Biden Launches Initiative To Combat Antisemitism On College Campuses Amid Israel-Hamas War

Topline

The Biden Administration is offering new resources to colleges amid a rise in antisemitism brought on by the Israel-Hamas war, according to multiple reports, including partnerships between federal and campus law enforcements to track hate speech.

US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (not seen) hold a joint press … [+] conference at the White House in Washington D.C., United States on October 25, 2023. (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Anadolu via Getty Images

Key Facts

More than 200 security experts at the Department of Homeland Security have been deployed to work with schools to monitor and prevent antisemitism, NBC News reported, citing a White House official.

The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has also updated its discrimination complaint form to include language stating that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits antisemitism and Islamophobia, and will expedite investigations of the complaints.

On Monday, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will also meet with Jewish organizations about the issue, and later in the week, Cardona and White House domestic policy advisor Neera Tanden will host a discussion on the issue at a college campus.

The Education Department is reportedly planning additional visits at schools in New York City and Baltimore this week, and has already made stops at schools in San Francisco, Maine and St. Louis.

Tangent

The Biden Administration has ramped up its outreach to Muslim and Arab communities as it has faced criticism accusing the White House of appearing less concerned for Palestinians amid Israel’s counter-attacks. Biden’s speechwriter sat with Arab and Muslim leaders to review an address he delivered earlier this month and ensure it was inclusive of language condemning Islamophobia, according to NBC News. Members of Congress have also expressed concerns to the Biden Administration that some of their Muslim and Arab constituents feel abandoned by it. “We had great concerns with what we saw at the beginning [of the war]

,” former president of the American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine, told NBC. “We thought the messages were as if we were totally left out” and “going totally for the other side, as if we never existed.”

Key Background

Heated debates and protests have broken out on college campuses amid the Israel-Hamas war, including antisemitic threats at Cornell University over the weekend, according to New York State Police, and tensions between students and staff at Harvard University after a coalition of student groups wrote an open letter blaming Israel for the attack by Hamas. A pro-Palestinian student group at George Washington University also projected anti-Israel messages onto a campus building last week, and there were walkouts last Wednesday at dozens of colleges and universities in support of Palestinian people. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ordered two state universities last week to ban the pro-Palestinian student group Students for Justice in Palestine and on Sunday accused them of “link[ing] themselves to Hamas,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press, adding “they should not get one red cent of taxpayer dollars.”