Anti-Israel demonstrators vandalized Oheb Shalom Congregation in South Orange, New Jersey, in protest against a talk given by members of the Israeli Air Force’s search-and-rescue unit. Protesters graffitied the driveway of the synagogue and shouted “baby killers” at passersby. Police are investigating the incident as a bias crime.
Jewish New Yorkers showed up to support a popular Israeli restaurant, Miriam, in Park Slope after it was vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti. The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident, and no arrests have been made at this time.
The Binghamton University Student Association Congress issued a statement condemning a recent proposal to divest from Israel. The student government emphasized that it was established to represent all student voices, including Jewish student voices, and expressed that the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement leads to the marginalization of Jewish students.
A bipartisan bill, the Protecting Students on Campus Act, has been reintroduced in the Senate, aiming to strengthen protections for students facing discrimination. The bill would make it easier for students to report civil rights complaints and hold universities accountable. The reintroduction follows the release of data from Hillel International, which reported a nearly 700% increase in antisemitic incidents on U.S. campuses between 2023 and 2024.
Harvard University settled Title VI lawsuits this week which alleged that Harvard failed to protect its Jewish students amid a rise of antisemitism on campus following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. With the settlement, Harvard agreed to take steps towards countering antisemitism on its campus, including integrating the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism into university’s policies, establishing an official partnership with Israeli universities, and providing additional resources for the study of antisemitism.
The start of the semester at Columbia University was marked by anti-Israel protests outside the university’s gates and library, and protesters disrupting a class on the history of modern Israel. The class, taught by Israeli professor Avi Shilon, was interrupted as demonstrators threw fliers that wrote “Crush Zionism” at the students, argued with the professor, and refused to leave.