After a spring semester filled with camps on New York college campuses, chants calling for the death of Jews at New York University and a pro-Hamas hub at Columbia University's Hamilton Hall, Jewish students were hoping for a quieter fall semester — or at least one free of campus life marred by Jew-hating extremists.
Sadly, anti-Semites are making a comeback.
Cornell University professor Russell Rickford is in the news again.
He made headlines when he called the massacre of more than 1,200 Jews on October 7th “exhilarating.”
The university, like many institutions across the country, did nothing to hold him accountable.
This week, he returned to campus from a voluntary leave of absence and got back on track, taking part in student rallies that took over a job fair and marched across campus chanting “Long live the Intifada!”
You might be thinking: “How on earth is this terrorist sympathizer gainfully employed at Cornell University going back to his old ways?”
One need only ask Governor Hochle of New York, who is a natural member of Cornell University's Board of Trustees.
The day after the professor praised Hamas, Hokl could have called and immediately expelled the madman.
She could have done the same this week after he returned to campus and called for the genocide of Jews.
She could have strongly condemned Rickford and publicly demanded that the university never allow him to set foot on campus again.
Haukl could have taken steps to leverage the university's funding to protect Jewish students and used his influence to rally support among the Jewish community on Cornell's campus.
Instead, some staff member issued some silly boilerplate comment that, in her eyes, solved the problem.
Her inaction — shamefully premeditated at worst, incompetent at best — is the reason anti-Semitism spreads like wildflowers across college campuses.
But Haukl's inability and unwillingness to effectively tackle anti-Semitism began long before October 7th.
As I crisscrossed the state running for governor in 2022, I spoke with many Jewish voters who no longer felt safe on the streets.
Many people took off their yarmulkes before boarding the subway.
Jewish business owners have been targeted, and synagogues across the state have been vandalized with swastikas and subjected to other anti-Semitic attacks.
Mr. Haukl’s attacks on yeshiva education are extremely harmful.
Her office is Hit Articles According to the email, he plans to sign with The New York Times in 2022.
Hoekl went into hiding while the president of the City University of New York missed not one but two public hearings on anti-Semitism within the CUNY system.
After Fatima Mohammed marred the CUNY Law School graduation ceremony with a 2023 commencement speech filled with Hamas propaganda, she was nowhere to be seen.
Kathy Hoekl's brand is to flinch in the face of crisis, which explains why her favorability ratings are at a record low.
The people of New York know Hockle all too well and are rejecting her more than ever.
But for Jewish New Yorkers concerned about their own safety and the quality of their children's education, it certainly doesn't have to be this way.
If we elect Donald Trump and Republicans control the House and the Senate, woke universities like Cornell, Columbia and others will face severe retribution for their actions.
Federal funding must be cut, visa-holding terrorist sympathizers must be deported, and ineffectual university presidents must be held accountable.
At times like these, American Jews need bold leadership that will not pander to the pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic Party.
Right now, our greatest power lies in voting at the ballot box.
Lee Zeldin was elected to Congress to represent eastern Long Island from 2015 to 2023.
