American colleges have reported a surge in crimes that appeared to target Jewish and Muslim people this week as the war between Israel and Hamas continues into its fourth week.
Several colleges, from the San Francisco Bay Area to Upstate New York, have seen antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents that prompted politicians and civil rights organizations to speak out about students feeling vulnerable on campuses.
“Let me be clear: we cannot allow hate and intimidation to become normalized,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Tuesday after a Cornell University student was accused of making antisemitic threats at the Ithaca, New York, campus. “As Governor, I reaffirm that there is zero tolerance in New York for antisemitism, Islamophobia, or hate of any kind, and it’s critical we deploy every possible state resource to keep New Yorkers safe.”
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The targeted threats being investigated by officials at campuses around the country include the following.
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Nonprofit and activist organizations for Jewish and Muslim students have condemned the attacks, harassment and intimidation of students since the conflict broke out on Oct. 7.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Maryland office said in an Oct. 11 statement the organization is concerned about Muslim and Arab students reporting more harassment and intimidation incidents as the crisis overseas continues. The organization pleaded with college and high school administrators to devote attention and take action to protect these students and investigate all reports of targeted attacks or threats.
“In this politically-charged environment, many Muslim and Arab students feel increasingly vulnerable and targeted because of their diverse identities,” said CAIR’s Maryland director Zainab Chaudry.
The Anti-Defamation League, a civil rights organization focused on addressing acts of hate and antisemitism, issued a statement on Oct. 25 with the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, urging universities to investigate their chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine to see whether they are possibly supporting a terrorist organization.
“If universities do not check the activities of their SJP chapters, they may be violating their Jewish students’ legal rights to be free of harassment and discrimination on campus,” the statement read.
National Students for Justice in Palestine previously told USA TODAY in an Oct. 18 statement it is troubled by how the ADL has labeled its organization and student chapters. They added the league is “pro-Israel before anything else” and linked part of the statement to a 2019 opinion piece by the magazine Jewish Current on the ADL.
“As for the ADL labeling our organization antisemitic: they have zero credibility to decide what is and isn't antisemitic,” National Students for Justice in Palestine said. “ADL director Jonathan Greenblatt has claimed that anti-Zionism – opposition to Zionism, a political project of the late 19th century – is equivalent to antisemitism.”
The American Civil Liberties Union responded to the ADL’s letter, sending a similar letter to hundreds of colleges and universities, urging leaders to reject calls to investigate pro-Palestine student groups “for exercising their free speech rights.”
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