US forms task force to battle anti-Semitism, focusing on schools and campuses
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The task force will coordinate its efforts through the Justice Department’s civil rights division.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - The US Justice Department formed a multi-agency task force on Feb 3 to fight anti-Semitism, with its first priority “rooting out” anti-Semitic harassment in schools and universities.
The Department of Education said it was investigating five universities for allegations of anti-Semitic harassment.
The task force follows an executive order and fact sheet from US President Donald Trump last week in which he warned “resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests” that they would be deported,
Mr Trump also pledged to revoke the student visas of what he called “Hamas sympathisers” and directed his Cabinet to familiarise US universities with immigration law against foreigners who pose security threats.
The Education Department said in a written statement that it was opening investigations of anti-Semitic harassment on the campuses of Columbia University, Northwestern University, Portland State University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
The department under the administration of former president Joe Biden had settled with some universities through resolution agreements over alleged anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
But those deals were labelled as toothless by the Trump administration.
It was not clear how those deals would be impacted under Mr Trump.
The department did not respond to requests for comment on that, or whether it plans similar probes over allegations of anti-Muslim bias on campuses.
If the task force “weaponises the power of the federal government to suppress the speech of college kids who have advocated for Palestinian rights, then that is going to run into a wall called the US Constitution”, warned Mr Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Since Hamas’ October 2023 attacks and Israel’s subsequent assault on the Palestinian enclave, pro-Palestinian protests have roiled US college campuses.
The presidents of three Ivy League universities resigned due to criticism over their handling of the protests. Civil rights groups have reported a surge in hate crimes against Jews, Muslims, Arabs and other people of Middle Eastern descent.
The task force, which includes representatives from the US departments of Education and Health and Human Services, will coordinate its efforts through the Justice Department’s civil rights division.
The Council on American Islamic Relations has stated it will monitor the actions of the task force before deciding on any potential legal challenges. REUTERS
