Antisemitism on US Campuses

A keynote at this year's ACF conference

This year, it was my honor to be invited as the keynote speaker at Alums For Campus Fairness’s annual conference; a slot previously held by the likes of Bari Weiss, Noa Tishby, and the State Dept’s newly appointed “Special Envoy to Monitor & Combat Antisemitism” Deborah Lipstadt, who spoke last year.

Since I began doing this work fighting antisemitism, the resilience and passion of American students – who are in many ways on the frontlines of the battles we face when challenged by elitist, intellectualized antisemites – never fails to inspire me. They are often in the most vulnerable positions, being targeted on campus in their physical dormitories, or at the safe places in which they gather. And they haven’t cowered. In fact, it’s Jewish American students who have had an unbelievable hand in generating unignorable conversation around the modern manifestation of antisemitism and antizionism, and attempted to push this dialogue to the mainstream.

I doff my cap in particular to Isaac De Castro, Blake Flayon and Julia Jassey, who have all become superstars in their own right; whether appearing on CNN, or writing for the Jewish Journal, or editing Jewcy, or starting their own organizations in New Zionist Congress and Jewish On Campus, or working in conjunction with the ADL. Together and separately they made an issue that has been festering in academia for decades suddenly digestible and shareable; they built momentum around the problem and captivated people’s attention.

It’s with them in mind that I spoke to the audience yesterday about what we can do about on-campus antisemitism and Israel hate in this country, about why I do this work and how I got the call, and about how you can make a difference if you’re compelled to take up the baton yourself.

You can watch my interview back here. As ever, feel free to comment and ask questions. I’ll do my best to respond.