Ann Arbor, MI, USA - October 15, 2023: Palestinian protest on University of Michigan campus. (Shutterstock)
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli urges university heads to take decisive steps to rectify “toxic” environment on campus.
By World Israel News Staff
A senior Israeli official penned a strongly worded letter to the heads of numerous American universities, urging them to take decisive action against anti-Israel protests that have resulted in a hostile atmosphere on campus for Jewish and Israeli students.
“I am writing to you with a deep sense of urgency and outrage regarding the alarming and dangerous radical rise of antisemitism spreading throughout college campuses across the United States,” wrote Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli.
Chikli noted that since the Hamas-led October 7th terror onslaught, antisemitic incidents on college campuses have spiked by an “astonishing” 700 percent.
“This surge of antisemitism echoes the cruel treatment of Jewish university students in Germany during the 1930s,” the minister warned.
Challenging the mainstream narrative that the protesters are calling for a ceasefire, Chikli noted that the demonstrations frequently involve antisemitic and violent rhetoric.
He cited widely-documented examples of Jew hatred at the demonstrations, including incidents in which protesters held banners reading “Long Live the Intifada,” waved Hezbollah flags, and a mob harassing Jewish students by screaming at them that “October 7th will happen 10,000 more times.”
Chikli wrote that “these tropes, slogans, and symbols are not only hateful, they are extremely dangerous. We have all seen how fast these words have escalated and transformed into violent actions,” describing a recent antisemitic assault against a Jewish female UCLA student which resulted in her being hospitalized.
He said that administrators who do not take decisive action “in the face of this growing threat” are “complicit in perpetuating this toxic environment.”
He warned that “Jewish students and faculty are scared for their physical safety, they are harassed, isolated, and attacked; they are forced to hide or leave campus in fear.”
“I urge you to take a firm stand and demonstrate through actions that there is zero tolerance for antisemitism at your institution. The time is now!” he concluded.
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