The move follows a burst of antisemitism around the world that came in the wake of last year’s Hamas infiltration and attack in southern Israel and the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip.

The non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism was adopted in 2016 by IHRA, an intergovernmental organization made up of more than 40 countries that seeks to promote Holocaust education and awareness worldwide.

The organization defines antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

CAMERA on Campus denounces the unprofessional and abusive ad hominem attacks on a Jewish student by Indiana University associate professor Benjamin Robinson in The Herald-Times.

On December 8, an Indiana University student authored an article at The Herald-Times expressing concerns over the actions and rhetoric of anti-Israel extremists on campus. The article carefully laid out why she felt the rhetoric and symbolism being used was antisemitic. In doing so, the student exemplified the type of behavior society expects from university students: critical thinking, reasoned debate, and civil dialogue.

A week later, the same paper published a response to the article by Robinson. Instead of engaging with the issues raised by the student, Robinson resorted to ad hominem attacks, baselessly attributing malicious motives and beliefs to the student. Such rhetoric directed by a professor against a student is particularly deplorable. Given the increasingly hostile environment for Jewish students on campuses, including at Indiana University, faculty should be promoting respectful discourse, not personal attacks.

We call on university administrators to condemn Robinson’s behavior and to take any appropriate disciplinary action. Furthermore, we call on the university to take tangible action toward reestablishing a respectful environment conducive to higher learning and open dialogue for all community members, including Jewish students, faculty, and staff.

As students, many of us shape our political opinions from news sites/articles, and when these headlines are biased or straight out incorrect, we form an opinion of a situation when in reality only half of the story has been presented. This is the case on my campus – University of Birmingham – since October 7th 2023. The biased reporting of the war has led to opinions on campus that Israel is a ‘genocidal’ and ‘apartheid’ state, as these common buzzwords are often used, and as a result they are repeated during the protests we have.

Evidence of the link between biased media and campus antisemitism is seen through the most recent CST report, reporting a 22% increase in campus antisemitism over the past two academic years, with the rising occurrence of antisemitic events continuously coinciding with when Israel/Gaza tensions have been higher.

In the polarized political landscape of today, the old saying “two Jews, three opinions” rings truer than ever before. Jews can never seem to wholeheartedly agree on one thing. While this diversity of thought benefits our people greatly, it also poses major internal threats.

After Hamas’s murderous rampage on Oct. 7, 2023, the State of Israel and world Jewry saw a large wave of unity emerge against this clear genocidal threat. However, this new era also emboldened the extremists in our midst.

The Horseshoe Theory, which suggests that the far left and far right of the political spectrum often converge despite their ideological differences, is evident in the Jewish community with the strategic alignment between two groups: the Neturei Karta and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

The Neturei Karta is an ultra-Orthodox anti-Zionist group and JVP is a progressive, secular organization, who both share an arguably pathological opposition to Zionism.

A February 2024 article in the King’s College London student newspaper attempted to utilize South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (IJC) as a basis for criticism against Israel. However, in doing so, the article consistently misrepresents the character and meaning of international law to further political narratives. Of particular concern was the portrayal of “plausibility” — to which the author claimed the “charge of genocide has been considered ‘plausible’ by the court.”

Although the article’s mistake is understandable, given that reputable sources were similarly confused, it is essential to clarify that the plausibility test in the ICJ is not meant to determine whether the claims asserted by South Africa were plausible.

When American Jewish community members established Brandeis in 1948, they sought to provide Jewish students, along with people from all marginalized communities, with a refuge from the discrimination embedded in the college admissions process.

Given the institution’s awareness of American Jews’ vulnerability, it should be no surprise that former President Ron Liebowitz immediately and unequivocally condemned the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks.

Liebowitz stands out among his counterparts both for denouncing these atrocities and for his navigation of the challenges since that horrific day. I hope that Interim President Arthur Levine continues Liebowitz’s legacy.

The administration has protected Jewish students and preserved the namesake’s core value of free expression on a divided campus. University administrators across the country should take note and replicate this successful model or risk tolerating a hostile environment against Jewish students, faculty and staff.

Pro-Palestinian protests have re-occupied college campuses across the country, again capturing headlines. Saturated with calls to “Globalize the Intifada” and “End the Occupation,” these demonstrations have become regular in major American universities and cities. The movement has used social media to amplify its messages and extend its reach to Gen-Z students, which is having a considerable effect on the campus climate.

Consider that #FreePalestine is used in 35 million videos on TikTok and 11.1 million posts on Instagram, about 28 times more than #StandwithIsrael. Compared to previous generations, adults ages 18-29 are more likely to say their sympathies lie either entirely or mostly with the Palestinian people and have a more favorable opinion about them.

The response from Duke’s ACIR? Weak, ambiguous, and alarmingly open to entertaining the baseless accusations of apartheid and genocide. Instead of dismissing the petition outright for what it is – a biased and discriminatory attack against Israel and Jewish students – the ACIR has chosen to deliberate on it, lending credibility to a campaign rooted in antisemitism.

The federal and state response

Fortunately, some leaders outside academia are taking a stronger stance. On November 27, Representatives Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) introduced the bipartisan Protect Economic Freedom Act, which aims to cut federal funding to colleges and universities that engage in non-expressive commercial boycotts of Israel.

“Now more than ever, we must take the necessary steps to protect our Jewish community,” said Gottheimer.

Indeed, with antisemitism on United States campuses skyrocketing since the October 7 massacre in Israel, this legislation is a timely and necessary intervention. Nearly 75% of Jewish students have reported experiencing or witnessing antisemitism in recent months.

Duke University, which received $649 million in federal funding in FY21 (financial year 2021), would face serious financial consequences if it capitulated to the DDC’s demands. North Carolina’s own anti-BDS legislation, House Bill 161, further complicates matters. Signed into law in 2017, it prohibits the state from doing business with companies that boycott Israel. Should Duke sever ties with Israeli entities or their partners, it risks violating this law, inviting potential sanctions from the state government.

On March 13, an event was held at the City University of New York to celebrate the release of Dr. Maya Wind’s new book, Towers of Ivory and Steel. The event featured Dr. Wind, Professor Nikhil Pal Singh, and Professor Andrew Ross.

The invitation described the book as exposing Israeli universities as “pillars of Israel’s system of oppression against Palestinians,” claiming that “academic disciplines, degree programs, campus infrastructure, and research laboratories all serve the Israeli occupation and apartheid, while universities violate Palestinians’ right to education and violently suppress student resistance.” It portrays Israeli academia as an active collaborator in Israel’s “colonial-settlement project.”

Dr. Maya Wind is a researcher in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia and holds a PhD in Social and Cultural Analysis from New York University. For years, she has ignored Palestinian terrorism against Israel, spreading anti-Israel rhetoric and enthusiastically supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. BDS, which undermines the Jewish people’s right to self-determination and calls for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state, is widely regarded as antisemitic. Like Wind’s book, BDS does not offer sustainable solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Academic freedom is an important value that must be protected. That includes protection against those who would exploit their freedom to undermine academic integrity and the academic freedom of others from within. At Cornell University, that threat is emerging.

The context surrounding this threat has to do with a course being offered at Cornell by an extremist and antisemitic professor, Eric Cheyfitz, entitled “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance.” Cheyfitz is known, for example, for offering a “teach-in” just weeks after Hamas’s massacre on October 7 about “Gaza, Settler Colonialism, and the Global War Against Indigenous People.” In Cheyfitz’s telling, the Jews – who have maintained a presence in their indigenous homeland for thousands of years – were not the indigenous people, but rather the settler-colonial villains.

Christina Harrison, Manager of CAMERA UK hosted a session exploring the challenges faced by University students in a post-Oct 7th world and how CAMERA on Campus actively works to support students to combat misinformation regarding Israel on their relative campuses in the UK, Israel, and the USA.

• 1-3 years of relevant work experience.
• A willingness to relocate and work out of our Boston office.
• Strong event planning skills.
• Strong skills in communications, interpersonal relations, and organization.
• Strong knowledge of history and politics as it relates to the Middle East, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
• Excellent writing/editing skills.
• Fluency in English.
• Graphic design and video editing skills a plus.