U.S. Senator Katie Britt Pens Letter Supporting Jewish College Students, Condemning Rise in Antisemitism Across American Campuses

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 15, 2024– U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) penned a letter to Jewish college students across America, expressing her unwavering support amid a disturbing rise in antisemitic incidents on campuses. Her letter comes just a week after Israeli soccer fans and Jews ran for their lives in Amsterdam.

Read the full letter here or below: 

To Jewish college students across the United States:

In Amsterdam last week, we saw the consequences of antisemitism, of the demonization of Israel, of the false charges of “genocide,” and of Western leaders coddling radicals who stand diametrically opposed to our values.

Nearly 80 years after the end of the Holocaust, we saw a pogrom in the same city where Anne Frank hid.

The events of last week serve as a stark reminder of why Israel must continue to exist, and why American leaders must stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters.

We cannot stand by and allow this to happen — not in Amsterdam and not in the United States.

And the recent report by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Education and the Workforce Committee confirms what those of us watching American campuses over the past year, and Jewish students living on them, already knew: Higher education in this country — among other elite institutions — is infected with individuals practicing virulent antisemitism.

Even before Israel finished surveying the wreckage from the horrors of October 7 — before it mounted any response — student organizations issued statements blaming the Jewish state for the attack—identifying with Hamas’s cause—and celebrating the barbarians as “freedom fighters.” They waved flags of designated terrorist organizations, chanted for continued violence against Jews in Israel and in the diaspora, and began a campaign of harassment and discrimination against their Jewish classmates.

Worst of all, many university administrators stood aside and watched their campuses become breeding grounds for the hatred of Jews — and in some cases actively helped.

At Columbia University, where student activists occupied a lawn, stormed a building, and assaulted Jewish classmates, administrators promised consequences for those who violated school policy.Those consequences never came, and those same administrators discussed ways to avoid accountability.

Northwestern University leadership cut a deal with the students organizing a pro-terrorism encampment and, as we’ve now learned, entertained taking steps like banning an Israeli hummus from campus to placate the radicals. 

Perhaps most shockingly, student activists at the University of California, Los Angeles, created what amounted to a Jew-free zone on campus: Encampment dwellers on the university’s property disallowed Jews from passing through the quad unless they would disavow Israel and, by extension, their Jewish faith.

UCLA officials argued it was not their responsibility to prevent their students from denying others access to university property based on their religious identity. They went so far as to direct campus police to discourage Jewish students from traversing the blocked-off areas. In doing so, they facilitated a de facto segregation against Jews.

None of this is acceptable.

It is my hope the increased attention focused on higher-education administrators will drive them to fulfill the responsibilities their job titles demand. But there can be no understating the damage done when a student realizes their tuition dollars go toward bureaucrats who — as they’ve demonstrated — couldn’t care less.

I want to make clear to each and every Jewish student on an American campus: I and my colleagues won’t stand for this. While your administrators may not have your backs, we do. And we always will.

Jewish college students navigating the current moment have displayed a resolve that is truly impressive, and I commend those who have spoken up—in the pages of newspapers and magazines, on social media, or in congressional testimony.

But it shouldn’t have to be this way.

My door is open — and the doors of many of my colleagues are open — to Jewish students who would like to share their stories, voice their concerns with how their institutions of higher education have responded, and work together on holding these schools accountable.

Antisemitism in the United States of America cannot stand.

Sincerely,

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