May 19, 2026
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The encampments have vanished from most campuses, the headlines have quieted and the incident numbers are technically lower – yet the current climate is just as nefarious. Anti-Jewish hate did not disappear from American schools – it merely mutated.
Open confrontations and attacks on Jewish students were not replaced with peace and inclusion – they morphed into normalization. Jewish students were marginalized, isolated and made to feel like pariahs on too many campuses. This onslaught against Jews on campus did not begin after Oct. 7, 2023 – that’s when it got much worse.
Hillel Under Attack
For a century, Hillel has been a home away from home for Jewish students to find community. From local events to Shabbat dinners, a safe haven for Jews has now become a target.
Students for Justice in Palestine – whose funding networks include groups with reported ties to Hamas-linked organizations – is leading a campaign called Drop Hillel. SJP is pushing university student governments to defund and sever ties with a campus organization that exists solely to support Jewish students. The campaign has been falsely promoted as being Jewish-led; its architect is SJP.
At NYC’s The New School, the student senate recently voted to defund Hillel and revoke its recognition – the first time a student government has moved to officially cut ties with a campus Hillel. The senate vote was a “painful antisemitic” attempt to isolate Jewish belonging on campus.
The Council on American Islamic Relations-NY applauded the move as a “necessary step.” CAIR was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation Hamas terrorism-financing trial and faces multiple federal and state investigations.
The New School’s administration blocked the vote and pledged “immediate steps” to prevent similar incidents. Jewish Community Relations Council of NY praised the “swift rejection.”
Jewish students are not the only ones being marginalized. A House Education committee report found that faculty face “soft” or “shadow” boycotts – academic departments declining to co-sponsor events with Jewish or pro-Israel groups. The recently formed Faculty Against Antisemitism Movement is pushing back.
Progressive Jewish Student Group Rejected
At Sarah Lawrence College, 20 miles north of NYC, something more telling happened. Jewish student Emilyn Toffler spent months trying to form a chapter of J Street U to have conversations with her classmates about the Gaza War. J Street is a progressive group that describes itself as “pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian and pro-peace.” The organization loudly opposes the current Israeli government, challenges U.S. military aid to Israel and its leader stated that Israel may be committing genocide – a false charge.
The student senate rejected the application anyway, comparing J Street U to “a white supremacist organization.” The group’s appeal also was denied. The College’s administration has defended its refusal to intervene. Toffler recently graduated, disappointed that “we never got approval, I think we could have positively contributed to the political conversation on campus.” She was not asking to defend Israeli policy. She was promoting co-existence on campus and in the Holy Land.
The social cost of refusing to go along with the anti-Israel narrative extends beyond Jewish students. At the Univ. of Wisconsin, student rep. Jianda Ni abstained on an anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions resolution. The law student worried that the rushed bill would increase fear among Jewish students. After he spoke his mind, a friend from the anti-Israel side cut off communication with him. This is what the mutation of antisemitism looks like.
Graduation 2026: Conflict and Consequences
Commencement is supposed to be the one day that belongs to all graduating students. This year – while incidents declined across the country, many Jewish students still encountered a different experience.
Morton Schapiro withdrew as Georgetown Univ. Law commencement speaker after 282 students petitioned for his removal, calling his opinions “controversial, Zionist and harmful.” The former Northwestern Univ. president had written critically of how progressives, university leaders and the media vilified Israel during the Gaza War. Georgetown refused the student request, but replaced him with a professor who condemned the ADL and the Brandeis Center for trying to protect Jewish students a few weeks after the Hamas Oct. 7 attacks.
Univ. of Michigan faculty senate chair Derek Peterson used his commencement address to praise pro-Palestinian student protesters – departing from his pre-approved remarks. The professor opened by invoking the memory of Moritz Levi, the university’s first Jewish professor, appointed in 1896. He then pivoted to politics and activists that have often targeted Jewish students: “Sing for the pro-Palestinian student activists who have, over these past two years, opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.” The audience cheered – and the university apologized for his comments.
The student government at Univ. of California Law San Francisco set up and order form for a graduation keffiyeh – a symbolic Palestinian headscarf. The student leaders encouraged faculty and students to wear them and Palestine pins at commencement as a “show of support with Palestinian students, faculty and communities.” The form also acknowledged that students have “expressed fear of conveying their identity and their beliefs” on campus. At campuses across the country, there are many Jewish students continuing to hide who they are – while most of those who target them don’t try to hide.
Rutgers Univ. drew a different line. When its invited commencement speaker was found to have posted that Israelis “train dogs to sexually assault prisoners” – a claim with no basis in fact – the university canceled his invitation.
Jewish communities and their allies can take meaningful steps to push back against the normalization of antisemitism on American campuses – and stand with Jewish and Zionist students who are under threat.
No Jews, No News
Excerpt from Bill Maher on HBO’s Real Time, May 16, 2026:
“What is more progressive than college, where professors now say things that would make Kanye wince? Osman Umarji calls Zionists ‘bloodthirsty animals.’ Who is he, the leader of ISIS? No, he is a professor right here in California at UC Irvine. And Candace Owens agrees with his assessment of Jews as animals because she says, ‘Wherever they go, they bring their filth with them.’
Another ‘professor,’ Hamid Dabashi, says of Israelis: ‘They have a vulgarity of character that is bone deep and structural to the skeletal vertebrae of its culture.’ These are the kind of statements Goebbels would have read and said, ‘No notes.’
It is the inconsistency. People talk about Jews these days like something out of Stormfront, except it is not Stormfront. Jew hatred is not just acceptable now, it is cool. Celebrities love it and make it trendy. It is the new Che Guevara t-shirt.
Democrats, where are you? If any other minority group was being talked about this way, you would have ten benefit concerts. But because you see that so many of your brainwashed-by-TikTok constituents now have an unfavorable view of Israel, you indulge them when you should be correcting them. You would tell your woke idiots: Israel is not a colonizer or an apartheid state or committing genocide.
Israel was founded on the idea that antisemitism made a Jewish state necessary because Jews would never be safe without one. Can you honestly listen to this rhetoric and not see why that turned out to be true?”
JAHM Week 4 Focus: The Turn of the Century and Waves of Immigration, 1876-1925
Spotlight: Emma Lazarus – Poet, Activist, and Voice for the Vulnerable
One of the most celebrated Jewish-American voices of the 19th century, Emma Lazarus left a legacy that still greets millions from America’s shores today:
Click here to learn more about Emma Lazarus and other remarkable Jewish Americans who helped shape this nation’s heritage – like Henrietta Szold, Oscar S. Straus and Rose Schneiderman, among others.
ABOUT JAHM: This year, Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) celebrates the extraordinary contributions of Jewish Americans – from before the American Revolution to the present day – across the sciences, music, arts, sports, literature, military, business, and civic life. Formally recognized by the U.S. government since 2006, JAHM also promotes education about Jewish history and combats antisemitism.
#JAHM #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth @weitzmanmuseum
Stories Impacting American Jews
Stories Impacting the U.S. and Israel
Stories from Around the World: The UK
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This content is developed by The Focus Project in partnership with MERCAZ USA. The Focus Project distributes weekly news and talking points on timely issues concerning Israel and the Jewish people, including antisemitism, anti-Zionism and the delegitimization of Israel. It represents a consensus view across a spectrum of major American Jewish organizations. MERCAZ USA recognizes and respects the diversity of views on these issues among its readers and the community at large.
