wildlife senior staff attorney discuss changes to the endangered species act. then bloomberg talks about the impact the trade war and carrots are having on farmers across the u.s. watch c-span's washington journal live at 10:00 eastern this morning. sunday'so join us for washington journal as we talk about the 50th anniversary of woodstock. education secretary betsy devos criticized the palestinian bds movement which promotes boycotts against israel. the paneldevos, discussed how to combat anti-semitism on college campuses. this is one hour and 20 minutes.

devos: thank you so much, john. i appreciate that and thank you for this important discussion today. i wish the subject need to be discussed at all. discrimination against anyone on the basis of their faith or ethnicity is always wrong. that we have to repeat that refrain today is troubling. it's even more troubling that too many young people perpetrate that kind of discrimination. this administration is committed to stopping it. we stand firmly against the alarming rise of anti-semitism and we acknowledge this reality. jerusalem is israel's capital. [applause] devos: when president trump moved the us embassy to jerusalem it was a historic step towards peace in the region. and peace in the middle east

begins by recognizing israel's right to exist. israel is a light to the region, but we all know it's surrounded by jihadists who embrace people -- evil and who deny israel's existence and violently work to wipe it off the map. i think of my own visits to the holy land. they were indelible experiences that have shaped me in many ways. in visiting my great uncle and aunt in the netherlands and seeing where they had dozens of fleeing jews but behind flower stacks in their bakery during the second world war also impacted me. the atrocities of the holocaust must never again occur. never again. [applause] sec. devos: this administration is committed to protecting israel, our strong ally in the -- and the middle east's only democracy. friend in a committed

the white house and has committed friends at the u.s. department of education. we're pleased to have ken marcus as our assistant secretary for civil rights and read rubenstein -- [applause] and reed rubenstein as our acting general counsel. many of you know both men and their longtime work against discrimination and anti-semitism. one of the most pernicious and prevalent examples of anti-semitism on campus is the campaign known as bds. these campus bullies claim they stand for human rights but we all know bds stands for anti-semitism. we recently made clear at williams college at these kind of efforts are unacceptable. students they are trying to register april israel group but after much anti-semitic uproar, the college council denied the group recognition. we negotiated a resolution

agreement with the college that affords approach israel student group the same rights and privileges as any other student group. there's another issue at duke and unc. i recently directed an investigation of a conference there that may have been funded by taxpayers. we're looking at whether the conference violated grant terms and perpetuated anti-semitism. these are just two examples of what the department of education is doing to protect students from discrimination, discrimination based on actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics and we are intent on ensuring protection for students across the country. we are committed to our partnership with attorney general barr and the department of justice on this issue. i know this discussion will highlight other examples and offer insights on how to continue combating anti-semitism on america's campuses. faith is personal, but it doesn't have to be hidden under a bushel basket to recall scripture. americans have fought and died for the right to live their faith in all aspects of their life.

this administration is and always will be committed to ensuring all believers can live and practice their faith without fear. thank you. i know this conversation will be useful and important. thank you very much. [applause] >> can you all hear me? thank you for that kind introduction, john. i'm so pleased to be moderating this panel on anti-semitism on campus. you can't open the news without seeing an article on a student group not being recognized or a student not being given a abroadndation to study in israel. that incidence of anti-semitism on campus are on the rise.

at the very least i think it's very clear from the past that jewish students are under threat in campus on a way that haven't been in the past. our panel will be discussing the state of play. are we seeing an increase in anti-somatic sentiment or just a rise in reporting? what form is the new anti-semitism taking, as well as looking at what's behind an increase in anti-semitism and what should be done in response. that's a lot of ground to cover in 90 minutes so i would like to introduce our distinguished panelists. jonathan tobin is director or editor in chief of jewish news syndicate where he writes a daily column on domestic politics, israel and the jewish affairs. he's also a regular contributing columnist for the national review, among other national publications. for many years, jonathan wrote a column for "the jerusalem post" titled "views from america or cut america."m

mr. tobin is a graduate of columbia university. alisa is a cofounder of a washington dc litigation law firm. among her many high-profile cases in 2014 she argued before the u.s. report, the case involving whether an american citizen may list israel as a place of birth on his or her us passport. lewin is also president and council of the lewis b brandeis center for human rights, a nonpartisan advocacy group to advance the civil and human rights of the jewish people. miss lewin is a graduate of nyu law school and princeton university. william jacobson's clinical professor of law and director of the security law clinic at cornell law school and is also currently a contributor to the times of israel, where he writes on topics related to bds and the boycotts to israel area before -- israel. before joining cornell he spent 23 years in private practice in providence, litigating business disputes in the securities industry. he is a graduate of harvard law school and hamilton college. charles asher small is founding director and president of the institute for the study of global anti-semitism and policy, a new york-based nonprofit

committed to fighting anti-semitism on the battlefield of ideas. he is currently a visiting scholar at saint anthony college at oxford university. his research focuses on contemporary anti-semitism including the delegitimization of jewishand notions peoplehood. he earned his doctorate from his master's degree from university college london and his bachelors degree from mcgill university. we will start by asking each of our panelists to speak for eight minutes on a topic related to our larger scheme. -- same. theme.er after those opening statements, we will try to get them in dialogue with one another and add comment on current events. mister tobin, would you like to begin? mr. tobin: thank you, it's an honor to be here to discuss how best can combat anti-semitism and it is very encouraging at the department of justice has chosen to highlight this issue and we thank them for that. it is, of course, and are of no

-- it is, of course, no small irony that college campuses are among the places in this country where anti-semitic sentiment has become commonplace and jews feel the most threatened by a culture of intolerance. institutions that are supposed to be strongholds of independent inquiry and progressive values have become the beachheads on this continent for the spread of what the state department calls a rising tide of anti-semitism that has been sweeping across the globe is shocking. but for anyone who has paid attention to the academic world in the last generation, it is hardly a surprise. the reason for this boils down to one key fact: the growing popularity of anti-zionism and the way that ideology has been used to legitimize anti-semitism and to create a hostile atmosphere in academic circles and on some campuses where jews feel not only marginalized but also intimidated and threatened. support for the movement to boycott, depressed, and sanction sanction israel,

bds, has not only gained a foothold in academia but in many university departments, opposition to its discriminatory goal and tactics mark both dissident academics and students as pariahs to be shunned, shouted down or worse, a situation that is particularly threatening to jews. in this generation, anti-semitism has taken on a new form in which israel has become a substitute for anti-semitic, anti-jewish stereotypes that have been handed down through the ages. in discussing this problem, it's vital that we clarify some popular misconceptions. what is anti-zionism and is it as many of its less honest advocates claim, separate and distinct from hatred of jews? anti-zionism is opposition to a jewish state and is focused on activism and advocacy here in the united states and terrorism in the middle east for the elimination of the state of israel. it means singling out the one jewish state on the planet for extinction and making it the only existing national political entity of the nearly 200

represented in the united nations that is the focus of an international movement to erase it from the map and whose birth in a postwar world in which various conflicts gave rise to scores of new nations is considered an original sin which must be reversed. just as important is to understand the contrary to the rationalizations put forward by bds advocates and other opponents of israel. anti-zionism is not criticism of israel or of its current government and its policies. more than 7 million israelis wake up every morning and proceed to criticize their government just as more than 300 million americans wake up every day and do the same about some aspect of their state, local, and federal government. that's life in a democracy. mere criticism of israel is not opposition to the existence of israel nor is it anti-semitic and no responsible person would claim that it is.

but when one seeks to deny the jews the right to a state in their ancient homeland, no matter where its borders might be drawn, to deny legitimacy to their national movement in a way that no other nationalism is to do not them the right to sovereignty in the right to live to peace and self-defense, that is not near criticism, it is prejudice. that is the starting point of any in design is. it is something that is unique to one people in one country. no other people on the planet are treated in this manner or singled out for opprobrium in the way in anti-zionist speaks. it is true that not every ethnic group has achieved sovereign status in their homeland throughout the world but there is no other example of an international movement that is dedicated to eradicating an existing sovereign state

predicated on the notion that his population not only has no right to exert power over its territory but no right to live in it as is the case for jews in israel. to oppose anti-zionism into correctly branded as a form of anti-jewish prejudice is not to espouse a particular point of view about middle east peace process but the conflict between jews and palestinian arabs is complex. over waste these two people have

contended where they readily support many other ethnic national and religious groups, practicing a unique kind of bind. anti-zionismlight, and the bds component are not the prateek of any israeli policy or politician nor is the purpose shifting israel's borders. as advocates make clear in the literature and websites, it is to deny the judas rights that no one thinks avenue denying to others. the term as such, a form of discrimination in the term of arc against jews is anti-semitism. while it is possible to make academic critiques it takes on an error of legitimate debate, advocacyce, illustrates that it is indistinguishable from forms of

anti-semitism. raised which to reverse the nearly 71 years of israeli nationhood but to a race thousands of years of jewish history and faith. they think a lot is really actions and judge them not just by double standards but to no other democracy or any other middle east country but seek to maliciously compare it to nazi germany. they treat the one nation linked to judaism as a legitimate but ignoring the connection between faith and dozens of other sovereign nations. the arguments against israel and particularly its supporters in the u.s. are also straight out of the anti-semitic playbook including themes about jews not buying power including rational support and also accusations of dual loyalty and committing lows and crimes. they are rooted in a kind of demonization of jews that is all

too familiar for students in history. members of congress as well as academics and activists have employed these themes testified both to the growth of this movement and the old wholesome manner of which it is sought to insinuate its ideas into the national conversation. wherever there raised their banners in college campuses or anywhere else, anti-semitic acts in terms of intimidation or violence always follows. ideas in whichf the struggles are seen as linked has enabled some academics to betray the war as somehow analogous to the struggle for civil rights in this country. this false analogy which seeks to employ the language of human rights in order to legitimate eyes rhetoric is rooted in a falsehood.

discriminate not those .hat defend zionism those who spread this form claim their promoting peace but there antithetical and it seeks an outcome that can only be achieved by genocidal war will not submit to the overthrow of the democratic state or the ethnic cleansing of their country. that is true no matter who is .preading this form of hate seen clearly, there is no doubt that those who discourse about israel is anchored in a movement to destroy it and to demonize its people and its jewish supporters are not merely criticizing its government or

speaking out in favor of peace or human rights but engaging in a form of hate that is inherently absent. from thisoceed conclusion to say it must be the policy of the united states and decent people to oppose agitation and violence whether it labels itself anti-zionist or some other set of ideas that masquerades but is progressing in one of the oldest forms of hatred. anti-semitismly operating under a new form prompt. they spreading a big lie. it is imperative that we not only use it as a springboard for auction. but also to deny the cloak of legitimacy with which they seek to close themselves. that is true on college campuses

or anywhere else but it is especially important that we not let those who seek to educate or to deny those who go to college, the right to do so without being demonized, shunned or silenced. thank you. [applause] >> good morning. thank you very much for inviting me to participate in this the summit. it is an honor to be included on this illustrious panel. most people today are able to recognize traditional or classical anti-semitism. anti-semitism we associate with a swastika or the nazis. it is difficult for many to identify anti-semitism, the type jonathan described, the type anti-semitism that is zionism and denies the right of jewish self-determination.

i would like to focus on little bit more on that form of anti-semitism. it is not uncommon today to hear people say i am not anti-jewish, i am just anti-zionist. is that really possible? jews possible to support but oppose scientists. the answer is no. why? because zionism is an integral part of jewish identity. the yearning and desire of jews to exercise their right to self-determination and to reestablish jewish homeland in the land of israel is an inherent in sexual and ethnic jewish characteristic. scientism is a political movement may have originated in the 19th century but this yearningfor zion, the to return to the ancestral homeland, that is thousands of years old, as old as abraham and

the bible. to be a zionist means to support this right of jewish self-determination in the ancestral homeland of the jews. if i celebrate the fact that jews have returned once again to the land of israel, if i celebrate the jewish state of israel exists, i am a zionist. those who opposed zionism denied jews this right. judy apparel, the father of daniel pearl has coined a term. he calls it zion phobia. an irrational fear or hatred of a homeland for the jewish people. the international holocaust remembers alliance rooted definition includes as an example of anti-semitism -- denying the jewish people their right to self-determination. claiming the existence of a state of israel is a racist endeavor.

the definition recognizes that xina phobia denying this fundamental core jewish belief is de facto anti-semitism. my maternal grandmother was a six generation to relisten my. grant sessions came to live in jerusalem not because there were some modern state of israel but out of this deep sense that jews, that is their home. this yearning for zionism is the glue that cap these jews together. for centuries, they have faced jerusalem but pray to return to the jerusalem. jerusalem.n it is heard every year and again to the conclusion of yom kippur. do you know that over half of the 600 13 commandments, relate to the land of israel and can only be fulfilled in the land of israel.

the jews connection to the land is so strong that the thousands of years, wherever jews lived, they have played for rain, not where they reside but in the land of israel. this essential component of jewish identity is now under attack. those who did nine jews the right to self-determination, thinner have the right to a jewish state in any order, the criticism is anti-semitic even if it is cloaked in human rights terminology. if you do not believe the jewish state of israel has a right to exist, you are criticism of israel is not intended to inform the policies of the government of israel. it is intended to destroy the jewish state. to accurately identify anti-semitism masquerading as anti-zionism, we must learn to do his thing was between xina folks, those who opposed the

homeland for the jewish people and seek to destroy the jewish state on the one hand and those who genuinely seek coexistence between jew and arab on the other. groups like students for justice in palestine and jewish voice for peace believe the jews have no right to self-determination, no right to a jewish state are not interested in dialogue or compromise. the goal is all limitation. make no mistake about it, what is happening today on campuses and beyond is part of an organized, well-funded strategy to marginalize pro-israel zionists and deny them of place in society. when students were in palestine, in organization, held its annual conference last november at ucla committee posted their goals on the conference on their website. the attituderibed toward zionism.

goal number two, which was titled, re-jeering from mythos to actions said - the aim of this theme is to remind us that zionism is not an insurmountable force. we know that zionism is estimate cleansing, destruction, mass explosion, apartheid and death. that thewent on to say reason we can have hope is that zionism is a human ideology and set of laws that have been challenged and can be destroyed. this it is a reminder that successful challenges that zionism have come from direct action. goals,ng to sgp stated zionism can be broken down and dismantled. however, sgptly explains as a conference they would not just talk. ,ut they would also quote

actionable and regional campaigns with clear targets. you if you are a student group that equates zionism with ethnic cleansing destruction, mass explosion, apartheid and death and your group stated goal is to destroy and dismantle zionism and you plan to develop actionable, local and regional campaigns with clear targets, i targets?who are your pro-israel zionists. what are those campaigns look like? they look like what we saw last year at new york university 153 student organizations representing the entire progressive community on campus pledge not only to support bds and to boycott israel, but to also boycott the pro-israel student groups on campus. meaning, they said they would not engage with or dialogue with

or cosponsor events with the pro-israel students. what message does that conveying to pro -- a pro-israel student at nyu? it is saying to that student, if you want to join our campus community, if you want to be a full-fledged member and demonstrate with our climate change -- women's rights, lgbt rights, we will accept you. on one condition. check your support for israel the door. shed that part of your jewish identity and you can join us. that's no different than amending a student stop observing shabbot or stop keeping kosher. it is comparable to amending it to having student disavow the vatican or a muslim student shed his or her connection to mecca. excluding individual in this manner on the basis of his or her identity is discrimination. this discriminatory conduct is spreading beyond the college campuses. not long ago here in washington,

d..c, organize it for the march inform jewish participants they can wear jewish. paraphernalia, items that express support to israel such a good jewish pride flag were prohibited. whodeck marsh leaders control access to celebrate diversity and inclusion were demanding that jewish zionists hide or shed a key component of their jewish identity in order to participate. no other group was charged such a high price for admission. to protectsigned individuals for harassment and discrimination. lot is up to you from an opinion you find offensive. in the u.s., even hate speech is protected. utilizet to effectively andl tools like title vi,

discrimination -- if we fail to do this, we will not be able to use the tools in our toolbox. if we permit administrators and university campuses and the general public to perceive this in situation s of political disagreement, we are each side takes offense, we disable our most potent weapon. ostracizing marginalizing and not a speech issue. it is racist and unlawful conduct and it must be from front to as such. students must understand what they are experiencing is anti-semitism and the law can protect them. we have to teach students and parents how to utilize the law effectively to combat sign a phobia and anti-semitism. we must educate our children's that they don't ally themselves with groups that denied and choose the right to self-determination or deny jews the right to a stress scientist

part of their jewish identity. it is imperative that the public understand that this denial is racist, discriminatory and anti-semitic whether it comes from non-jews or jews. during the panel discussion, i hope to share the issues and it change the climate on climate and beyond because if we want to ensure that history does not repeat itself, we must recognize that if you isolate and dehumanize scientists and claim that they represent society's greatest evil, you are branding jews with a virtual yellow star of david. and then, what comes next? thank you. [applause] >> thank you. my name is william jacobson.

i am the founder and chief author of legal insurrection website which has covered campus issues specifically with regard to anti-semitism and the bds movement almost daily since 2008. discuss intersectionality. a word attorney general barr mentioned and it is a hot topic on campuses. i would discuss how it was originally formulated, how it has developed into the intellectual justification for the isolation of jewish students on campus and zionist jews in the progressive movement. i only have a short time today so there's a limited town -- amount of detail but i also hope to bring to this presentation by experiences interacting with students both on my campus and many other campuses. you have heard two very

excellent speeches so far, presentation so far. the big take away that you need from this presentation and the other presentations is the isolation of jewish students on campus. because that is the goal, that is the methodology, and that is the single biggest problem that we face. the statements that have been made so far comport with my experiences interacting with students. i started my website in 2008 in began covering the bds movement almost immediately. it really was not until the 2010, 2013 timeframe that bds took off in a serious way on campuses. at that time, there were not many major jewish or pro-israel organizations on the ground and , myuses so i often served website served as a first responder to students who were seeking help. we did that. with that sense of isolation

come of the sense they were being ganged up on was my big take away from those interactions. the term -- intersectionality, it is a very loosely used term. kind of like social justice. it is a buzzword. it has become something of the swiss army knife of progressive campus politics and it is far removed from its origins. it is often described in conservative media as victim olympics, the ordering of victim status based on various identity politics classifications by the end is only a part of it and the popular press part of it. intersectionality provides the intellectual framework and justification for people who would not consider themselves the anti-semitic or even necessarily seek the destruction of israel, nonetheless to isolate jewish students. toxic, a toxic mixture

of racial and identity politics were anti-zionism is the unifying feature among many groups who otherwise have very little in common. it did not start this way. the term intersectionality is widely credited to a 1989 article by my loss of classmate kimberly crenshaw. she recently was awful at columbia. theiginally authored, concept was meant to address the unique problems in her perspective that black women face in training justice in the judicial system. the sex this rumination laws undressed discrimination against women in the race discrimination laws undressed the discrimination against minorities. particular blacks but in her

estimation, none of those lost and none of those legal analyses adequately addressed people in women, who atlack the intersection of multiple identities which were suffering. turnedwords, she intersectionality as something as a way of looking at from a judicial and discrimination law perspective how to better liberate, black women from those two forces of sex discrimination and race this rumination that they the uniquely suffered in her words, black men did not suffer and white women did not suffer because they do not have that intersecting identity. not,er you accept this or there is nothing about intersectionality as originally framed involves politics or israel.

it was a way of looking at how the courts will deal with this termination against people who are in multiple classifications of protected groups. way,long the intersectionality became a buzzword divorce from the original meaning. a 2017 critique in the chronicle of higher education noted that the word had migrated from women's studies journals and conference keynotes into everyday conversation, turning what was once highbrow discourse into #chatter. nowhere has the expansion of politicization of intersectionality been more aggressive and destructive then in the anti-zionist movement, including the jewish design movement. anti-israel academics and activists have seized on intersectionality as a means of building coalitions of people of color against israel which is

portrayed as a white colonialist enterprise with the goal of isolating jews who support israel's rit to exist which of course is the overwhelming majority of jews. it is hard to pinpoint exactly when this happened but certainly goal oference and the bringing race into the attacks on israel, turning israel into an apartheid state, comparing it to south africa as turned intersectionality into not just a judicial philosophy or judicial approach, but an approach of demonizing israel and launching the boycott to vestments and sanctions against israel. see that terminology used repeatedly in and by the anti-israel progressive movement , particularly anti-israel progressive jews on campuses in january. the jewish voice for peace

student never issued a statement on intersectionality which read in part -- we are committed to support palestinian struggle against israeli occupation, apartheid and racism which is bound up with our analysis of the intersection and shargh is due to. anti-jewish bigotry is not equivalent to the structural oppression experienced by students of color. this is what you hear every day on campuses. we need to put together coalitions of students of color, nonwhite student groups and they have to try to use that isolate pro-israel students and zionist students. we have seen multiple times at cornell in 2014. a bbs resolution introduced to the student government which did not get very far. it was tabled before opening discussion. renewed andt was the organizers spent their own estimation two years building a

coalition of students. ,hey introduced the resolution there were 20 or 25 students representing virtually every nonwhite identity group on campus who were endorsing the resolution, the boycott resolution against israel. it was presented that if you want to be supportive of students of color, you must endorse this. movement,ect to the you are hostile to racial minorities. that is one example that we are seeing on campuses. there are many others, perhaps we can get to some of those during the discussion i am happy dues speak with people afterwards. enke. [applause] -- thank you. [applause]

>> do you know how to work this? >> trying to work it. >> you're trying? ok. now i can -- perfect. ok, thank you very much. members of the various departments of u.s. government, special envoy car, distinguish communal, it is an art to be here. today, i will discuss a research project that isgap's engagement. global anti-semitism and policy. academic reacher center and fell into the subject and interest away about seven years ago. i'm happy to be joined by michael, a cpa. a key figure in this seven year project that we engaged in at isgap, follow the money. i work with michael and her colleagues on this product.

ellie roselle said we are living in a time of great urgency. he went on to correct himself saying no we don't, we are living in a time of an emergency. he said this in 2003. moment, we3 to this know things are becoming significant. thatso always taught anti-semitism begins with jews that it never ends with jews. once this form of hatred is unleashed upon society, it knows no boundaries and attacks not only the jews, but also the other parts of the population, other citizens and the very democratic institutions and practices that we hold onto. tragically,

tragically, i'm sad to report, as my colleagues have also referred to, that universities are actually becoming a purveyor of anti-semitism. the very institution that is perhaps the most important for the continuation of democratic principles, educating the next generation, is the spa in which anti-semitism is being purveyed. this project came upon us in an interesting way. one of the vice presidents of the top ivy league university apparently worked for a pharmaceutical company in cambridge, massachusetts. this pharmaceutical company in cambridge, massachusetts was owned by a known person who was not only in favor of the bds, but also had connections to terror.

the vice president of this university actually hired an assistant who works right here in washington with none other than him. for those who studied these issues, we know their connections to anti-semitism, political reactionary islam. they also had connections to terror. it was these sort of network in this university that not only promoted anticipate semitism and the demonization of the jewish people who are in israel but also promoted political islam within the university. thanks to this, and i started to do research on my own and then in a few months worked with michael. michael bass gave a lot of his time and energy. a lot of these findings are his. and michael for seven years has combed through various sources of information all open source from the department of education and other government branches looking at funding. and we can see here in this document that u.s. colleges with

middle east studies department are receiving massive amount of funding from the gulf states. what's interesting in our research and the most important element in our research since probably missing is there are companies,ational large corporations in the united states, domestic companies in the united states that are also funneling lots of money, billions of money into the american universities. and this is a sort of a hole that needs to be understood. here, this is a very important document. groups like the middle east forum and other groups researching the funding of u.s. universities by the muslim brotherhood and political islamists have discovered 300 million, some are speaking about 1.4 million. our research shows that we have accounted for $1.9 billion going to american universities.

and what's fascinating is the undocumented report. the amount that has not been reported. that amount is almost $3 billion that we found. and given our lack of resources, although we tried very hard and we worked diligently, given our limited resources to put into this project and expertise, if we can find $3 billion unaccounted for, imagine what is going on. it's interesting that texas a&m, for example, their budget -- they have a report -- they did not report over $750 million. and their budget and the funding from qatar always matchup in michael's research. the qatari foundation, as we know, is run by or heavily influenced by the muslim

brotherhood, and the memory presentation our colleague from memory, he ran a clip that i was going to run which shows joseph qawadawi literally calling for all true believers to finish the work of hitler. this is where the money is coming from. qawadawi played an integral role in founding islamic studies at oxford. imagine how these ideologies are infiltrating into universities. here we can see only of the findings here. this is from the university in doha city. based on our research, i think a fair assumption to show a ton of funding is coming into the united states proper. that this is an extraordinary finding thanks to the work of michael bass. there we go. i would like to very briefly, i know i'm running out of time,

that we -- i would like to present some other findings. for example, yale university received a $10 million gift from dr. abulla salam kamel. he offered publicly $10 million. $100,000 has been reported to -- by yale university to the department of education. yale university has only reported approximately $2 million, even though they received over $150 million from the world -- since 1983 to 2018, sorry from the middle east. very quickly, recommendations. we argue vehemently, there needs to be an improvement of the reporting mechanisms to the department of education from gifts from foreign sources and also domestic sources and what

they should be reporting in general. inconsistency from the department of education by colleges in foreign operations -- why did texas a&m only begin to report their donations in the last two years? should colleges accept anonymous gifts? this is legal. the law says the country needs to be shown, the country of origin needs to be shown, but not the source. so it's very easy for countries or individuals or nonprofit organizations or governments to use another country as the origin of their gift to american universities. we call upon the government to try to use the ira definition of anti-semitism to conduct academic affairs at the student level, the academic level and at the administration level. we call upon all relevant branches of the government, of all departments with a stake in the future of our education system and the future of our

democracy to engage in a systemic investigation of the funding of american universities by not only anti-semitic sources, but anti-democratic sources. we also call for an investigation into the atmosphere on campus. we're talking about here and the administration, what's taking place in the the classroom. we know that the students for justice in palestine, care, the muslim student association have been disturbing the atmosphere on campus. jewish students are experiencing anti-semitism at alarming rates, at much higher rates than women experience or witness sexism and much higher than african-american experience racism. the statistics are off the chart. and there's a huge discrepancy in age. older jewish americans do not experience anti-semitism at the same level as young jewish americans. and we believe in closing that

the $6.5 billion that this research project through the work of michael bass discovered has to be the tip of an iceberg. and if this is the tip of an iceberg, we call for a proper investigation of american universities and the funding and the funders of hate that is now permeating our most precious institution and our democracy, the education system. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. thank you to all of our panelists. those were extremely thought-provoking comments and give rise to a number of question, at least for me the three sets of question occur to me. one set centers around what is the phenomenon and one set is where did it come from? and the third set, what can be done? we'll turn to the first set first. a number of comments focused on anti-semitism as filtered through anti-zionist movements.

mrs. lewin very interestingly contrasted it with what we think of traditional or classical anti-semitism, swastikas, violence, discrimination against jewish students. are we also seeing that kind of anti-semitism? this side of the table could talk about that. but i would love to hear from anyone who has thoughts on whether we're seeing that side of the anti-semitism to and whether it's also on the rise. >> my experience and observations is that what we typically call right-wing anti-semitism, things like that are mostly anecdotal on campuses. there might be a swastika painted, and in most cases we don't know who painted it, but those are anecdotal. whereas the anti-semitism from the left and the islamist

is more systemic, more pervasive, more organized, and more supported by faculty. a lot of the anti-zionism on campuses and a lot of the isolation of students on campuses comes under the leadership of faculty and that's just a reality. they are the thought leaders, they are the one who have a continuing presence on campus. so in my experience, not to say that there haven't been specific horrible instances of right-wing anti-semitism on campus, but that is not the pervasive problem. it is more the anti-semitism masking itself as anti-zionism that is a pervasive problem in my experience and observation. >> i'd like to -- i think, you know, an earlier panel touched on the questions of free speech. the problem is that people come here isn't that

people come to campuses and say offensive things about israel or bad things about jews even. the problem is when such beliefs whether they're anti-zionists or b.d.f. are institutionalized within colleges themselves that takes partly the role of where faculty are actively promoting anti-zionism, actively making jewish students in classes never mind in campus clubs. it's tough to speak truth to power under any circumstances. it's unreasonable to expect students to speak truth to the power to the people who control their grade. it just doesn't work that way. and it also takes the form of privileging anti-semitic agitation in the form of anti-zionism on college campuses when student groups not only enact b.d.s. resolutions and in most campuses those resolutions have been defeated.

but in the course of discourse, where jewish students are served with fake eviction notices to highlight, you know, false claims about israeli practices where israeli apartheid weeks and apartheid walls depicting israel's measures of security against terrorism are made specifically to make jewish students uncomfortable, to make it -- to make it impossible for them to speak up for israel and to retain their standing on campus as people of good will. that's the problem, where universities prioritize and allow these events to go forward in a way in which they would not allow other student groups to be victimized in this way. that's the problem. not speech. >> just to build on that, too, the initiative, they actually did a study at one point. and while, yes, there is certainly the more traditional anti-semitism on campus, what

you find is that what resonates, what impacts the students the most where they feel the marginalization, the hostility, the fear, the isolation is more in the anti-zionism context. and what's happening as i was trying to explain is that you have students this is a part for them to be jewish. what they're being told if you want to be accepted or function on this campus, you have to either hide or shed that part of who you are. and i mean, you could -- people have an easier time understanding it if you, for example, had a university which created a climate where homosexuals felt uncomfortable because they felt they were be isolated, marginalized, ostracized. that's what you have with zionists on campus. they feel like they can't live in their own skin. >> sorry. i just wanted to comment. i think there is also, backing

up tammy benjamin's research demonstrates and now our research project augments and reinforces your research is that we found funding from middle east studies centers at american universities where that is taking place and where this type of funding that we alluded to here or mentioned here takes place, that where the students for justice of palestine there is more anti-semitic activity on campus affecting students and scholars. i think we also have to realize that the pressure on not just students -- not just students finishing degrees or ph.d.'s or faculty entering into the university and trying to get permanent position and then tenure, there's tremendous pressure not to be perceived as too zionist or too pro-israel because of the atmosphere on campus. and we call this sort of the red-green alliance, the extreme so-called left. i think that the left has

actually abandoned a left wing agenda but we'll put that issue aside. but the extreme green, the islamists,and the -- and the extreme left have sort of entered into this anti-semitic and unholy alliance. they're both opposed to western hegemony. they're both opposed to zionist and neo colonialism that's the rhetoric of this. and they're opposed to everything else in this world view. they are united in their anti-semitism and anti-zionism. and this gives cover for a lot of difficult situations, atmospheres on campus and a whole generation learning at the best universities that israel is somewhat -- somehow at the very least a problem to something that needs to either be reformed or even destroyed. and this is mainstream education, which is fueling general anti-semitism.

>> and what are you seeing in terms of patterns and prevalence in terms of geography in terms of kinds of schools? is it small liberal arts schools where you see it more? if you were a parent for example who wanted to send your child to attend a university where they were less likely to face anti-semitism, what would you be looking for? >> i would say what i tell my students that i'm jewish because my mother is jewish. but when we live in a democracy every generation has to stand up and not only protect democracy, but expand its influence. i would say it's not a question of finding a safe school. i think it's a question for all the communities who care about human rights, the rights of jews, the rights of women, the rights of gendered identity people, the rights of religious minorities, christians, kopps, yeznis, kurds. if you care about basic human rights and democratic and

supposed, i think -- and i thinkic principles, we as a generation and as a society need to protect our education system because if we lose it, we're in serious trouble. >> the frightening fact is that this is not restricted to certain types of universities. and it's not restricted to just universities. the dehumanizing of zionists now is a -- is becoming mainstreamed and it is -- it may have started and we may see it really egregiously on the campuses but it's moving beyond. we now see it in our daily lives outside of campuses. >> yeah, i would like to add that, there's no way to restrict this to one kind -- certainly there's a lot of anti-zionist activity at my alma mater, columbia. you can note other famous liberal arts schools where that's true. wherever middle east studies are taught, those departments have

become the bailey wick of anti-zionists who spread these negative attitudes and really false ideas about jews and about israel. and that's really tough to combat. it gets to the point -- sometimes, i think all of us on this panel are asked, how do we prepare young jews to face this kind of dilemma? and they have to know the facts. they have know what are myths, what are wrongs? they have to be armed with the information. but the truth is, when faced with this kind of information, -- situation, we have to start with one quality that would resonate for those who grew up in the era of the soviet union movement and that is the courage to speak up. that's the hardest thing. it's hard for people in general society. it's hard for those of us who even do this for a living. but it's really hard for students. and yet that is -- those are the qualities that i think those of us who are involved in this fight have to model and quite frankly, it's the message that

the united states government, the department of justice and everywhere has to send out that you have to have the courage to speak up for what is right and against hateful stereotype that seek to target jews. >> i'm going to build on that maybe goes to your third question, which is one of the things that we're doing it at the brandeis center is we are training our law students because we realize that our under graduates not only do you need to know the history and the information, but you need to understand your legal rights. and undergraduates don't know their legal rights and they don't call lawyers. what we decided to do is train law students to be able to work with the undergraduates to give them that confidence, to give them that courage to speak up and we created a curriculum that gives them the first amendment law. it gives them information about academic freedom and title 6 of the civil rights act. so that they can then turn -- we call it jigsaw.

that's what we do on the student end to help the undergraduates have that confidence and then give them the ability to articulate and describe what's happening and how the discrimination is taking place on campus so we can use the legal tools we have. and we're on the administrative side putting together guidelines to the university administrators explaining to them so they can understand and see what's happening on campuses so they understand how this is an attack on zionists, not jews, but zionists and how this is isolating zionists and denying them a place in society. togethertting guidelines with actual concrete steps to try to address the situation. and one of the first things that i think they could do is there was in the lawsuit that was brought against san francisco state university by the law fair project -- they settled the case. one of the first items in the

settlement was a requirement that the university issue a statement recognizing that zionism is a key part of the identity of many of their students on their campus. the truth is all universities ought to be issuing that kind of statement in order to give the confidence and the courage to the students on campus to know that they can express that part of their identity. that the university supports them in expressing that part of their identity and they shouldn't feel intimidated or that they have to hide or shed that part of who they are. >> yeah, i think the question was where is this most prevalent? i'm not sure there's any identifying scene. but it certainly is true that many, most of the activity takes place at a relatively small number of elite institutions. so that's the good news. we're talking about -- we're not talking about out of whatever the 2000 institutions of higher

education. we're not talking about 1900 where this is a problem. but where there is a problem tend to be the elite ones which forms our opinion shapers and have it get reported in the "new york times," get reported in "the washington post," have an outside influence on the greater culture and just running through the list of jewish voice for priests students groups who signed that 2016 statement on intersectionality essentially saying that jews don't get to participate in that. columbia, vasser, wisconsin, wesleyan, berkley, clairmont, ucla, u chicago, u michigan at ann arbor and champagne, illinois, urbana. these are elite institutions and that's been my experience and it's worse and in terms of where you're going to send your children, i get that question all the time. i think you need to look into it

and you need to investigate the campus culture and you need to see how the administration has reacted to things. and you need to understand that, because if you're going to send your child to a small 2000 student school, which is, you anti-israelen by fervor, there's not a lot of support systems there and there's not a lot of systems to find their own space. whereas if you send them to a larger institution there may be other communities. i think you need to do your research just like you would do the research on which school has the best chemistry department or anything else. it's amazing how much time people will spend going over those things, but won't look into the culture as it relates to whether a jewish student can express his or her identity on campus. so do your research, but clearly there are some more problematic campuses than others. >> i just want to -- i agree with everything.

but also, i think we should have to take note that the -- the public and intellectual discourse even now in the united states has shifted. anti-semitic tropes that were once unimaginable that they would be gracing the media of record or even in our most important institutions, that they are now being discussed on a regular basis. the fact that the public discourse has shifted so much in such a short period of time reflects on the issues of education, what people are learning in universities, and the threat that we now face in the universities and now even in our institutions of government and in the public debate and the media of record. i just came from the united kingdom. there are several years, i think ahead of us in the united states. but the situation is grave in the u.k. it's teetering on perhaps a momentous decision in the next six to eight months about a new

prime minister that is having these views in the red-green alliance on his understanding of what israel is and what the jewish people are and what zionists are. it's alive and well in an old, important democracy. and that rhetoric is here. and that should serve as a tremendous warning to all of us in this room. >> several people brought up the conflict of administrators and what administrators should be doing to address this problem. it's not i think an all together intuitive or easy question because we're in a place where all of us think robust discussion on campus and academic freedom are important values, right? we don't have hate speech barring incitement to violence. we don't have hate speech laws in our country. some and in public universities administrators are state actors. so there are first amendment issues. in private universities that's not true. so how should an administration be deft in addressing these problems?

is it by being a speaker in the debate? is it by being a regulator of speech, is it by being a regulator of conduct? what is working and what is not working? >> i think what doesn't work is when university administrators assume a stance of neutrality about hate speech directed at jews on their campuses. that has happened all too often. we go back a decade to what happened at the university of california in irvine, which is a much discussed case, the brandeis institute did a lot of good work on it. but the message that came through was that the university washed its hands of incidents that absolutely led to violence against jews. sadly, the administration at the time similarly washed hands of the issue and wouldn't prosecute or wouldn't take it seriously. you have to be -- it cannot, you know, we're not asking them to suppress the speech of those

with whom we disagree. we're asking them to speak up on discrimination on any other group. and say this is not what or -- our university stands for. this is opposed to the values of free inquiry and what we are supposed to be. if they fail to do that, then it's just a green light for things to escalate and that's why we talk about instances where jewish students feel marginalized, shunned, silenced. it starts from the leadership. >> i think that's right. i think the key is that the university has to start condemning anti-semitic incidents and speech the way they would condemn racist speech. not shut it down. what is the difference? if you were to have a major demonstration in the public square or you have a major demonstration on campus and it is filled with the most vial

racist, anti-semitic rhetoric, what's the difference legally? right? equally protected in both places, but if it takes place in the public square the government has no obligation to say anything about the nature of our speech. that's one of the beauties of our first amendment and it doesn't matter whether it's racist, you can say it. if it happens on the university campus, title 6 does put certain requirements on the universities. they can't ignore it. and the problem we're seeing today is they'll condemn the racist speech but not the anti-semitic speech. part of the problem is because they seem to have a difficult time getting their heads around what is anti-semitic when it comes to anti-zionism. it doesn't have to be so complicated. the key issue, the crux of the issue is whether or not you support the right of jewish self-determination. zion-a phobia, it's

anti-semitic and that needs to be condemned. that's what you need to teach and educate the administrators because once that gets condemn -- condemned on campus the way racist speech is condemned on campus, your zionists will feel a little bit more protected. >> the first amendment is essential and we shouldn't be squashing freedom of expression. but just by a show of hands, how many people here ever read "katub berbenah"? a few. they are the founding intellectuals of the muslim brotherhood. if we are going to protect the first amendment of the constitution, as we should, we have to educate ourselves and become fluent and literate on the mind of our enemy and what's at stake. the muslim brotherhood and i'm choosing my words very carefully took the protocols of the elders of zion, they took anti-semitism which was a european phenomenon. there was discrimination against

jews in the islamic world for shirt, but not anti-semitism -- for sure, but not anti-semitism, which is genocidal and emanates from europe. it was imported by various processes that i won't go into. adopted by the muslim brotherhood. they fused it with european anti-semitism and created this sort of reactionary social movement. it advocates the extermination of the jews. it takes the protocols of the elders of zion, the most pernicious forms of european anti-semitism at the core of its ideology. it's not the military wing or the extremists. this is at the core of their ideology. so if we're going to confront it, we have to become fluent in this ideology and understand how to confront it. the founding fathers of this nation like jefferson warned that the citizens need to be educated to protect the democracy. and i think this is very much a threat to our democratic principles and not just to the

jewish community on campus. >> in terms of the question about whether -- what role should administrators play, i certainly don't think they should be the regulators of speech. i think we should be demanding and it seems to be a lot for administrators is equal treatment and equal enforcement of whatever rules and regulations they have. you could make the argument that a private institution should be able to regulate student speech and many institutions have speech codes. whether you're for that or you're against that is one issue. but if you are going to have those codes, they should be enforced. they should be enforced not just against people who engage in what would be termed racist speech or homophobic speech, but also anti-semitic speech. you could make the argument that they shouldn't have that but they do. the problem is having made a

decision to have that sort of regulation of speech in conduct, it is not equally and fairly enforced. and that's where i think the focus needs to be, because i would argue that the administration in a more ideal world should do nothing other than preserve the free marketplace for ideas on campus and the free marketplace for speech. one of the biggest problems we have is almost any israeli speaker is going to get disrupted and shouted down on a u.s. campus. and many pro-israel speakers will get shouted down and disrupted. and the schools need to preserve the ability of pro-israel students to get their speakers on campus, and they need to enforce their coats, which don't permit in most cases -- codes, which don't permit in most cases preventing others from speaking. so, i think that in a better

world, we would have administrators have fewer regulations not more. but to the extent they do have regulations, enforcement equally. >> i think we need to educate the administrators to be able to distinguish between the groups that genuinely want co-existence. so the dialogue that needs to be fostered on the campus and encouraged that you see the israelis engaging in all the time, the dialogue about the actual policies, not the demonization of the zionists. not the zion-a-phobic. once you can make that distinction then you can encourage constructive dialogue on campus as opposed to the type of speech that may be taking place that is anti-semitic and that just seeks to ostracize and isolate the zionists. >> so why now? why is there a particular problem now? i understand that part of what people have said is that there

are organized efforts, whether through funding or a particular anti-zionists movements, that are pushing certain ideologies or actions, is there a reason it's happening now? does it have to do with current events and current policies or the state of religiosity? is it accidental that things are arising now? >> i think it's bigger than campuses. it's bigger than what's going on in this country. we're talking about a rising tide of anti-semitism that is sweeping over the globe. we are some 74 years since the end of world war ii, the holocaust. its memory has dimmed, clearly, in europe and elsewhere, things that were unimaginable a few decades ago are now imaginable. and as we said, things that were not part of the dialogue, things that you would never expect to see in the "new york times" just 20 years ago, you see they're on a regular basis.

a regular there on basis. arguments. things are debatable that didn't used to be debatable. and part of it is this complex virus, the great collar ruth wise spoke of anti-semitism being the most successful ideology of the 20th century because it had morphed and attached itself to a number of ideologies, fascism, communism and nazism and radical islam. now, we're in a moment where radical islam iseading. there's this strange alliance especially in europe between radical islamists and left wing elites who both share a hatred for israel and create an atmosphere in which jews are marginalized. fortunately, we live in a country where that's not mainstream dialogue. but the one place where it is mainstream is on college campuses.

that's why we are dealing with this issue. >> if i could just pick up briefly what jonathan said and it's very important. i think like the totalitarian movements of the past where the jew was the quintessential boogieman or the other. and the focus was to be put on the jew, on their businesses practices, how they stick together, their culture, their race. while the totalitarians tried to take over and dominate society. so political islam is doing the same thing. it's focusing on the israelis, focusing on the zionist, smoking -- focusing on the jew. and while everybody is looking over here and is afraid to speak out against it, which is problematic in and of itself, look at what's happening in the world. you could even make an argument that contemporary anti-semitism's greatest victim are muslims, muslims in the

middle east who are engaged in horrible conflicts throughout the region. everybody focuses on netanyahu and the jews, and we're not focused on the real life catastrophe taking place as we speak. the totalitarians use the jews as a scapegoat while there are very serious issues to be addressed. >> i think the issue of why does it seem to be getting worse on campuses does have to do in part with our domestic political situation, where anti-conservative, anti-republican, and anti-trump politics on campuses has come to dominate. and the issue of support for israel has gotten intertwined with that. i think there's no denying that. and certainly among the student activists groups, those two have become intertwined.

so if you want to bring everybody together on campus, you combine anti-israel politics with anti-trump politics, and you automatically have a coalition of, you know, a large percentage of the student activists groups. and so i think there is something to that whether that's accurate, justified is a different discussion. but i think that is a phenomenon that's going on on the campuses where anti-trump politics has been exploited by anti-israel groups as a coalition. i do think it seems to be accelerating in the past couple of years. >> i do think that this is the reason why it is now, is that this is the modern evolution of the world's oldest hatred of anti-semitism. the traditional anti-semitism e jew has deny that yo

place in society -- his in society. this new anti-semitism is seeking to deny the jewish collective, the state of israel, its place in the society of nation. he put it really well. he was talking about the way anti-semitism work is that it -- works is that it turns the symbol -- and everybody here has been saying, that at that point civilization defines as the most loathsome qualities. so he says under christianity and before the holocaust, the jew was the christ killer. during the nazis, the jew was the race polluter for, you know, for the jew. under communism, the jew is the capitalist. what do we see today? we live in a civilization and this is jesse's quote. the most loathsome qualities are racism, colonialism, apartheid. behold, the greatest

offender in the world today with all the beautiful countries in the world is the jewish state and that's why we have what's happening now today. >> i'd like to -- i was hoping a slightly more -- a higher note than that. [laughter] but maybe the higher note to end on is that there are smart people who are thinking about this and engaged in the problem. and that it is not going unseen. so i would like to thank all of our panelists for being here today. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] ♪ >> "washington journal," live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up this morning, pacific legal foundation's senior attorney and offenders of wildlife senior staff attorney discuss changes to the endangered species act. bloomberg's mario parker talks about the impact the trade war

and tariffs are having on farmers across the u.s.. watch c-span's "washington journal," live at 7:00 eastern this morning. be sure to join us for c-span's desperate saturdays -- sundays washington journal. mugs available on c-span's new online store. check out the "washington journal" mugs and see all of the c-span products. >> democratic representative rashida tlaib of michigan was one of the participants in a town hall meeting on health care hosted by community organizers from the detroit area in highland park, michigan the congresswoman is one of four that president trump tweeted about. the president also encouraged israel to deny her access to that country.