Conference of Jewish Affairs spokesman Rabbi Aryeh Spero released the following statement today:
“We are grateful to and applaud President Trump and his administration for signing an Executive Order that withholds federal money from those educational institutions, such as colleges and universities, that turn a blind eye and fail to combat anti-Semitism taking place on their campuses.”
Rabbi Spero continued: “Due to aggression coming from many students on and off campus obsessed by anti-Israel attitudes, and due to inflammatory speeches and accusations coming from speakers at Islamic Studies Departments on campus, as well as anti-Israel pronouncements from some leftwing faculty members, an anti-Israel atmosphere is prevailing on many campuses that recently has devolved into actual anti-Jewishness. This anti-Jewishness has resulted in harassment, physical and verbal, of Jewish students and the enactment of bullying activities aimed at intimidating and ostracizing Jewish students from normal campus live. Such intolerance and constant harassment is a new and totally unacceptable condition for the United States of America.
“With the expansion of some of the Title VI provisions, President Trump is once again fighting anti-Semitism to a degree former presidents have not and to a degree Congress, under Speaker Pelosi, is still unwilling to do. Unfortunately, many college and university deans and administrators seem unwilling or are fearful of standing against the bullies harassing the Jewish students. They are allowing their campuses to become arenas of never-ending political bullying as opposed to fields of tranquil institutional learning.
“President Trump”, Rabbi Spero added, “will not sit idly by while Jewish students are harassed for being Jewish or for having affection for Israel, a Jewish state.”