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American Jews indirectly funding anti-Semitism on US campuses, report says

More than a third of Jews ages 18-29 had either experienced anti-Semitism on campus in the past five years or knew someone who had.

By World Israel News Staff

According to a report by Yediot Aharonot, a recent study by the World Zionist Organization (WZO) suggests that anti-Semitic activity on American college campuses is being indirectly funded by U.S. Jewry.

According to the report, billions of dollars in donations were given by U.S. Jews to universities across the country, including those where students have been subject to a rising anti-Semitism, including UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Columbia.

“It cannot be that donations intended for student welfare go toward funding anti-Semitic activity. I will turn to the heads of the Jewish groups in the U.S. so that the checkbooks are closed to places that continue this behavior,” said Yaakov Hagoel, Vice-Chair of WZO.

In October, the American Jewish Congress revealed that more than a third of Jews ages 18-29 had either experienced anti-Semitism on campus in the past five years or knew someone who had.

A study by Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs found that attacks on Jewish students during 2019 were reaching record highs on campuses, and were increasingly linked to anti-Israel activity.

In reaction to the alarming rise of anti-Semitism on university campuses, President Donald Trump signed an executive order in December stating that anti-Semitism would be covered under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin.

It adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism, which includes holding Israel to a higher standard than the rest of the world and calling the state “a racist endeavor” – common themes among BDS supporters.

Universities that do not stop such anti-Israel activities that fall under the IHRA definition will face defunding by the U.S. Department of Education as a result of the president’ order.