Hundreds of Israeli Academics Condemn Trump for Exploiting Antisemitism to Target Universities
Haaretz
Apr 17, 2025 3:51 pm IDT
Over 200 Israeli academics signed an open letter published on Thursday, accusing U.S. President Donald Trump of "fostering anti-Jewish sentiment" and cynically exploiting the fight against antisemitism as part of his administration's crackdown on Columbia University and other academic institutions.
The letter expressed alarm over the persecution of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students and faculty, including illegal arrests and threats to deport activists without specific charges or due process.
The academics wrote that "such draconian moves do not protect us," denouncing the "cynical use" of antisemitism to justify these measures. They argued that the actions do not protect Jews, but instead "single out Jews as a homogeneous group to be protected at the expense of other marginalized groups and minorities," accusing the administration of "fostering anti-Jewish sentiments, easily lending itself to chauvinistic, exclusivist, and racist tropes."
"We condemn the weaponization of Jewish students' safety as grounds to silence, harass, suspend, punish, or deport pro-Palestinian members of U.S. academia," they added.
The U.S. activists protesting the war in Gaza and supporting Palestinian rights were described by the Israeli academics as providing "much-needed moral clarity and courageous leadership in condemning and demanding an end to the unprecedented and ongoing atrocities against the Palestinian people in Gaza."
Regarding funding cuts, the letter rejected "the manipulation of the U.S. Civil Rights Act to justify deep cuts to university funding" – cuts that they say will devastate many vital research programs supporting thousands of researchers that benefit society.
"As Israelis who also witness similar oppression in Israeli universities, we know that silencing campus protests, free research, and exchange of ideas threatens key academic values like freedom of speech and free association," they wrote, adding, "We stand alongside our colleagues firmly against this dangerous assault on academia."
This week, Mohsen Mahdawi – a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University and former co-president of Columbia's Palestinian Students Union – was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday during what was supposed to be a naturalization interview in Burlington, Vermont.
Last week, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can be expelled from the U.S. as a national security risk, during a hearing over the legality of deporting the activist, who had participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
On Monday, the Trump administration froze over $2 billion in funding to Harvard – just hours after the university announced it would not comply with a list of White House demands related to its campaign against antisemitism.
Announcing the move, the administration's Joint Task Force on Combating Antisemitism said: "Harvard's statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges – that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws."
Harvard President Alan Garber, in a letter to the Harvard community Monday, said, "No government – regardless of which party is in power – should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue," adding that the university had undertaken extensive reforms to address antisemitism.
Apr 17, 2025 3:51 pm IDT
Over 200 Israeli academics signed an open letter published on Thursday, accusing U.S. President Donald Trump of "fostering anti-Jewish sentiment" and cynically exploiting the fight against antisemitism as part of his administration's crackdown on Columbia University and other academic institutions.
The letter expressed alarm over the persecution of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students and faculty, including illegal arrests and threats to deport activists without specific charges or due process.
The academics wrote that "such draconian moves do not protect us," denouncing the "cynical use" of antisemitism to justify these measures. They argued that the actions do not protect Jews, but instead "single out Jews as a homogeneous group to be protected at the expense of other marginalized groups and minorities," accusing the administration of "fostering anti-Jewish sentiments, easily lending itself to chauvinistic, exclusivist, and racist tropes."
"We condemn the weaponization of Jewish students' safety as grounds to silence, harass, suspend, punish, or deport pro-Palestinian members of U.S. academia," they added.
The U.S. activists protesting the war in Gaza and supporting Palestinian rights were described by the Israeli academics as providing "much-needed moral clarity and courageous leadership in condemning and demanding an end to the unprecedented and ongoing atrocities against the Palestinian people in Gaza."
Regarding funding cuts, the letter rejected "the manipulation of the U.S. Civil Rights Act to justify deep cuts to university funding" – cuts that they say will devastate many vital research programs supporting thousands of researchers that benefit society.
"As Israelis who also witness similar oppression in Israeli universities, we know that silencing campus protests, free research, and exchange of ideas threatens key academic values like freedom of speech and free association," they wrote, adding, "We stand alongside our colleagues firmly against this dangerous assault on academia."
This week, Mohsen Mahdawi – a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University and former co-president of Columbia's Palestinian Students Union – was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday during what was supposed to be a naturalization interview in Burlington, Vermont.
Last week, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can be expelled from the U.S. as a national security risk, during a hearing over the legality of deporting the activist, who had participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
On Monday, the Trump administration froze over $2 billion in funding to Harvard – just hours after the university announced it would not comply with a list of White House demands related to its campaign against antisemitism.
Announcing the move, the administration's Joint Task Force on Combating Antisemitism said: "Harvard's statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges – that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws."
Harvard President Alan Garber, in a letter to the Harvard community Monday, said, "No government – regardless of which party is in power – should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue," adding that the university had undertaken extensive reforms to address antisemitism.
