New York—In response to the Trump administration’s abuse of immigrants, activists, universities, and democratic norms and institutions in the name of combating antisemitism, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, issued the following statement:
“We reject the Trump administration’s cynical attempt to use our community’s real fear of antisemitism as a wedge to dismantle democracy.
“Rabbis and cantors across the U.S. are concerned about the rise of antisemitism. Many of our members and people in our communities have experienced antisemitic bomb threats, vandalism, and other direct attacks in their synagogues, schools, online, and elsewhere. At times, rabbis and cantors have witnessed antisemitic language within some protests, including the justification and celebration of the murder of Israeli Jews. Many of us know Jewish college students who have been harassed or even assaulted on campus, who have encountered antisemitic graffiti and signage, and who have been pushed out of clubs or student spaces. Universities and other institutions have a responsibility to address such incidents according to their own codes of conduct and disciplinary processes.
“But detaining and deporting students without due process will not make our community safer. Already, we have seen students arrested without a warrant, sent to detention centers without their families being notified, and threatened with deportation without a hearing. These actions directly endanger these students, and also threaten the very foundations of American democracy, including the right to free speech and to due process.
“Immigrant students have been targeted not only because of their alleged political views and participation in protest, but because the Trump regime is laying the legal groundwork and administrative framework for more mass deportations. In carrying out blatantly unconstitutional detentions of activists, they are purposefully testing boundaries to see what the public will tolerate and weaponizing insidious dynamics like anti-Asian bigotry, xenophobia, anti-Muslim bigotry, anti-intellectualism and more.
“The president’s attacks on universities are also straight out of the autocratic playbook. University campuses should be safeguarded as places of animated debate and discourse as a way to fulfill their mission of inquiry and discovery. This entails the protection of free and disagreeable speech and the right to protest, even while responding to hate speech and harassment in accordance with their campus code of conduct. This administration’s attacks on higher education will not stop with claims of fighting antisemitism. They can easily use the same means to crack down on universities promoting diversity initiatives, teaching the history of slavery in the United States, hosting LGBTQ groups, or providing reproductive care in student health centers or associated hospitals. Attacks on universities, which have been critically important institutions for so many Jews in this country, are further evidence that the Trump administration is not interested in Jewish students or Jewish safety.
“If the Trump administration cared about fighting antisemitism, they would not be shuttering the Department of Education, including the Office for Civil Rights, which is charged with investigating incidents of antisemitism and other bias. Nor would they be appointing and hiring staff who have made explicit antisemitic remarks, given Nazi salutes, or campaigned for far-right European political parties.
“The administration’s alleged attempts to counter antisemitism only make the Jewish community less safe, both by provoking antisemitic responses, and by undermining the democratic norms, institutions, and protections that have allowed our community to flourish in the United States.
“We see through the administration’s attempt to use our community as a wedge to dismantle democracy, and we refuse to cooperate.”
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About T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights brings the Torah’s ideals of human dignity, equality, and justice to life by empowering our network of over 2,300 rabbis and cantors to be moral voices and to lead Jewish communities in advancing democracy and human rights for all people in the United States, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.