American adults say by wide margins that top universities are not doing enough to tackle anti-Semitism and support for Hamas hardliners on campus, according to a DailyMail.com/TIPP poll.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents to our survey – 63 percent – said elite schools were failing to meet the challenge of hateful rhetoric. Another 14 percent disagreed and 23 percent said they were not sure.
Our poll comes as top schools have become the focal point of Israel’s escalating military offensive in Gaza, aimed at destroying Hamas militants who killed and captured hundreds of people, mostly civilians, last month.
Rights groups have warned that Jewish and Israeli students face abuse on campuses, where left-wing student groups and professors often side with Palestinians and rail against Israeli oppression.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents said Ivy League schools are failing
Israeli President Isaac Herzog (pictured) wrote a letter to the presidents of American universities and colleges to decry the ‘evil ideologies’ on campuses
In some cases, the rhetoric has expanded to vocal support for armed resistance against Israel, and clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters have led to violence.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog sent a letter Tuesday to the presidents of 700 American universities and colleges, calling for action against rising anti-Semitism on their campuses.
“Each of the institutions of higher education can and must take the lead in the fight against the scourge of anti-Semitism,” Herzog wrote, according to the Jerusalem Post.
“We all know that evil ideologies directed against Jews always signal a much broader intellectual collapse.”
Our survey of about 1,400 American adults found that most Americans agree with Herzog that American schools were not doing enough.
About 41 percent said they felt U.S. schools weren’t doing enough.
Another 22 percent somewhat agreed.
That included majorities in all regions of the US and across all age groups.
Only a narrow margin of respondents – 14 percent – said administrators at American universities had anti-Semitism under control.
Still, almost a quarter of respondents said they weren’t sure the schools got it right.
There was little difference between the attitudes of Republicans and Democrats.
Independent voters were less likely to criticize universities.
American campus activists are roiled by events in Gaza, the Palestinian enclave where Israeli forces are intensifying their effort to root out Hamas, which massacred and kidnapped hundreds of people, mostly civilians, on October 7.
Pro-Palestinian protesters hold back a pro-Israel demonstrator during a protest at Columbia University
American University students attend a campus protest against the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza in Washington DC
Pro-Palestinian activists have organized campus rallies against Israel’s coastal blockade and a military campaign that has already killed more than 10,000 Palestinians.
In some cases, these have led to harassment and intimidation of Jewish and Israeli students at those schools.
Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, became the latest American university to be hit by the plague, after a student posted threats online to “bring an assault rifle to campus” and slit the throats of Jewish men and murder Jewish women. rape.
Cornell student Patrick Dai, 21, has been charged with threatening to kill or injure through interstate communications, prosecutors say. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
A Jewish student was reportedly attacked as he passed a group of activists organizing a pro-Palestinian rally on the campus of Pomona College in Claremont, California, last month.
Russell Rickford, a professor of history at Cornell University, has been lambasted for calling Hamas’ deadly attacks on Israel “exciting” and “energizing.”
In New York City, a small group of Jewish students had to hide in the library and later flee through a side entrance as pro-Palestinian activists gathered outside, banging on windows and shouting.
Since the Hamas attacks and subsequent conflict, nearly 100 incidents of anti-Semitic violence or intimidation have been recorded at American colleges and universities.
Colleges have come under fire for tolerating strong criticism of Israel’s policies.
Schools including Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania have lost donors and partnerships over statements deemed anti-Semitic or insufficiently supportive of Israel.
Two groups that monitor attacks on Jewish Americans – the Secure Community Network (SCN) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) – have told DailyMail.com of an alarming rise in incidents on campuses across the US.
Advocates for Palestinian Arab and Muslim Americans also express similar concerns.
Since the Hamas attacks and subsequent conflict, approximately 100 incidents of anti-Semitic violence or intimidation have been recorded at American colleges and universities.
The Department of Education wrote to schools and colleges on Tuesday to tackle discrimination, including against those who are Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab or Palestinian, saying they could lose federal funding if they don’t.
Education Minister Miguel Cardona said there has been an increase in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents, including “egregious acts.” He told CNN the department would help investigate.
“If we ultimately have to withhold dollars from a campus that refuses to comply, we would do so,” Cardona said.