College campuses in the United States have experienced an “alarming rise” in antisemitic incidents as pro-Palestinian protests demonstrate against Israel over its response to Hamas’s unprecedented terror attack on the Jewish state, according to an organization that assists the Jewish community with security matters.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
Since the Hamas attack, [Secure Community Network (SCN)] has logged 94 incident reports on college campuses, 15% of the 614 incidents it has logged across the country this month. October 2023 is on track to register more antisemitic incidents than any month ever recorded since the group’s founding in 2004.
Some of these incidents have received significant attention, such as the events at the Cooper Union in New York City last week, when a protest claiming support for Palestine surrounded the school library and pounded on its glass windows, chanting, while a small group of Jewish students watched from inside.
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SCN CEO Michael Masters said in a statement, “The rise in incidents on our college campuses exposes the utterly insufficient response by a disturbing number of educational institutions in response to vocal support for foreign terror groups and rank antisemitism.”
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Following the attack, student groups at colleges across the U.S. — namely Harvard University — expressed support for the Palestinians and even went as far as to suggest Israel was to blame for the assault that killed 1,400 people and left 4,500 injured. Harvard responded tepidly to the student group’s anti-Israel sentiments and defended their freedom of expression despite its lackluster support for free speech on its own campus.
Supporters of Palestine gather at Harvard University to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza at a rally in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 14, 2023. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
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Some college donors, including the Wexner Foundation and private equity titan Marc Rowan, announced that they would cease financial support for Harvard and University of Pennsylvania, respectfully, due to their inadequate condemnation of the terror attack on Israel.
“We are stunned and sickened at the dismal failure of Harvard’s leadership to take a clear and unequivocal stand against the barbaric murders of innocent Israeli civilians by terrorists last Saturday, the Sabbath and a festival day,” the Wexner Foundation said in a letter on October 16. “Since then, many of our Israel Fellows no longer feel marginalized at HKS [Havard Kennedy School]. They feel abandoned. … Our core values and those of Harvard no longer align. HKS is no longer a place where Israeli leaders can go to develop the necessary skills to address the very real political and societal challenges they face.”
The foundation concluded by stating it would cut its “financial and programmatic relationships.”
