US to Define Anti-Israel Campus Activity as Anti-Semitism

The US will define on-campus anti-Israel activism as a form of anti-Semitism, in accordance with the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism.

By: Jackson Richman/JNS

At the same time that the US Department of Education is reopening a seven-year-old case concerning Rutgers University allowing discrimination against Jewish students, the agency is expected to adopt a new definition of anti-Semitism.

In doing so, Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights Kenneth L. Marcus said that the Obama administration neglected evidence suggesting that the New Jersey state school aided and abetted a hostile campus for Jewish students, according to The New York Times, which first reported Tuesday’s move.

In his role, Marcus, who founded and led the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, leads the office that enforces civil-rights laws prohibiting schools from discriminating based on ethnicity, color, race, disability, national origin and age.

The Education Department will be using the US State Department’s working definition of anti-Semitism.

Groups such as the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) and the Zionist Organization of America, which filed a complaint against Rutgers, praised the move.

The complaint alleges that a Jewish student was physically threatened by the outreach coordinator of the university’s Center for Middle East Studies, who posted anti-Semitic comments about the student on Facebook. Another claim points to a Jewish student being physically harassed by other students on Facebook.

Finally, at an anti-Israel event titled “Never Again for Anyone,” an anti-Israel student group called “Belief Awareness Knowledge and Action” discriminated against pro-Israel and Jewish students by imposing and selectively enforcing an admission fee solely against them.

‘Gold Standard for Identifying Manifestations of Anti-Semitism’

Alums for Campus Fairness (ACF) responded that “while free speech is essential on campus, hate speech is something that must be addressed directly. Many countries all over the world recognize the challenges that face the Jewish people and therefore have recognized this working definition [of anti-Semitism]. We wholly support this effort by the DOE, and hope this will be utilized and applied in the face of those who alienate the pro-Israel and Jewish community on campus.”

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, director of the AMCHA Initiative, said “the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, used by our own State Department to identify incidents of anti-Semitism across the globe and endorsed by more than 50 countries, is the global gold standard for identifying all current manifestations of anti-Semitism—both classic anti-Semitism and the brazen, in-your-face, Israel-related anti-Semitism that we see more and more of on campuses these days.”

“In fact, our research demonstrates that while incidents of classic anti-Semitism continue to outnumber incidents of Israel-related anti-Semitism, it is the Israel-related incidents that are significantly more like to contribute to a hostile campus for Jewish students,” she continued.

“The IHRA definition accurately and appropriately captures how anti-Semitism is expressed on college campuses today, and we commend the Department of Education for using it.”

Sarah Stern, founder and president of Endowment for Middle East Truth, told JNS: “EMET is extremely grateful to Kenneth Marcus, an outstanding defender of civil rights, for using the State Department definition of anti-Semitism, which includes examples of demonizing and placing a double standard upon Israel. For far too long, Jewish students on campuses have been subject to harassment and discrimination simply for supporting the State of Israel.”

Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs, an international Israel education organization, said “we believe in open debate about Israel, freedom of speech and protecting students from discrimination. That is why we fully support the DOE in adopting the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. The E.U., Canada, US State Department and most of the organized Jewish community already use this definition. The campaign against it is a cynical effort to shield anti-Israel and anti-Semitic extremists from accountability for their hate.”

Earlier this year, the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act was introduced in both houses of Congress. If enacted, it would require the Department of Education to adopt the State Department definition in determining whether certain incidents may violate anti-discrimination laws like Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.