GOP Senators Express ‘Grave Concern’ to Education Secretary Over Taxpayer-Funded Anti-Semitic Near East and Mideast Programs

Republican senators express their support “grave concern” Miguel Cardona, Secretary of Education, was questioned by the U.S. taxpayer about anti-Semitic Near East/Middle East programs funded on America’s college campuses.

The Let me know Sens. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) Ted Cruz (R.Texas).

“We write with grave concern that the Department of Education, over the course of decades, has been allowing taxpayer-funded antisemitism to take place on college campuses throughout the United States,” They wrote in the letter.

Senators charged university Near East and Middle East programs with not adhering to Title VI of 1965 Higher Education Act (HEA). This includes the requirement that program recipients “reflect diverse perspectives and a wide range of views and generate debate on world regions and international affairs, as described in the grantee’s application.” Senators explained that this is an example of a violation. “a disproportionate amount of their curriculum on criticizing Israel.”

The senators admitted that criticism of the Jewish state was not anti-Semitic. “the type of scrutiny coming from these taxpayer-funded programs and professors” Goes against International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition Antisemitism has been accepted by many countries, including the United States.

The senators stated that the programs and professors were in violation of the anti-Semitism examples included in the working definition. “denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination, comparing the Israeli government’s actions to Nazi Germany, holding Israel to double standards not applied to any other Democratic nation, Holocaust denial, and more.”

The senators cited an example: According to the AMCHA Initiative (which combats antisemitism at U.S. college campuses), 93 percent of UCLA Center for Near East Studies public events relating to Israel were biased against the Jewish state between 2010 and 2013.

Senators claimed that “some universities may have even violated anti-terrorism laws by hosting convicted terrorists as speakers,” New York University will host a webinar with Leila Khaled (convicted terrorist who hijacked an airplane in 1969, and was released in prisoner exchange in 1970 when she tried to hijack another plane). Khaled is a member of the U.S.-designated terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Another example of anti-Semitism in Mideast studies programs on college campuses the senators cited was the North Carolina Consortium for Middle East Studies—a joint Duke-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill program—”portray[ing] Islam in a positive light but fail[ing] to teach students the history of the persecution the Jewish people and other ethnic and religious groups in the Middle East have faced for centuries,” According to a 2019 Education Department Under President Donald Trump letter to program

According to the 2022 AMCHA Initiative Study, “160 academic departments at 120 U.S. colleges and universities issued or endorsed wholly one-sided, anti-Israel statements containing rhetoric that meets the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.” Signees of the letter cited examples like “a UC Berkeley professor who lectured that Palestinian terrorist acts were ‘counter-violence’ that ‘pales in scale’ to actions by Israel and claimed ‘Holocaust denial is a form of protest'” A professor at the University of Texas at Austin, who called Israel a “racist” The country was compared with Nazi Germany.

“Because of the widespread antisemitism taking place on college campuses, many Jewish and pro-Israel students no longer feel safe,” The senators wrote. “In fact, universities with faculty who actively support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel were 3.6 times more likely to have their Jewish and pro-Israel students targeted for physical harm on campus.”

The Education Department was given until April 28 by the senators to answer numerous questions. “to what extent have college and university programs in the United States used federal funds on speakers and programs that meet the IHRA working definition of antisemitism over the last decade” The department’s website. “plan for ensuring programs and professors on college and university campuses receiving HEA Title VI funding are in compliance with federal requirements requiring diverse perspectives.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Education responded to The Epoch Times’ March 10th request for comment by acknowledging receipt of the letter, and referring back to A fact sheet Information about Title VI, the Civil Rights Act A Q&A Trump’s 2019 executive order on anti-Semitism was signed.