The Donald Trump administration has unleashed a systematic offensive against universities and the student community in the United States, particularly targeting more than 1.1 million foreign students with the threat of revoking their visas. This campaign, under the banner of combating the alleged infiltration of leftist organizations on campuses, actually reveals an attempt to reaffirm a neoconservative status quo that perceives danger in any expression of criticism of the establishment.
At the centre of this aggression are Jewish corporate interests closely intertwined with the American power elite, whose decisive influence has shaped the US’ Middle East policies for decades. This context has generated a tense environment in which criticism directed at the Israeli government, denouncing its war crimes or human rights violations, is immediately labelled as antisemitism. Furthermore, several states have passed laws criminalizing boycotts in opposition of Israel and stigmatizing disapproval of the Hebrew state as acts of hate.
To add insult to injury, the Trump Administration signed an executive order to allow Jewish-American billionaires to acquire TikTok. The decision reflects an attempt to control the narrative condemning Israel war crimes by owning the platform and paying influencers for their pro-Israeli content. Bibi Netanyahu acknowledged that TikTok’s purchase was important to “fight back” antisemitism.
In recent months, iconic universities such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Cornell have been the first line of Palestinian solidarity camps and protests demanding that these institutions break their ties of complicity with Israel. Cornell is especially notable for investing in arms companies related to the conflict and collaborating with the Israel Institute of Technology for developing military tech to harm the Palestinian population.
This siege on educational institutions not only hits academic and freedom of speech, but also signals a political strategy that seeks to silence dissenting voices and repress the defense of human rights in the one of the most vulnerable and war-torn territories in the modern world.