As we near the halfway point of 2025, the casual acceptance of antisemitism in public life is no longer a social aberration. Political and entertainment figures, often using social media, have normalized antisemitic tropes that long ago evolved from criticism of Israel into outright Jew hatred. What constitutes legitimate political discourse or modernized ancient blood libel is hard to decipher at this point. Conspiracy theories about Jewish influence are persistent and varied, fueling antisemitic discrimination in academic, cultural, and economic spaces on the right and left. Violent incidents and vandalism against Jewish communities continue to rise and are generally met with indifference. While it’s true that some of our leaders condemn antisemitism, others downplay or exploit it for political gain. Even within our own community, there is a lack of genuine unity on what constitutes antisemitism and how we should collectively respond to it.
The recent crackdown on green card holders and foreign-born students who participate(d) in pro-Hamas campus activism have introduced another realm of troubling unknowns for the Jewish community. While these students’ abhorrent and disgusting antisemitic behavior most certainly warranted expulsion from their universities, to face accountability for their actions, it is not a win for our community when “the Jews” are rapidly being blamed for the extraordinary extrajudicial actions by the federal government. Punishing universities by withholding funding for their lack of adequate action against antisemitic agitators and bigots is quite appropriate, but creating a cadre of martyrs on the altar of First Amendment sacrifice only plays into their performative victimhood complex. Furthermore, the emphasis by the government to insist these actions are taking place on behalf of our community puts American Jews and Israel in a dangerous position of being held responsible (itself an antisemitic trope about shadowy government manipulators) rather than feeling more protected.
In lieu of funding loss or a federal law enforcement removal of a suspected pro-Hamas agitator from a campus, there is a simple solution for universities: Legitimately change course. As our alleged halls of scholarship, there is absolutely no excuse for allowing departments to preach revisionist history, modern-day blood libel, coddle out-of-hand activism or refuse to recognize the impact these activities are having on Jewish students, faculty and staff.
We aren’t talking about 12-year-olds who want to stay on their phone until midnight, but grown adults who choose to take risks, make decisions, and are now shocked they are facing consequences for their disruptive, risky behavior that impinges on the free expression of other students. University presidents and boards of trustees should no longer protect those who engage in such behaviors and no longer refuse to enforce their own codes of conduct on campus – by anyone.
While it may sound overly simple, it’s because it is. We never should have reached the point that we are at today.
