The US Justice Department announced the formation of a multi-agency task force to combat anti-Semitism.
By Rachel Avraham
According to a recent announcement by the US Justice Ministry, “Pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order on Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism, the Justice Department announced the formation of a multi-agency Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. The Task Force’s first priority will be to root out anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses.”
“In addition to the Department of Justice, the Task Force will include representatives from the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and other agencies as it develops, the US Justice Ministry noted. “The Task Force will be coordinated through the Department’s Civil Rights Division.”
“Anti-Semitism in any environment is repugnant to this Nation’s ideals,” said Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leo Terrell, who will be heading the Task Force. “The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found. The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump’s renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools.”
According to JTA, Leo Terrell is an African American attorney and ex-Fox News contributor, formerly aligned with the NAACP, who has taken upon his new role fighting against anti-Semitism with enthusiasm. Dov Hilkind, a conservative Jewish activist in New York, told the Forward that Terrell is “a great guy and a real mensch and cares deeply, deeply, deeply.”
Upon taking the position, he immediately went after Columbia University. “Attention Board of Trustees of all colleges and universities allowing antisemitic behavior to take place. You have a fiduciary duty to protect Jewish students!” he wrote. “Expect a letter from me in the immediate future!” Immediately afterwards, he made good on that promise.
This announcement comes at a time when the Trump administration announced investigations into anti-Semitic activities at Columbia University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. According to the Times of Israel, the cases were opened using the department’s power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of its investigations, which stem from complaints.
“Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses,” said Craig Trainor, the agency’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights. A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of protests that followed over the subsequent Israel-Hamas war. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating “toothless” resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable, the Times of Israel noted.
This move comes after the Trump administration has already threatened to deport foreign students and faculty members who support Hamas. According to the Jerusalem Post, the US will combat antisemitism “vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools” to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of “unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence,” Trump’s order reads. The order further noted that the October 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas in southern Israel instigated “an unprecedented wave of vile antisemitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses.”
“Jewish students have faced an unrelenting barrage of discrimination; denial of access to campus common areas and facilities, including libraries and classrooms; and intimidation, harassment, and physical threats and assault,” according to the order, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Stop Antisemitism’s 2024 College Report, which examined 25 universities across the US, revealed a dramatic 3,000% increase in antisemitic incidents following Oct. 7, Israel Hayom reported. The surge in incidents was so significant that the watchdog organization had to triple its staff to manage the volume of reported cases.
