Anti-Semitism

Will the Anti-Semites Pay?

Featured image Protesting for Hamas may have seemed like a lark to students at “elite” colleges and law schools, but it turns out that there might actually be consequences. Law firms, in particular, have expressed unwillingness to hire anti-Semites. Now we have this: S&C is our go-to law firm. Their principled approach here makes me want to send them more business. You should too. https://t.co/G0Ay3w9s0D — Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) May 16, 2024 »

From the EU to Eurovision

Featured image Along with Victor Davis Hanson and Andrew Roberts, Dominic Green is one of my favorite living historians. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Dominic investigated the evidence bearing on Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s marriage to her brother in the June 2019 Spectator column “Ilhan Omar lawyer: Two marriages hard to explain” (the column is attributed to the Spectator’s pseudonymous Cockburn). The Daily Mail republished Dominic’s column under the headline »

Hamas at Dartmouth [Updated]

Featured image Dartmouth has avoided the ignominy suffered by some of its Ivy peers during the current anti-Semitic moment. That is because its president, Sian Leah Beilock–I missed it when Congress passed a statute requiring every university president to be a woman–has reacted swiftly to illegal demonstrations on Dartmouth’s campus. The major incident was when anti-Jewish protesters erected tents on the Dartmouth Green, surrounded by anti-Semites who linked arms to “protect” the »

Seinfeld plays Duke

Featured image Jerry Seinfeld delivered the commencement address at Duke University’s 2024 university-wide commencement ceremony in Wallace Wade Stadium yesterday. Seinfeld took the occasion to make the case for comedy and humor, both by example and by advice (starting at about 11:45). Seinfeld is a man not entirely in tune with the times, either in his defense of humor or otherwise. He urged the graduates to take advantage of their privilege. As »

Eurovision Winds Up Happily

Featured image The giant Eurovision pop music competition came to a climax with the finals this evening in Malmo, Sweden. Pretty much all of the news surrounding the event related to Israel’s participation. Israel’s representative, Eden Golan, all of 20 years old, was booed during rehearsals. Thousands of anti-Israel demonstrators turned out Thursday for the semifinal rounds, and again tonight during the final round of competition: Thousands of people protested in Malmo »

Eurovision, Take 2 [Updated Again]

Featured image I wrote here about how Israel’s presence has roiled Eurovision, the big European pop music competition. Each country is represented by an artist, either an individual or a group. After two semifinals, the lineup for the final evening is now set. Somewhat remarkably, the Israeli contestant passed through the semifinal round and will compete in the finals. The result is predictable; the London Times reports: “Thousands protest over Gaza as »

Who Are the Anti-Semites?

Featured image The New York Times, alarmed that its fellow leftists have outed themselves as anti-Semites on campuses and in the streets (not to mention in Congress), has published an interminable article, with four reporters’ bylines, claiming that Republicans are the real anti-Semites. There isn’t much need to read the article, as the headline says it all: “How Republicans Echo Antisemitic Tropes Despite Declaring Support for Israel.” The Times purports to use »

Jews at Columbia Speak Out

Featured image An open letter from Jewish students at Columbia University needs to be shared in full, on account of its lucidity and moral clarity: In Our Name: A Message from Jewish Students at Columbia University To the Columbia Community: Over the past six months, many have spoken in our name. Some are well-meaning alumni or non-affiliates who show up to wave the Israeli flag outside Columbia’s gates. Some are politicians looking »

The campus seen: A footnote

Featured image I want to add this footnote to my adjacent post on “The campus seen.” We can’t understand what’s happening in the current eruption of anti-Semitism on campus without understanding what has happened at Columbia University. Columbia University is ground zero of the intifada revolution. The video below features the deep thoughts of Columbia president Minouche Shafik in the satirical context afforded by reality. Want a good laugh this morning? Watch »

The campus seen

Featured image I want to note a few reports on the campus scene. Attention must be paid. The scene should not be unseen. I have been asking who is behind the kill the Jews crowd on campus. Park MacDougald takes a comprehensive look in his May 6 Tablet column “The People Setting America on Fire.” It is the best effort yet to turn over the rocks and look underneath. Park, by the »

Biden indicts himself

Featured image President Biden chose to revise and extend his mealymouthed comments on anti-Semitism with a 1600-word speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Annual Days of Remembrance Ceremony yesterday. The White House has posted the text of his remarks here. The speech seems to me late and wanting. Revisiting the history of the Holocaust, Biden referred to “the perils of indifference, the complicity of silence in the face of evil that »

At GWU

Featured image Mason Goad is a research fellow with the National Association of Scholars. Yesterday he visited the Kill-the-Jews crowd’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment at George Washington University, a mile from the White House, and posted a photo thread here on X. To borrow a phrase, the hate is too damn high! Goad sets the scene with this photo featuring the revolutionary who has donned a mask to protect his identity. Another mask »

The Northwestern ordure

Featured image Students of ancient American history may recall the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The Northwest Ordinance covered the territory out of which Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin were ultimately carved. It guaranteed religious freedom (Article 1) and prohibited slavery (Article 6) in the territory. Adopted by the Confederation Congress, it is one of the four founding or organic laws of the United States. See generally Richard H. Cox, Four Pillars »

When it’s better you say nothing at all

Featured image President Biden read a perfunctory statement yesterday addressing “recent events on college campuses.” That’s how the statement referred to the calls for intifada revolution and the occupation of university quads by mobs supporting Hamas. The brief statement ran to fewer than 500 words. It would have been better if it had been zero. This is how it began, according to the White House transcript: Before I head to North Carolina, »

It Didn’t Start In College

Featured image Many Americans have been shocked at the spectacle of thousands of college students, along with thousands more non-college students, engaging in kill-the-Jews riots. These people are demonstrating in favor of Hamas, which means in favor of gang rape and mass murder. How could this possibly have happened? I have seen suggestions that left-wing professors have led students astray, and no doubt that is true. We have seen many professors participating »

A Sign of the Times

Featured image Eurovision is the annual European (and beyond) popular music contest that has become a giant cultural event. Each country is represented by a single singer or group, and the competition is intense. This year’s contest will begin on Tuesday in Malmo, Sweden. Israel has won the competition four times, most recently in 2018. This year it is represented by a 20-year-old woman named Eden Golan. But the contest will not »

Poisoning American campuses

Featured image Cliff May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times. He is a veteran reporter, foreign correspondent, and editor for the New York Times and other publications. Cliff’s current column is “The ideological cocktail poisoning American campuses” (at FDD, where it is posted with its many links). Cliff has kindly given us his permission to post his columns on »