A lawsuit was filed today which alleges civil rights violations “due to an antisemitic hostile education environment” at Columbia University and Barnard College according to The Jerusalem Post. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Students Against Antisemitism, Inc., StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice along with several individual Jewish students.
The plaintiffs’ complaint alleges that “Columbia and Barnard’s Jewish and Israeli students have been physically assaulted, spat at, threatened, and subjected to relentless intimidation and vilification.”
In addition, the complaint “further alleges that Columbia and Barnard practice a double standard by which Jewish students are deemed unworthy of the protections afforded to non-Jewish students; hire and promote professors who support anti-Jewish violence and spread antisemitic propaganda; and repeatedly ignore Jewish and Israeli students’ safety concerns, even in the face of intolerable abuse.” (The Jerusalem Post)
The Jerusalem Post article also notes that the US Department of Education is currently investigating Columbia University for Title VI violations.
Unfortunately, the horrific events of October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists brutally murder 1,200 Israelis, raped women and young girls, beheaded and burned babies, and took 240 people hostage, did little to halt the rise of antisemitism at US colleges and universities. In fact, the opposite has been true because antisemitism at institutions of higher learning has been on the rise for some time.
Last year, Pastor Rich Jones rightly observed in an article for Blessors of Israel, “The toxic atmosphere on US campuses has been long in the making. . . . Volatile accusations against Israel of colonialism, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and war crimes, however, are often rooted in a lack of knowledge of history. Instead of colonialism, Israel has found itself on the receiving end of aggression resulting in numerous wars since Israel’s statehood in 1948. Pro-Palestinians on college campuses often chant, ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.’ The meaning is clear, if Palestine will be free from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, the Jews must be defeated and annihilated.”
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was once asked in an interview, “When will the tension between the Palestinians and Israelis end?” Bennett’s reply captures the reality for Jews not only residing in Israel but around the world, when he said, “The answer is simple, tensions will end when they stop trying to kill us.”
The rise of antisemitism among our youth is cause for great concern because these young men and women will become tomorrow’s leaders and influencers.
Will you please join me in praying for Israel and her people?
by Dr. Matthew Dodd | February 22, 2024