Jewish communities are wary of Trump's push to punish antisemitism

President Donald Trump has long portrayed himself as a steadfast friend and fierce protector of Jewish people the world over. Jewish Americans, however, have been mostly unconvinced, voting overwhelmingly for Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024, keeping with decades of precedent for liberal candidates. Nevertheless, just days into his second term, Trump signed an executive order to "combat antisemitism," focusing largely on the campus-roiling protests against Israel's war on the Gaza Strip.

Since then, the Trump administration has targeted several international students for deportation, ostensibly over their roles in the recent protests. At the same time, allegations of permitting antisemitism to flourish on campus have been the purported basis for the White House's push to defund Ivy League schools like Columbia and Brown University. But as the White House touts its efforts, a growing number of Jewish Americans have begun speaking out about what they claim is the exploitation of their identities for the president's personal agenda.

'Uncomfortable' spotlight

The Trump administration has been "using 'antisemitism' as a pretext to advance a radical agenda," said Yair Rosenberg at The Atlantic. That agenda has "nothing to do with Jews at all" and is one that "most American Jews do not support." In the case of "detentions and deportations," for instance, while a "handful of high-profile cases" purport to be predicated on the subject's alleged antisemitic actions, "most of them do not." In so much as there have been instances of actual antisemitism on campuses, Trump has not "surgically targeted these failings at America's universities for rectification," said Rosenberg. Instead, he has "exploited them to justify the institutions' decimation."

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To the extent that Trump's crackdowns have "so far targeted critics of Israel," some Jewish Americans nevertheless contend that his administration's actions "uncomfortably echo previous eras of bigoted nationalism that gave way to overt antisemitism," said The New York Times. The result, whether intended or not, is a "spotlight on Jews that makes many uncomfortable."

Some Jewish communal groups that have previously backed the Trump administration are beginning to speak out about their discomfort with the White House's tactics claiming to help protect Jews. After initially lauding Trump for the detention of Columbia University student and Gaza war protester Mahmoud Khalil, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt made "something of a shift" by gently critiquing the White House in the days that followed, said Jewish Insider. Protecting Jewish students "shouldn't require us to shred the norms that we use to protect other people," said Greenblatt in an interview with the publication.

Trump may have "couched" his "aggressive moves" against universities like Columbia and Princeton as a "means of protecting Jewish students," said the Forward. At the same time, however, he has shuttered the Department of Education, which is the governmental body with the "most responsibility for investigating antisemitism."

'Weaponizing' real pain

There is a "disdain for the exploitation of real concerns about antisemitism" on campuses when it's used to "fuel a broader crackdown on liberal education," said Jewish Studies Professor Joel Swanson at Slate. Students see a "pretext of fighting antisemitism" being used to "destroy the foundations of the liberal arts education." This, in turn, has a chilling effect on those wanting to speak out over "legitimate concerns about antisemitism on campus."

Trump is "weaponizing the real pain American Jews face," said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), and he is using that pain as a tool in his "desire to wield control over the truth-seeking academic institutions that stand as a bulwark against authoritarianism." Search for a moment in history where Jews have "benefited from a mix of rampant nationalism and repression," said Matt Bai at The Washington Post, in a critique of Greenblatt's previous support for the Trump administration published two days before the Jewish Insider interview: "You'll be looking awhile."