Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, US rights commission finds in rebuke to Trump

A bipartisan US civil rights commission has challenged President Donald Trump's crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism at American universities, with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) telling The New Arab that the findings undermine attempts to treat Zionism as a protected identity and use allegations of antisemitism to suppress criticism of Israel.

The US Commission on Civil Rights, in a report published on Monday, found that opposition to Zionism does not in itself constitute unlawful antisemitic discrimination and questioned the Trump administration's decision to withhold billions of dollars in federal funding from universities over alleged failures to protect Jewish students.

Jonah Rubin, Senior Manager of Campus Organizing at Jewish Voice for Peace, told The New Arab that the findings were significant because they distinguished between Jewish identity and Zionism as a political ideology.

"As the bipartisan commission correctly notes, Zionism is a political ideology, not a religious identity," Rubin said.

He noted that attempts by the Trump administration and pro-Israel organisations to extend special protections to Zionism harmed Palestinians and their supporters as well as anti-Zionist Jewish students.

JVP student chapters, he said, were pushing back against university training and policies that the organisation believes falsely conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism, while campaigning for measures that protect Jewish, Palestinian and other students.

The commission's findings challenge a central argument used by the White House to justify its crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrations following the outbreak of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.

The report distinguishes between discrimination against Jewish people and criticism of Zionism, the political movement that underpinned Israel's establishment and the mass expulsion and dispossession of Palestinians from historic Palestine.

It found that Zionism was not automatically protected under US civil rights law simply because some Jewish people identify with it.

The commission explained that criticising political beliefs or institutions does not, by itself, constitute discrimination against people who support them.

Its findings challenge the Trump administration's treatment of some forms of anti-Zionist activism and criticism of Israel as evidence of antisemitism.

The report also found that 97 percent of campus protests against Israel during the 2023–2024 academic year were peaceful, challenging claims that pro-Palestinian demonstrations were overwhelmingly violent.

The commission stressed that Jewish students must be protected from genuine discrimination, harassment and threats, and that universities have a responsibility to address such incidents without restricting freedom of expression.

Trump's university crackdown under scrutiny

The commission further criticised the Trump administration's decision to freeze billions of dollars in federal funding to universities, including Harvard and Columbia, over allegations that they had failed to tackle antisemitism.

Under US law, the government must investigate discrimination complaints and follow a series of legal steps before withdrawing funding from an institution.

The report found that the administration had bypassed or accelerated parts of that process, imposing sweeping financial penalties that went beyond the university programmes under investigation.

It also highlighted court rulings that questioned the legality of some of the administration's actions, raising concerns that the funding cuts were being used to pressure universities into restricting speech critical of Israel.

Rubin told The New Arab that the administration had abandoned established civil rights practices in favour of "a policy designed to chill and harshly punish free speech".

"Too many universities have become willing accomplices in this effort, punishing almost any pro-Palestine expression, rather than stand up for the values they claim to believe in," he said.

He also said universities had adopting increasingly harsh disciplinary measures in an attempt to placate the administration, saying Palestinian, anti-Zionist Jewish and other student activists had borne the brunt of the restrictions.

"Despite this, Jewish anti-Zionist students refuse to be silenced or scared off," Rubin said.

"Across the country, JVP chapters are building proud anti-Zionist ritual spaces, advocating for endowments to reflect the values universities profess, and supporting their Palestinian peers' organising for their own liberation."

The crackdown has prompted criticism from civil rights advocates and legal experts, who argue that the administration has used allegations of antisemitism to target pro-Palestinian activism and undermine academic freedom.

The commission also raised concerns about the Trump administration's decision to cut resources from the very government office responsible for investigating discrimination against Jewish students.

In March 2025, seven of the Education Department's 12 regional civil rights offices were closed, despite having handled 90% of the antisemitism complaints resolved by the department in 2024.

The report also criticised the departments of Education, Justice and Health and Human Services for failing to provide information requested during the investigation, raising concerns about the administration's lack of transparency.

Commission chair Rochelle Garza stressed that efforts to protect Jewish students must follow the law and respect constitutional rights, including freedom of speech.

Rubin argued that the funding freezes and university settlements had done little to address antisemitism while affecting a much broader range of students and academic programmes.

"The settlement agreements that concluded the Trump administration's supposed antisemitism investigations hardly mentioned Jews or antisemitism at all," he told The New Arab.

Instead agreements reached with universities had resulted in policies affecting international students, transgender students, students of colour and scientific research.

"Jews refuse to be the face of the Trump administration's attacks on higher education and vulnerable populations," he added.

Bipartisan findings challenge White House policy

The commission's eight members, four Democrats and four Republicans, unanimously approved the report after an investigation that included testimony from Jewish students, university officials, legal experts and civil rights organisations.

The commission unanimously authorised the investigation in January 2025, held a public hearing in February 2026 and approved the final report in July, before its publication earlier this week.

Commission chair Rochelle Garza welcomed the unanimous findings, saying they had demonstrated what the commission could achieve by working across party lines and taking difficult civil rights issues seriously.

"Antisemitism has no place on our college campuses. Students should be protected from discrimination and harassment while colleges and universities also respect free speech and expression," she said.

However, Republican commissioner J. Christian Adams, who was appointed by Trump, issued a separate statement criticising the report for not endorsing the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism.

The definition has drawn criticism from free speech advocates because some of its examples involving Israel can be used to classify certain forms of anti-Zionism and criticism of Israeli policies as "antisemitic".

Adams also objected to the report's discussion of Republican attitudes towards Israel and Jewish identity, although he did not challenge its broader legal findings.

Democratic commissioner Mondaire Jones, who helped lead the investigation alongside Republican Peter Kirsanow, criticised the administration for pursuing its crackdown without adequately consulting the Jewish students it claimed to be protecting.

The commission called for stronger protections against antisemitism on university campuses, but stressed that these must not come at the expense of students' right to protest, criticise Israel or express opposition to Zionism.

Rubin said the report showed that Jewish safety should not be used as a justification for restricting Palestinian advocacy.

"The report affirms that Jewish safety comes through our solidarity with others facing oppression, not through alliances with increasingly fascist states," he told The New Arab.

Despite the administration's efforts to curb campus activism, Rubin said students remained committed to campaigns over university investments, study-abroad programmes and institutional links to Israel.

"Students are tired of seeing their tuition dollars go to support companies and study abroad programs that profit off apartheid and genocide," he said.

"It is long past time for universities and politicians to realise what a majority of young Jews already have: that there can be no 'Palestine exception' to free expression at home or to human rights abroad."