A demand was sent by a coalition representing more than 2,000 Orthodox rabbis on American public policy issues for American universities to abandon their DEI – diversity, equity, and inclusion- efforts in following the report that shows DEI leaders often promote antisemitism.
The managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), Rabbi Yaakov Menken, stressed that universities must ensure their DEI efforts include protection of Jewish students in light of the alarming rise in antisemitic incidents, but they, as he says, ‘used foxes to guard hen house’.
Menken pointed that it’s their belief that despite the fact that they pursue a “noble goal,” universities should suspend all DEI programs pending a comprehensive review of how candidates are selected for staff positions considering the worrying antisemitic trend among them.
He noted that DEI staff influence thousands of students so they must ensure that such programs do not promote antisemitic bias.
CJV’s demand comes in light of the Heritage Foundation’s alarming study which found that the anti-Israel attitudes expressed by university DEI staff are so out of proportion and imbalanced that they constitute antisemitism.
The study by Heritage has contrasted public communications regarding Israel with those regarding China in the Twitter feeds of 741 DEI personnel at 65 universities, coming to the conclusion that they tweeted, retweeted, or liked tweets about Israel almost three times as many as about China.
Almost 95% of Israel-connected tweets DEI staff liked were criticizing the Jewish state unlike the 62% of the China tweets that were favorable toward the country. On top of that, more tweets referenced “apartheid” in Israel than saying anything favorable about the country.
Referencing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, the Heritage report claimed that while criticism of Israel is not necessarily antisemitic, the inordinate amount of attention and he excessive criticism directed at Israel is evidence of a double-standard with respect to the Jewish state, and that is a “main pillar” of a widely accepted definition of antisemitism.
Commenting on the study, Menken said that one can see an irrational hatred of Jews in the repeated accusations against Israel of genocide, apartheid, and other crimes while praising a country that is putting Muslims in internment camps- China.
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