Praise for Trump’s effort to combat anti-Semitism on college campuses

Anti-Semitic graffiti on The Rock at the University of Tennessee in September.

As anti-Semitism grows on college campuses, with an increasing number of Jewish students feeling intimidated and harassed for their pro-Israel views, the Trump administration has taken an important step toward combating the problem. And the president’s action has met with praise from some of America’s top Jewish groups.

Following Trump’s decision to sign an executive order regarding anti-Semitism, The Jewish Federations of North America, said “The Jewish Federations of North America welcomes the new executive order, which adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Association definition of anti-Semitism.

“The executive order is modeled on language in the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which has benefited from bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress and formalizes a definition of anti-Semitism that can be used in discrimination cases throughout federal agencies. It bolsters tools that help prevent discrimination on college campuses, which have been hard hit by a near 90 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents over the past three years. It is deplorable that Jewish students continue to experience hate and hostility. These new tools are not inconsistent with First Amendment protections, which we will continue to uphold and defend.”

The Anti-Defamation League, which has come to be thought of as a liberal Jewish organization, said it “welcomes the Executive Order issued Dec. 11 indicating that the Trump Administration will interpret a key federal statute prohibiting discrimination in programs receiving federal financial assistance to encompass anti-Semitic conduct.

“Anti-Semitism on campus is a critical issue and we at ADL have supported bipartisan efforts to improve the federal tools to combat it for years,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO and a former Obama administration official. “In a climate of rising anti-Semitism, this Executive Order provides valuable guidance on anti-Semitism, giving law enforcement and campus officials an important additional tool to help identify and fight this pernicious hate. It also reaffirms protection of Jews under Title VI without infringing on First Amendment rights. These are all important steps forward.”

Nonetheless, Trump’s decision has been misrepresented by his critics in general, with left-leaning Jewish groups and Jews on social media complaining that this new measure singles Jews out in a negative way. One Southern Jewish community leader, however, who dislikes Trump, complained that these critics are so blinded in their animosity toward the president that they can’t even give him credit when he does something good to benefit Israel or the Jewish people.

Anti-Semitic incidents and demonstrations, which are designed to threaten and intimidate Jewish students, deny their right to free speech, and suppress advocacy for the Jewish state, continue to grow on college campuses. Even in the Deep South, where historically such problems have been less frequent than in other parts of the country, incidents have occurred at the University of Tennessee, Emory University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, among other campuses.

Such incidents are often the result of activities by pro-Palestinian and Muslim groups and their allies on the left and far-right hate mongers. 

“The Nation of Islam, or far-right extremists denying the existence of the Holocaust, for example, may not have had their geneses at universities, but their speakers and advertisements have found fertile ground there,” explains ADL. “As students form their sense of self at college and seek a niche in the world, some are especially vulnerable to hatemongers who either stir their developing political passions or couch bigotry in academic terms designed to appeal to their intellectual curiosity.”

“The Trump administration deserves to be commended,” said one of the South’s Jewish Federation directors. “This is a problem that has grown significantly over the past 10 years and it needs to be fought aggressively.”