The Biden administration, top universities and medical institutions utterly failed to crack down on antisemitism that exploded in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack, according to a scathing House Republican report released Thursday, which laid bare “systemic” and “astounding” shortcomings.
Six GOP-led House committees declared in a joint report that “antisemitism has been allowed to fester unchecked” due to “a disturbing pattern of defensiveness and denial,” according to a copy exclusively obtained by The Post.
“Across the nation, Jewish Americans have been harassed, assaulted, intimidated, and subjected to hostile environments — violations that stand in stark contrast to America’s fundamental values, including a foundational commitment to religious freedom for all,” the 42-page report says.
“The failure of our federal government departments and agencies is astounding.”
The outpouring of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish remarks and actions tested America’s free speech precepts and the fact that hate speech is generally lawful in the United States, unless it amounts to harassment or is an aggravating factor in a criminal act such as assault.
The Republican-led report points out, however, that federal law generally prevents recipients of taxpayer funds from tolerating discrimination — allowing a foothold to leverage recipients to stiffen policies on campuses and at medical settings should federal officials so choose.
In almost every case, institutions allegedly took almost no disciplinary action against alleged antisemites and made no changes to codes of conduct, and faced no loss of grants to stop the rapidly spreading Jew hatred.
The report focuses heavily on Columbia University and its recommendations urge federal agencies to use money to incentivize more stringent anti-discrimination policies — and also proposes potential legislation to that effect.
“The executive branch should aggressively enforce Title VI [anti-discrimination rules] and hold schools accountable for their failures to protect students. Universities that fail to fulfill the obligations upon which their federal funding is predicated or whose actions make clear they are unfit stewards of taxpayer
dollars should be treated accordingly,” the Republican panels said.
High-profile reports of antisemitism — mirrored by anti-Palestinian incidents that also occurred, especially during rallies and counter-rallies over the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip — was just the tip of the iceberg, according to the investigation.
In one alarming incident, a student overheard two health care providers at Columbia’s medical school discussing whether or not to “treat her because she was Israeli.”
“She sat in the room for another 10 minutes until someone finally came to address her health needs As of mid-December 2024, representatives of Columbia University have not provided any information to the Committees as a part of this investigation beyond an October 2, 2024, response of basic platitudes.”
The Ivy League school, which was the site of a large encampment that featured on its fringes multiple documented instances of anti-Jewish remarks against pro-Israel activists and Jewish students, also reneged on a vow to punish students accused of breaking the rules to protest against Israel.
“Columbia said the 22 students arrested for the criminal takeover of Hamilton Hall would face expulsion. Instead, the University lifted the students’ interim suspensions after pushback from radical faculty, allowing 7 to graduate, restoring 11 to good standing, and leaving 3 with preexisting sanctions suspended and 1 on probation,” the report said.
“Despite dozens of students being arrested for conduct related to Hamilton Hall and the encampment,
or having faced discipline for other egregious antisemitic incidents; Columbia failed to expel students and issued final suspensions to only four students.”
Some of the anti-Israel protesters at Columbia were themselves Jewish and argued that the protest was not pervasively antisemitic — despite reported instances.
The document says that, unexpectedly, “many colleges handed down disparate disciplinary actions for Jewish students versus their antagonists — the students who engaged in antisemitic behavior, encampments, and intimidating tactics such as campus checkpoints and tax-exempt organizations that enabled and funded violent campus protests.”
Columbia, for example, “allowed a false narrative that Jewish students had perpetrated a ‘chemical attack’ at an anti-Israel rally to persist for months despite knowing it was false and that the students involved had merely sprayed novelty ‘fart sprays.’
“In an apparent case of disparate treatment, the Jewish students responsible were given excessive year-and-a-half long suspensions, substantially longer than any suspension for antisemitic conduct violations,” the report says.
“Columbia failed to correct the record despite requests from the Jewish community, even as anti-Israel students used the false narrative of a ‘chemical attack’ purportedly involving military-grade ‘skunk spray’ to demonize Jewish students and call for excluding Israelis.
“Columbia finally acknowledged that the incident was not a ‘chemical attack’ in August 2024, pursuant to a settlement with one of the Jewish students excessively disciplined, which also awarded the student $395,000 and modified the suspension to conditional disciplinary probation.”
Allegedly biased institutions such as Columbia University, the University of Southern California, UCLA, George Washington University, Harvard University, and Yale University pocketed $2.7 billion in federal funds just in fiscal year 2023, which concluded right before Hamas terrorists invaded the Jewish state and killed more than 1,200 people — including 33 Americans, the report says.
The probe, which was launched after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other Republicans took a tour of the anti-Israel encampment at Columbia, touched on many federal agencies.
The State Department and Department of Homeland Security allegedly stonewalled records requests about the visa statuses of those harassing Jewish students with terror-infused tirades — or else discovered that government money was being funneled to tax-exempt charities
“Rather than confronting the severity of the problem, many institutions have dismissed congressional and public criticism and abdicated responsibility for the hostile environments they have enabled,” the report states.
“This refusal to acknowledge or address the issue has allowed antisemitism to take root and thrive in spaces that contravene the values of this great nation.”