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NEW ADL REPORT: How anti-Israel activists on campus and elsewhere in U.S. amplify terror propaganda. Since Hamas’ 10/7 attacks, analysts from the ADL Center on Extremism have tracked how U.S.-based anti-Zionist activists and groups, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters, are amplifying propaganda from Palestinian Foreign Terrorist Organizations and others. Dig into the report
for examples, including cases where SJP chapters have shared quotes and videos from Hamas representatives.
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Cooper Union. After a lawsuit by Jewish students who said that Manhattan’s Cooper Union tolerated antisemitic harassment, the school has agreed
to significant policy changes. The incidents included a particularly alarming moment when Jewish students were forced to barricade themselves in a campus library as angry anti-Israel protesters pounded on the doors and shouted at them. Under the settlement, the college will explicitly recognize discrimination based on pro-Israel beliefs as a violation of its policies and restrict masked protests. The school will also appoint a Title VI coordinator and mandate campus-wide training on its nondiscrimination policies, including on when protesting against Israel crosses the line into antisemitism. ADL
commended the agreement, noting it "will help ensure a safer environment for students, staff and faculty.”
DEEPER: Read ADL’s Six Asks for the concrete policy actions campuses can take to address antisemitism and better protect Jewish students, faculty, and staff.
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Anti-Israel protesters outside Cooper Union library in October 2023. (Image source: FOX 5 video | YouTube) |
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Georgetown. United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has been cut loose from any official affiliation with Georgetown University, where she had long been an affiliated scholar. School rules bar relationships with people sanctioned by the U.S. government, and Albanese has been sanctioned for what the
State Department termed “political and economic warfare” against the US and Israel. If her name sounds familiar, it may be because ADL and others have long called out her blatant bias. As ADL noted in a letter to the UN,
she “has made inflammatory and antisemitic statements, undermining the principles of impartiality and integrity required of her role as set out by UNHRC resolution 5/2.” You can read more from ADL in “Albanese in her own words.”
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MIT. A Massachusetts District Judge ruled in favor of MIT this month in the case Sussman v. MIT
, in which two MIT students alleged that during the height of the encampment movement, they were threatened because of their Israeli and Jewish identities, exposed to antisemitic graffiti and chants and ignored by the school’s incident response office. The judge did not disagree with the allegations and agreed that MIT’s response “left much to be desired,” but found that the school had not deliberately chosen to do the wrong thing and that the claims did not rise to the severity of a Title IV violation.
👉 TAKE ACTION: Has your family experienced antisemitism? ADL Legal Action Network is designed to provide victims of antisemitism and extremism with access to legal services.
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Courts Draw Limits. Two high-profile campus lawsuits hit roadblocks this week, as courts signaled limits on constitutional protections in volatile university disputes. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to force the University of Florida
to re-admit a law student they had expelled over concerns that his presence on campus created a substantial disruption. The appeals court found that the student’s statements -- including calls to abolish Jews -- were likely not protected speech. Separately, a federal judge denied a University of Kentucky law professor’s request to halt an investigation into his anti-Israel speech.
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How to Study in Israel. Given the tense campus climate for Jewish students at some U.S. schools, a new initiative called The Future is Calling
has been launched to help students and their families better understand Israeli universities. As one leader of the new program explained, there is a ton of interest but “there were huge informational gaps, practical gaps and emotional gaps. People didn’t understand how the system works, what campus life looks like or how their kids would actually integrate.” For example, it’s not all parties and pitas for students in Israel. Israelis often start college later in life, may have kids by that point and are more focused on getting their degree than enjoying campus life.
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Commencement ceremony at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. (Image source: Courtesy of BGU) |
DEEPER: Getting ready to consider colleges and Israel options? One helpful resource about U.S. schools is ADL’s Campus Antisemitism Report Card, which assesses how 135 schools are addressing antisemitism. | 
