White House, Hochul vow stepped up efforts to fight antisemitic incidents
A New York State Police cruiser parked outside Cornell University's Center for Jewish Living on Monday where Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a stepped up law enforcement presence on campus after recent antisemitic threats on social media.
Credit: AP/David Bauder
The Biden administration on Monday outlined ways it was addressing rising antisemitism on college campuses, and Gov. Kathy Hochul told the Jewish community at Cornell University the state is "backing them" with increased law enforcement after a spate of threatening messages on social media.
The White House effort and Hochul's appearance at Cornell came weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed about 1,400 Israelis. Israel's response — a declaration of war on Hamas and sustained military strikes into Gaza that the territory's Hamas-led health ministry said Monday had killed more than 8,300 — has spurred protests on college campuses nationwide and antisemitic incidents.
A White House official said Monday that since Oct. 7, the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department "have taken steps to ensure campus law enforcement is included in engagements with state and local law enforcement" and to provide outreach and support directly to campuses.
In addition, the administration said, since Oct. 7, the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights has expedited its update of the intake process for discrimination complaints "to specifically state that certain forms of Antisemitism and Islamophobia are prohibited by law," and makes clear, for the first time, in the complaint form "that discrimination on the basis of national origin in federally-funded programs or activities — including ethnic or ancestral slurs or stereotypes against students who are for example Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, or Hindu — are forms of prohibited discrimination under this law." The department plans to finish the update by Nov. 3.
In a statement, Hofstra University welcomed the stepped-up attention "to make college and university campuses in our country safer for everyone. … Hofstra welcomes students from all walks of life to learn and grow in a safe and peaceful environment. Antisemitism, discrimination, or harassment in any form is not tolerated at Hofstra. If a community member experiences or witnesses harassment in any form, we have systems in place for the incident to be reported and addressed. Additionally, Hofstra Public Safety continues to work with local and federal law enforcement to monitor risk and do everything in our power to keep the campus safe."
Since the Hamas attack, the Anti-Defamation League has reported a 388% increase over the same period last year in antisemitic incidents across the United States, such as harassment, vandalism and assault. An Oct. 24 post on the ADL website reported 312 antisemitic incidents between Oct. 7 and 23, with 190 directly linked to the Israel-Hamas war. It said that during the same period in 2022, ADL received preliminary reports of 64 incidents, including four that were Israel-related.
The State University of New York, in a statement Monday, decried recent incidents.
"The threats at Cornell are terrifying and repugnant … Chancellor [John B.] King has directed SUNY’s University Police Commissioner to work with campus leaders to provide additional security to ensure safety at religious services, vigils, rallies, protests, and other campus events. Chancellor King has directed SUNY campus presidents to prioritize student safety, to enforce the SUNY anti-bias policy, and to ensure access to mental health supports and counseling for impacted students."
Hochul visited Cornell Monday, following a weekend of several antisemitic hate messages on social media directed at Jewish students at the university. She spoke at the university's Center for Jewish Living to support the students. She also promised additional law enforcement resources.
She told them they "have the State of New York backing them." She added: "State Police have ramped up security on college campuses since October 7th, and we're going to continue to do so. Our Intelligence Center has been beefing up its monitoring of social media as well."
Julie Fishman Rayman, managing director of policy and political affairs for the Manhattan-based American Jewish Committee, said her organization and other Jewish community leaders met Monday with U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and other officials to talk about their concerns following the Hamas attack, and how the Education Department could help.
"It was very much more of a listening session that the secretary wanted to convene a number of the Jewish groups and have conversations about what are we seeing in the community … really getting a sense of the pulse of the community," Rayman said, adding that Jewish leaders said they had never seen antisemitism as bad as it is now.
The Biden administration on Monday outlined ways it was addressing rising antisemitism on college campuses, and Gov. Kathy Hochul told the Jewish community at Cornell University the state is "backing them" with increased law enforcement after a spate of threatening messages on social media.
The White House effort and Hochul's appearance at Cornell came weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed about 1,400 Israelis. Israel's response — a declaration of war on Hamas and sustained military strikes into Gaza that the territory's Hamas-led health ministry said Monday had killed more than 8,300 — has spurred protests on college campuses nationwide and antisemitic incidents.
A White House official said Monday that since Oct. 7, the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department "have taken steps to ensure campus law enforcement is included in engagements with state and local law enforcement" and to provide outreach and support directly to campuses.
In addition, the administration said, since Oct. 7, the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights has expedited its update of the intake process for discrimination complaints "to specifically state that certain forms of Antisemitism and Islamophobia are prohibited by law," and makes clear, for the first time, in the complaint form "that discrimination on the basis of national origin in federally-funded programs or activities — including ethnic or ancestral slurs or stereotypes against students who are for example Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, or Hindu — are forms of prohibited discrimination under this law." The department plans to finish the update by Nov. 3.
In a statement, Hofstra University welcomed the stepped-up attention "to make college and university campuses in our country safer for everyone. … Hofstra welcomes students from all walks of life to learn and grow in a safe and peaceful environment. Antisemitism, discrimination, or harassment in any form is not tolerated at Hofstra. If a community member experiences or witnesses harassment in any form, we have systems in place for the incident to be reported and addressed. Additionally, Hofstra Public Safety continues to work with local and federal law enforcement to monitor risk and do everything in our power to keep the campus safe."
Since the Hamas attack, the Anti-Defamation League has reported a 388% increase over the same period last year in antisemitic incidents across the United States, such as harassment, vandalism and assault. An Oct. 24 post on the ADL website reported 312 antisemitic incidents between Oct. 7 and 23, with 190 directly linked to the Israel-Hamas war. It said that during the same period in 2022, ADL received preliminary reports of 64 incidents, including four that were Israel-related.
The State University of New York, in a statement Monday, decried recent incidents.
"The threats at Cornell are terrifying and repugnant … Chancellor [John B.] King has directed SUNY’s University Police Commissioner to work with campus leaders to provide additional security to ensure safety at religious services, vigils, rallies, protests, and other campus events. Chancellor King has directed SUNY campus presidents to prioritize student safety, to enforce the SUNY anti-bias policy, and to ensure access to mental health supports and counseling for impacted students."
Hochul visited Cornell Monday, following a weekend of several antisemitic hate messages on social media directed at Jewish students at the university. She spoke at the university's Center for Jewish Living to support the students. She also promised additional law enforcement resources.
She told them they "have the State of New York backing them." She added: "State Police have ramped up security on college campuses since October 7th, and we're going to continue to do so. Our Intelligence Center has been beefing up its monitoring of social media as well."
Julie Fishman Rayman, managing director of policy and political affairs for the Manhattan-based American Jewish Committee, said her organization and other Jewish community leaders met Monday with U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and other officials to talk about their concerns following the Hamas attack, and how the Education Department could help.
"It was very much more of a listening session that the secretary wanted to convene a number of the Jewish groups and have conversations about what are we seeing in the community … really getting a sense of the pulse of the community," Rayman said, adding that Jewish leaders said they had never seen antisemitism as bad as it is now.
