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Our Common Responsibility to Confront Anti-Semitism
(New York Daily News) Alan Kadish - Anti-Semitism has been on the rise in the U.S. over the past few years. Colleges have not done enough to condemn anti-Semitism, often masquerading as legitimate criticism of Israel, and the result has been that behavior and speech that was not and should not be tolerated have become normative. When even the idea that someone cannot serve on a student council because they are Jewish can be openly expressed, we have crossed the line into tolerating and normalizing vile hatred. The irrational demonization of Jews that has been part of both the Charlottesville march and the Women's March need to be identified and condemned. The same is true for professors who refuse letters of recommendation for students who wish to study in Israel. There should be zero tolerance for this thinly veiled prejudice. Another Holocaust is not in the making. But we do risk a return to the days when anti-Semitism was overt and tolerated, when Jews were subject to violence and murder for simply being Jews, and where discrimination in academia and the workplace was widespread. We cannot allow anti-Semitism to become normative and tolerated. The writer is president of The Touro College & University System.