The Coalition for Jewish Values — an umbrella organization representing more than 2,000 Orthodox rabbis — is pressuring US universities to cast aside diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs because of their alleged anti-Israel and anti-Semitic ideologies.
The demand to cut off all DEI programs follows a concerning study produced by the Heritage Foundation think tank.
In the study, university employees assigned to diversity efforts reportedly used their authority and social media presence to stir hatred against Israel and Jews. It also found that “rather than promoting diversity and inclusion, universities may be contributing to an increase in anti-Jewish hatred by expanding DEI staff and power.”
“Those harboring what should be obvious disqualifying biases were apparently identified on literally dozens of campuses with influence over thousands of students. Instead, they have appointed foxes to guard the proverbial hen house,” Coalition Managing Director Rabbi Yaakov Menken told Fox News.
“With antisemitic incidents rising at an alarming rate, using Israel as a convenient facade, universities must ensure their diversity efforts include protection of Jewish students,” Menken added.
Heritage’s Alarming Findings
The think tank inspected the Twitter feeds of 741 DEI personnel at 65 universities and cross-examined their published thoughts on Israel compared to China, learning that these employees retweeted, liked, and posted three times more about Israel than China.
Some 95 percent of those tweets criticized Israel and Jews, while 62 percent of the China tweets were favorable.
“While criticism of Israel is not necessarily antisemitic, the inordinate amount of attention given to Israel and the excessive criticism directed at that one country is evidence of a double-standard with respect to the Jewish state, which is a central feature of a widely accepted definition of antisemitism,” the Heritage report claimed stated.