In an alarming trend sweeping across U.S. universities, anti-Semitic protests are on the rise, creating an atmosphere of anarchy and fear. From Columbia University in New York to the University of Southern California, Jewish students are facing a surge of hostility. The campuses, once bastions of learning and inclusivity, are now witnessing a disturbing wave of anti-Semitic incidents, including verbal abuse, physical attacks, and widespread intimidation.
The White House has strongly condemned these incidents, stating that “calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly anti-Semitic, unconscionable, and dangerous.”
Columbia University has been a hotbed of such anti-Semitic incidents, including a physical attack on a 24-year-old student who was hanging fliers in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on Israel in October (2023).
Many Jewish students had left the campus to celebrate Passover, but the escalating tensions led Rabbi Buechler, the director of the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at Columbia University and Barnard College, to suggest that the Ivy League school was no longer safe for Jewish students. The mood among Jewish students is described as “very dire,” with reports of students yelling horrible things about Jews in general.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, during a visit to Columbia University, condemned anti-Semitism and suggested the possibility of calling in the National Guard to disperse student protesters. Johnson, along with other House GOP lawmakers, called on University President Minouche Shafik to resign, stating, “We just can’t allow this kind of hatred and antisemitism to flourish on our campuses. And it must be stopped in its tracks.”
Johnson's call for the U.S. National Guard to thwart anti-war protests is reminiscent of the 1970s, when officials believed that was the best way to deal with students calling for an end to the Vietnam War. This approach, however, led to tragic consequences at Kent State University in Ohio, where National Guard troops opened fire on protesters, resulting in the deaths of four students and wounding of nine.
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that any anti-Israel protesters on Florida college campuses could face expulsion for any harassing, offensive, or belligerent behavior. DeSantis criticised universities like Columbia and Yale, where he claimed Hamas protesters were allowed to harass Jewish students and faculty.
As hundreds of students have been arrested at various universities across the U.S. for disrupting campus facilities and trespassing, Iran has expressed support for those speaking ill of Israel. "The suppression and harsh treatment of the American police and security forces against professors and students protesting the genocide and war crimes of the Israeli regime in various universities of this country is deeply worried and disgusted by the public opinion of the world," the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on X.