Media Watch

Latest Campus Craze: Anti-Semitic Attacks

The following letter appeared in the New York Post on December 7, 2016.

Letters to the Editor
New York Post

To the Editor: 

Andrea Peyser's column notes that "few places of learning are free from threats, harassment and verbal" attacks against Jews, while lamenting that protections afforded to those of the Jewish faith are few and far between.

In fact, Congress has recently taken up this very issue. The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which the Senate unanimously approved, provides important guidance to the Departments of Education and Justice for federal anti-discrimination investigations involving anti-Semitism. The act addresses a core concern of Jewish students and parents: When does the expression of anti-Semitism, anti-Israel sentiment and anti-Zionist beliefs cross the line from protected free expression to unlawful discriminatory conduct?

The act carefully protects First Amendment-protected speech. But harassing, intimidating and discriminatory anti-Semitism isn't protected speech.

Sincerely,

Jonathan A. Greenblatt 
CEO and National Director