Antisemitism is on the rise across America.
We are seeing it with riots at college campuses, protests in our streets, and threats against our Jewish friends and neighbors.
This spike began with the brutal terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, and Israel’s subsequent justified efforts to defend herself and her people.
A billboard featuring an image of Columbia’s President Minouche Shafik circles the school as students, faculty, and others wait to enter Columbia University’s campus on August 15, in New York City.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
In the three months following the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, the Anti-Defamation League recorded 3,291 antisemitic incidents—a level unprecedented during any previous three-month period over the last decade and a 361 percent increase compared to the same period the previous year.
Even here in our beloved Indiana, we have seen far too many vile expressions of hatred and prejudice against Jewish individuals.
A significant portion of the vitriol directed against our Jewish brothers and sisters has erupted in the form of campus protests and encampments on the grounds of public universities—including in places such as Dunn Meadow on the main campus of Indiana University in Bloomington.
Although often veiled in the guise of support for Palestinian innocents, the words and actions directed against Jewish people have all too often crossed the line from legitimate expressions of opinion into something far more sinister—harassment, threats, and intimidation that endanger Jewish people’s safety and violate our laws.
As Indiana’s attorney general, I have vowed from the beginning of these protests to stand firm in upholding the law.
Last May, I sent a letter to college officials warning them they are duty-bound to enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by combating all forms of antisemitism on their campuses—or risk losing their federal funding. I further reminded them that they must ensure that student groups do not materially support foreign terrorist organizations.
House Enrolled Act 1179, which took effect July 1, requires state educational institutions to adopt policies to prohibit providing funds or other resources to foreign terrorist organizations or state sponsors of terror.
When spring semester concluded earlier this year, some of the most troubling antisemitic activities on college campuses seemed to subside.
With classes back in session, however, some signs point to a resumption of protests. (After winning control of student government earlier this year, for example, pro-Palestinian activists at the University of Michigan now continue to withhold funds for student activities until the university divests from companies doing business with Israel.)
At the same time, we have seen that antisemitism is an evil stain that spreads beyond the confines of college campuses into the fabric of general society—and that we must deal with this ugliness wherever it arises.
Therefore, my team and I this month are taking two important additional actions.
First, in an official advisory opinion issued Sept. 10, we explain how the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Indiana Civil Rights Act provide 1) statutory protections protecting students and employees in educational settings and 2) the authority and obligations of schools and universities to combat antisemitism in educational settings. You may read our advisory opinion here.
Secondly, our office is leading the effort to combat the disturbing rise in antisemitic behavior by providing important legal education and law enforcement training on Sept. 20. Learn more here.
Beyond these immediate actions, we will continue fighting the scourge of antisemitism in other ways because few notions are more antithetical to the values on which America was founded.
Religious tolerance and freedom of worship have been central to America’s laws and values since colonial times. Many of the first European settlers of North America—and numerous immigrants and refugees since—came here to escape religious persecution in their home countries.
After achieving independence, Americans enshrined those values in the U.S. Constitution, which provides strong protections for religious freedom against encroachment by government authorities.
So, we must keep fighting antisemitism—just as we must fight other forms of hate, prejudice and racism.
We must fight the forces of darkness that would undermine the values that make America a beacon of light.
Each of us—wherever we are and whatever our calling in life—must stand on the right side in these kinds of conflicts.
We must defend good against evil—and the rule of law against illegal forms of harassment, threats and intimidation.
We each must do our duty.
As Indiana’s attorney general, I intend to do mine.
Todd Rokita is Indiana’s attorney general.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
