Columbia’s New “Antisemitism Task Force” Won’t Say What It Thinks Antisemitism Is

A recent listening session hosted by Columbia University’s new Task Force on Antisemitism devolved into chaos, with a task force leader yelling at students who questioned the group’s refusal to define “antisemitism,” according to sources at the university. Meanwhile, the school is preparing to spend up to $135,000 to hire someone to support the task force, which was propped up just weeks after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

In a session on February 29, students asked how the task force defined antisemitism. Professor Gil Zussman said that defining antisemitism was not a “top priority” for the task force, which would rather move forward with its work. Numerous students pounced, objecting to the idea of moving forward without defining the term the task force was ostensibly focused on. Some argued that not defining it could stifle criticism of Israel’s actions. Others pointed out that not defining antisemitism could hinder enforcement against it.

Multiple Jewish students spoke up in that meeting, saying they were worried that their anti-Zionism could be conflated with antisemitism. One Jewish student, who said their grandmother was a Holocaust survivor, described feeling like their Judaism was being erased and worried that the task force wasn’t taking their perspective seriously. They said that they didn’t feel comfortable being on campus if other students could feel comfortable calling them a Nazi simply because they didn’t agree with what is happening in Palestine.

“I’m still waiting to hear from the administration anything about the only actual violence that has occurred on our campus around this conflict: which has been against Palestinian students and pro-Palestinian Jewish students,” Howley told The Intercept. “I’m still waiting to hear anything from the institution about that. Why have we not set up a task force just to look into that?”