Anti-Semitism in American Universities… Expelled from student councils and clubs after experiencing hate speech
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 14th (local time) that as anti-Semitism has spread in the United States in recent years, Jewish college students are being excluded from various university activities or exposed to hate speech.
According to the Anti-Defamation Alliance, a Jewish human rights group based in New York, hostile acts such as vandalism, intimidation, and swearing against Jewish students on universities tripled from 47 in 2014 to 155 last year.
According to the WSJ, the University of Vermont, Wellesley University, and DePaul University have expelled Jewish students who support Israel from school clubs and study groups. Tufts University, University of South California, and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) tried to block Jewish students from student government activities or to strip Jewish students of student government positions.
Last spring, Jewish student groups surveyed 1,027 Jewish students from 160 schools, and 16 said they had been spit on because they were Jewish. Half of the respondents reported being verbally insulted and hiding their religious identity.
Anti-Semitism with a strong racist character is often mingled with anti-Zionism with a strong political character (against the Israeli occupation of Palestine). Criticism of Israel’s Palestinian policy leads to condemnation of the Jewish race. For example, earlier this year, graffiti was found on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus targeting Jewish student groups, saying, “They all have blood on their hands.” Ruth Tessis, a senior at the university, told the WSJ, “Accusing all Jewish groups on campus as Zionists is the same as blaming them for being Jews.”
According to the nonprofit Jew on Campus, over the past two and a half years, more than 1,000 Jewish students at 550 universities in the United States and Canada have reported being expelled from study groups or academic clubs for openly supporting Israel. The number of cases reached 2208.
Because of this, the WSJ reported that Jewish students hide their water bottles with Hebrew phrases or accessories in the shape of the Star of David (Jewish symbol) and do not express their opinion that they support Israel even on social media. “They’re choosing silence,” said Julia Jessie, a senior at the University of Chicago.
In August, the Palestinian human rights advocacy student group Students for Justice in Palestine passed a bylaw banning Zionist speech in student clubs at eight law school chapters, including the University of California at Berkeley Law School. Charlotte Aaron, a student at Berkeley Law School, said, “The logic is that Zionists who believe that Israel has a right to exist are the same kind of people who take ethnic cleansing for granted, so there is no need to associate with them.”
Berkeley Law School dean Erwin Chemlinsky called the bylaws anti-Semitic, but said that the school’s overturning them violated the First Amendment’s freedom of expression.
The rising trend of anti-Semitism in universities coincides with the spread of anti-Semitism throughout American society. Last year, 2,717 incidents of anti-Semitism were reported across the United States, a 34% increase from 2020. This is the highest since the survey began in 1979.토토사이트
In recent years, even celebrities have been embroiled in anti-Semitism controversies. Famous hip-hop singer Yeh (Kanyei West) made anti-Semitic remarks in October, and on the 1st, his account was suspended for uploading an image of Hakenkreuz (Nazi symbol) and the Star of David combined on Twitter. American NBA star Kyrie Irving also had his sponsorship contract with Nike canceled after he uploaded a film containing anti-Semitic content in October. Former President Donald Trump also caused controversy on the 22nd of last month by having dinner with Ye and white supremacist Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.