 1937 university newsletter that during her year in Germany, she attended the Nazis' celebration of the anniversary of Hitler's failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch; she said she found the event "worthy of admiration."

Some GW faculty who visited Germany during the 1930s likewise came back with positive descriptions of the Nazi regime. Assistant Professor of Philosophy Christopher Garnett, returning from a visit to Germany in 1934, reported to the campus historical society that  the "optimism which permeated the Germans, even those who at first opposed the present regime, is almost unbelievable." Such apologetics whitewashed Nazi outrages and made Hitler more palatable to the American public.

The time has come for the GW administration to acknowledge that it was wrong for GW to invite Nazi representatives to campus and to maintain student exchanges with Nazi-controlled institutions. But that is not all.

In 1985, GW presented an honorary doctorate to Mircea Eliade, a noted scholar of comparative religion. Before Eliade was a scholar, he was a Nazi collaborator. During the 1930s, Eliade authored viciously antisemitic articles in the extremist Romanian periodical Cuvantul, raving about the alleged "Jewish onslaught" threatening Romania. He actively supported the fascist paramilitary group known as the Iron Guard, and when the Romanian government cracked down on Iron Guard activists in 1938, Eliade was among those whom it imprisoned.

After the Iron Guard came to power in 1940, Eliade was appointed as one of its diplomats in London. British officials privately called him "the most Nazi member of the legation." The Iron Guard regime actively collaborated in the mass murder of Romania's Jews. "Particularly gruesome," the US Holocaust Memorial Museum notes, "was the [Iron Guard's] murder of dozens of Jewish civilians in the Bucharest slaughterhouse. After the victims were killed, the perpetrators hung the bodies from meat hooks and mutilated them in a vicious parody of kosher slaughtering practices."

Eliade continued to defend the Iron Guard after the war, praising it in his 1963 autobiography. For some reason, that didn't deter GW from giving him an honorary doctorate in 1985. The time has come to revoke that honor.

Two years ago, public concern over racism in the United States prodded the George Washington University administration to remove the name of its longest-serving president, the late Cloyd Heck Marvin, from the student center because he advocated racial segregation. Last year, the administration changed the school's moniker from "colonials" to "revolutionaries" because of the many injustices associated with colonialism. GW should now show similar sensitivity to the concerns of its Jewish students and faculty.

Ninety years after actual Nazis were warmly welcomed at GW, extremist students on its campus today are invoking the infamous Nazi phrase "final solution" – meaning mass murder of Jews. That's a blatant violation of the GW Student Code of Conduct. Section V (F) prohibits "acting in a way that threatens, endangers, or harasses others, including verbal, written, or any other form of communication." Violators are subject to a range of possible punishments, from a warning to permanent expulsion. It's time for George Washington University to implement its own rules.

Acknowledging the error of GW's friendly attitude toward Nazi Germany in the 1930s, revoking Mircea Eliade's doctorate, and taking meaningful action against today's violators of the Student Code of Conduct is the path to restoring order, and decency, at George Washington University.

The post The Nazis at George Washington University appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

A Florida International University student sparks outrage with controversial remarks made during a prepared statement addressing counter-protests against pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus. "Our police are directly protecting the counter-protesters even at our events," she complains.

Expressing frustration over the persistent presence of counter-protesters, the student  inadvertently reveals the underlying sentiment behind the protests, questioning whether "We – as Arabs, Palestinians, Muslims, and anti-Jewish students – are we not worth protecting?" Notably, the student did not use the term "anti-Zionist," but instead explicitly stated "anti-Jewish," laying bare the basis for their hate.

IWR EXCLUSIVE: An @FIU student complained that "anti-Jewish students" aren't protected during protests.
When the mask slips...

The comment was made during a debate on a 'Ceasefire now' resolution at a student government meeting in February. pic.twitter.com/PcMQBl2MJk

— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) May 8, 2024

The remarks drew immediate backlash. A blogger called The Right Scoop wrote, "Just imagine the outrage if she said 'anti-black'? For some reason, it's okay to say 'anti-Jewish'; that's seen as acceptable when something like 'anti-black' would elicit anger and would have far greater consequences."

The incident has reignited debates around the boundaries of acceptable speech and the perceived double standards in how different forms of prejudice and discrimination are addressed on college campuses and in broader society.

The post The mask slips; FIU student sparks controversy with 'anti-Jewish' remark appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.