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On Sunday, some current faculty members at Columbia University learned through a news article that all new students and faculty at the school will be mandated to go through an orientation on antisemitism. The plan was not announced in any direct communications from the university.
Rather, it was reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, in a story about the university’s task force on antisemitism.
Formed last November as political pressure mounted against criticism of Israel on campuses, the task force set out to examine specific notions of bigotry at the university, which has become a flashpoint of protests against Israel’s war on Gaza — often followed by violent police crackdowns.
The plan was not announced in any direct communications from the university. Rather, it was reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Numerous participants in the antisemitism task force, including its three co-chairs — Columbia faculty members, many of whom are outspoken Israel supporters — openly discussed the not-yet published report with the newspaper before any such information was shared with the university’s community, or even their colleagues.
The antisemitism task force will release a report in the coming weeks detailing accounts from students who submitted written testimony or participated in “listening sessions,” according to Haaretz. All the anecdotes, equally, were shared without any attribution except that they were anonymously gathered by the task force — a body with pro-Israel leadership that has been controversial since its inception last November.
The article also revealed that a mandatory antisemitism orientation would be developed. The trainings will include expressions of anti-Zionism as examples of possible antisemitism, touching on a controversy that has enveloped the protests, crackdowns, and larger national conversation about Israel–Palestine.
Anecdotes that the task force shared with Haaretz include disturbing examples of antisemitism, like a professor reportedly telling a class “to avoid reading mainstream media, declaring that ‘it is owned by Jews.’”
Examples like these have been widely reported, but they are fewer and further between than the explicit and tacit conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism that pervade task force members’ comments — a conflation that has helped lead to dire consequences, including arrests, for thousands of students protesting Israel’s war.
A Dangerous Conflation
Up until this point, the chairs and participants in the antisemitism task force have demurred from offering a working definition of antisemitism. Now, with the new orientation planned, task force members now said that a definition of antisemitism will be put forward — and it will include anti-Zionism.
According to the Haaretz article, the task force’s antisemitism definition “is expected to determine that statements calling for the destruction and death of Israel and Zionism can be considered antisemitic, while criticism of the Israeli government cannot.” It mirrors, then, the contested and nationalist International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, IHRA, definition, which has been championed by Republicans and other conservative Zionists, including President Joe Biden.
“This definition is designed to inform faculty and students about what can offend Jewish people and which types of statements can cause pain and discomfort,” Haaretz reported. “An educational definition will not infringe upon freedom of speech on campus or prohibit potentially antisemitic phrases.”
Given that aggressive police raids at Columbia and Barnard, its women’s college, that saw student protesters arrested and the shutdown of the entire campus, the claim that free speech on campus will not be repressed beggars belief. Even if the only use of the definition is during mandatory orientations on antisemitism, its deployment inscribes the dangerous antisemitism/anti-Zionism conflation into campus culture. Views of Palestinians, anti-Zionist Jews, and the many others in the community who express criticism of Israel are bound to be delegitimized.
Even in their own telling to Haaretz, task force members make clear that their interest involved validating pro-Israel students’ discomfort as examples of widespread antisemitism. “We heard from students who feel their identity, values and very existence on campus have been under attack,” said task force co-chair and political science professor Ester Fuchs.
There can be no doubt, as I’ve previously noted, that students for whom Israel is central to their Jewish identity have felt immense discomfort in the months of protests against Israel’s violence. This discomfort is not, however, proof of real threat.
Criticism of Israel, including as an ethno-state, should not be equated with attacking Jewish people. All professors should prioritize student safety without accepting all feelings of fear and discomfort as justified persecution. A definition of antisemitism that defends Israel as an ethno-state will silence Palestinian voices and make it harder to address real cases of antisemitism. Just as we wouldn’t validate the fears of a student raised to see Black people as a threat, we should not normalize chants against Zionists while condemning those against Black Lives Matter supporters.
The idea that support for an ethno-state should be protected as much as efforts to end anti-Black racism highlights the problem of conflating anti-Zionism and antisemitism, mixing nation-state ideology with racial identity. The controversial makeup and actions of the antisemitism task force at Columbia University have raised concerns among students and faculty members. The task force’s readiness to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism and its lack of expertise in the study of antisemitism have been criticized.
Zionism cannot be reduced to a simple and positive definition, ignoring its history of Palestinian exile, oppression, and occupation. Demands for transparency and a clear definition of antisemitism from the task force do not assume a one-size-fits-all definition but acknowledge the complexity of discrimination and bigotry. The issue at hand is the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism, which is a problem that occurs far too frequently.
Unacceptable on Campus
Task force members themselves seem to acknowledge that experiences of antisemitism are often linked to opposition to Zionism, as reported in an Israeli paper.
According to Lemann, the co-chair, “The concept of Zionism has become unacceptable in some circles at Columbia. People are asked to promise that they’re not Zionist.”
Many Jewish individuals, including those who have participated in Palestine solidarity protests and campus activities, see the growing opposition to Zionism as a challenge to a nationalist worldview, rather than an attack on Jewish people.
The task force wants it both ways: to themselves insist upon the identification of Zionism with Jewishness, and then to call the identification itself antisemitic.
In an open letter to the task force published in the Columbia Spectator, Jewish graduate students emphasized that Zionism is a political ideology, not an ethnic or religious identity. They shared how their understanding of Zionism evolved over time, leading some to reject it.
Despite claiming to promote open discussion, the task force appears to prioritize pro-Israel student experiences, potentially restricting alternative viewpoints. This one-sided approach limits the scope of discourse on campus.
It is essential to recognize and address the challenges faced by Muslim students at Columbia, who often experience racism and discrimination without adequate university support or acknowledgment.
The task force’s actions seem to favor certain perspectives while silencing others, ultimately prioritizing the comfort and safety of some students over others.
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