Israeli Universities Offer An Alternative Amid Antisemitism

By Jonathan Davis American college campuses, once seen as bastions of free thought and inclusion, have become breeding grounds for antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Jewish students are being shamed, harassed and in some cases physically assaulted for expressing their identity or support for Israel. Faculty members, instead of fostering respectful discourse, have joined in singling out and humiliating Jewish students in classrooms and public forums. The result is a chilling atmosphere where many now hide Stars of David or avoid speaking Hebrew in public. This isn’t academic debate—it’s moral failure, emboldening hatred while betraying the very ideals universities claim to uphold.

Now, this toxic approach has been imported into the high school system, threatening to poison the educational experience for Jewish students at even younger ages.

Last week, the US National Education Association (NEA) decided to do away with the ADL syllabus provided to schools on the subjects of bigotry, prejudice, antisemitism, and Holocaust education for K-12 students. This decision comes in the midst of a wave of antisemitism plaguing cities, towns and hamlets throughout the USA.

At the NEA’s annual conference, delegates adopted a resolution preventing union members from “using, endorsing or publicizing” ADL curricula. Most notably, they decided to abandon the “No Place for Hate” program, which has served over 2,000 schools across the USA with entirely apolitical anti-bias education.

As ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt noted in his Wall Street Journal op-ed on July 15th, “The NEA’s move is both insidious and vindictive. It was a clear and unambiguous statement to Jewish educators, parents and children: You don’t count. And it perversely takes this stance at a time when anti-Jewish hate is skyrocketing.”

A Pattern of Hostility

This NEA vote reflects a broader pattern of anti-Israel sentiment infiltrating American education. Since October 7, there has been an increasing pattern of discrimination and intimidation against Jewish students, with teachers’ unions across the country embracing increasingly hostile rhetoric:

• In California, local teachers’ unions provided their teachers with anti-Israel scripts

• In Minneapolis, home to Congresswoman Omar, teachers’ unions labeled Israel as “apartheid”

• In Chicago, the teachers union declared “Zionists are not welcome”

• San Francisco’s union supported teachers skipping mandatory antisemitism training

The Campus Connection

The timing isn’t coincidental. A generation of teachers educated on college campuses where anti-Israel sentiment has been normalized are now bringing these attitudes into K-12 classrooms. What began as campus radicalism is becoming mainstream educational policy.

At a recent House of Representatives hearing on antisemitism, Chancellor of University of California, Berkeley, Richard Lyons was asked about an event in which speakers “repeatedly denied that Israelis were gang-raped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and argued that Hamas was weaponizing feminism.”

Lyons stated, “I did not prevent it from happening because I felt that keeping the marketplace for ideas open was really important in this instance,” he said.

One wonders if a Holocaust denier in a marketplace of ideas might also find a place in the future.

This trend has profound implications for Jewish students. It will probably take a very long time to fight legal battles and do all that is possible to combat this development. But in the meantime, a Jewish student or anyone who identifies with Zionism is bound to be shamed or even harmed. A student who wants to make the case for Israel will be dubbed guilty before proven innocent and may face shaming by teachers and students, boycotts, and severely constrained academic freedom.

A Growing Exodus

The hostile environment in American education is already driving Jewish students to seek alternatives. This last year, I have begun to see an influx of students to the Raphael Recanati International School from universities whose campuses align themselves with the values and views of the NEA. Dozens of undergraduate and graduate students have transferred their studies to Reichman University. Some were shamed by their professors. Others were physically accosted in their dorms. Still others were threatened when trying to participate in intellectual discourse.

For those students who do not wish to hide their Jewishness and Zionist values, and do not feel comfortable in their present academic setting, there are English-speaking options in Israel at a number of Israeli universities, including the Raphael Recanati International School. This is not so much a matter of promoting fear tactics, but more about Jewish students having the right to study in a university setting that respects their right to express themselves, provides a warm and embracing attitude toward Zionist and Jewish values, and where one does not need to be embarrassed to feel this way.

A Path Forward

At Reichman University, our international school offers comprehensive undergraduate and graduate programs fully taught in English across diverse fields. The university is proud to call itself Zionist with its head held high. We proudly sing Hatikvah at every relevant ceremony on campus, provide preferential treatment for IDF veterans, and ensure the welfare of our reservists.

Our university is pluralistic within the umbrella of humanistic Zionist values, believing in a “Jewish and democratic State” and in strengthening the State of Israel, the Jewish world, and the world at large. This approach creates an environment where Jewish students can thrive academically without compromising their core beliefs.

The Broader Stakes

The NEA’s decision represents more than educational policy—it’s a test of American pluralism. When the nation’s largest teachers’ union effectively declares a century-old Jewish civil rights organization unwelcome, it signals that Jewish concerns are increasingly marginalized in American public discourse.

As Greenblatt warned, “When we strip schools of trusted tools that allow them to teach about antisemitism or to inform the next generation of the horrors of Holocaust, lessons go unlearned. We leave young people vulnerable to ignorance, prejudice and radicalization.”

Looking Forward

The NEA’s executive board still has an opportunity to reject this resolution and demonstrate that Jewish educators and students remain welcome in American public education. However, the damage may already be done, signaling to Jewish families that their children’s safety and identity are secondary concerns.

For Jewish students facing an increasingly hostile educational environment, the choice is becoming clear: accept marginalization or seek institutions that celebrate Jewish identity and values. Israeli universities, with their English-language programs and unapologetic Zionist ethos, offer not just an alternative but potentially a superior educational experience.

The NEA’s boycott of the ADL isn’t just about curriculum—it’s about whether Jewish students can feel safe and supported in American schools. Until that fundamental question is answered affirmatively, the exodus to Israel’s universities will likely continue growing.