On Jan. 29, President Trump signed an executive order on anti-Semitism, which states, “It shall be the policy of the United States to combat anti-Semitism vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence.”
The order refers specifically to “civil-rights violations related to or arising from post-October 7, 2023, campus anti-Semitism.” These protests about the actions of the state of Israel, which included the participation of many Jewish students, were not focused on Jews themselves or anti-Semitism. The redefinition of anti-Semitism to be about the state of Israel rather than Judaism is dangerous.