President Donald Trump’s first month back in office was a busy one, to put it mildly. From attempting to subsume USAID into the Department of State, to tightening immigration restrictions under the pretense of national security, to siding with Russia in the war in Ukraine, Trump has swiftly left his mark on foreign and domestic policy. These and many other rapid changes have been informed by the president’s slogan of “America First,” with which the administration is seeking to align all its policies. To be sure, “America First” is a strategically broad and vague concept, encompassing any number of people, issues, and ideas that are seen as threatening to the Trump agenda. This time, pro-Palestine activism is even more in the crosshairs.
The new Trump administration has made it clear that repressing pro-Palestine activism is a priority. On January 29, Trump issued an executive order (EO) that the White House said would involve “forceful and unprecedented steps to marshal all Federal resources to combat the explosion of anti-Semitism on our campuses and in our streets since October 7, 2023.” The order expanded on Trump’s December 2019 order (E.O.13899), which adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism. That definition includes “targeting” the state of Israel or describing the state as “racist” as examples of anti-Semitism. Trump’s new EO has directed civil rights and immigration authorities to ramp up investigations into any such activity.
Federal agencies quickly implemented the directive. On February 3, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the formation of a multiagency task force to “root out anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses.” The task force will include representatives from the Department of Education (DOE) and the Department of Health and Human Services, all coordinated through the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. Two days later, Attorney General Pam Bondi established an additional task force called “Joint Task Force October 7” to investigate threats posed by Hamas and “antisemitic acts of terrorism and civil rights violations in the homeland.” Led by the DOJ’s National Security Division and working in consultation with the Israeli government, that task force will investigate the perpetrators of the October 7 attacks, Hamas leadership, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and US-based entities “that provide funding to Hamas,” particularly those on college campuses. Concurrently, the DOE announced that it was launching related investigations into five American universities over their handling of “widespread antisemitic harassment,” which some pro-Israel groups have associated with protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
While the executive branch’s moves to root out criticism of Israel have been commands of the Trump administration, there should be no mistaking Congress’s complimentary role. In the new Congress lawmakers have quickly resumed efforts to stifle domestic and international pressure on Israel. In addition to supporting sanctions on the International Criminal Court, lawmakers reintroduced the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act (H.R.1007 and S.558), which requires the use of the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism when enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws. The legislation is a crucial tool for those seeking to delegitimize criticism of Israel and is likely to be instrumentalized to repress pro-Palestine activism.
Of course, this coordinated effort is hardly new. Just last year, President Joe Biden condemned student protesters at Columbia University as “blatant antisemitism” and denounced the mobilization against genocide in Gaza. Biden’s comments opened the floodgates in Congress for a series of probes into the campus protest movement that continue today. Key members of the current Trump administration led a significant share of this legislative activity. Nominee for US Ambassador to the United Nations Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from New York, was one of the most vocal congressional critics of pro-Palestine activism, leading calls for stricter policing of protestors, the revocation of federal funds from universities, and the cancelling of visas of foreign student protestors. And in May 2024, when he was still in the Senate, Vice President JD Vance led legislation to bar universities that failed to “disestablish” campus protest encampments from receiving federal funds. That these key Trump allies were congressional leaders in attacking pro-Palestine speech is no coincidence. It is a core tenet of the Trump agenda.
It should also be noted that the targeting of the campus pro-Palestine movement has been accompanied by a broader scrutiny on “foreign influence” in higher education. In an effort to discredit pro-Palestine activism, critics commonly claim that malign foreign actors are responsible for funding protestors, faculty, and student organizations. In turn, lawmakers have recently introduced several bills (H.R.938, H.R.1018, H.R.1023, H.R.1048, H.R.1049) to require additional disclosure of foreign gifts and contracts between universities and foreign governments.
With all the pressure that is mounting on pro-Palestine activism, the Trump administration-led assault is already having an effect. Universities around the country have responded in kind by expelling students and suspending members of Students for Justice in Palestine after having changed policies on acceptable forms of protests. This is a concerning trend, once again making clear that the attack on pro-Palestine activism is creating new space for a wider onslaught on protected civil liberties in the United States.
The views expressed in this publication are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab Center Washington DC, its staff, or its Board of Directors.
Featured image credit: Shutterstock/Arthur Mansavage
