By Peter Cordi | Washington Examiner | July 18, 2024
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
Two legal groups that combat antisemitism sent a letter to the Department of Justice imploring the agency to implement KKK laws to prosecute anti-Israel groups at Columbia University for coordinating to foster a hostile environment for Jewish students, which violates their civil rights.
In a Wednesday letter addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland, StandWithUs and the Zachor Legal Institute alleged that five anti-Israel groups coordinated to “deprive Jewish students” of their rights and request that the DOJ “prosecute those groups … under the KKK Laws.”
The letter comes a month after the Kasowitz Benson Torres law firm filed a lawsuit against Columbia for fostering “egregious, pervasive, and ongoing antisemitism” in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, “as well as claims for breach of contract and for conspiring to deny Jewish students’ civil rights under the KKK laws.”
‘Strong evidence of conspiracy’: What prompted the complaint
The lawsuit includes over 230 pages of alleged antisemitic conduct committed by students and faculty, including openly celebrating the Hamas Oct. 7 massacre, calling for genocide against Jews and Israelis, and chanting slogans such as “Jews will not defeat us,” “burn Tel Aviv to the ground,” “death to the Zionist states,” and “Jews out,” among other incendiary language.
Other conduct includes professors canceling classes in support of anti-Israel demonstrations and allowing students to leave class to participate in the encampment “without any apparent academic consequences,” as well as Columbia administrators asking the offending students to speak with them to avoid disciplinary measures.
There were also reported instances of Jewish students being physically blocked from entering the school’s main campus and multiple reports of Jewish students being physically assaulted or having religious garments ripped off their bodies “with no consequences for the perpetrators,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit additionally mentions that Jewish students were “denied the ability to obtain kosher food in the only kosher dining hall for Columbia Jewish students” because they were unable to access the area safely.
“Columbia presents a salient opportunity for the Department of Justice to show leadership by opening an investigation under the KKK Laws at Columbia,” Yael Lerman, director of the StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department, told the Washington Examiner. “Because our amended complaint alleges strong evidence of conspiracy by five groups at Columbia to deny Jewish and Israeli students their civil rights, which the administration knew about and enabled.”
“We hope that by reviewing our letter and choosing to open an investigation, the DOJ will send a timely message to the Columbia administration that antisemitism will not be tolerated in the new academic year,” she added.
Prior to the July 17 letter, Zachor Legal Institute sent a prosecution request to the DOJ on March 25 on behalf of 29 organizations concerned with antisemitism on campuses nationwide and followed up with a June 10 request specifically relating to conduct at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
How the ‘KKK Laws’ may apply
The Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871, often referred to as the Ku Klux Klan Acts or the KKK Laws, made it a federal offense to conspire to deprive people of their right to hold office, serve on a jury, or enjoy the equal protection of the law.
President of Zachor Legal Institute Marc Greendorfer compared the contemporary conduct with the era in which the KKK laws were introduced.
“At the time,” he said, the KKK would “prevent blacks from getting to school, going to stores, traveling or participating in government programs. … This is exactly what is happening with the Students for Justice in Palestine and related campus [actors].”
Greendorfer argued to the Washington Examiner that the conduct of campus groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine should trigger the implementation of the KKK Laws because “they are attacking Jewish students, preventing Jewish students from moving on campus, preventing Jewish students from even attending classes and interfering with Jewish students from speaking and assembling on campuses.”
“Long live Hind’s Hall, long live the student intifada, glory to our martyrs. Fighting until divestment, liberation & return,” says the Columbia SJP telegram channel description.
“Often, faculty and staff (who, in the case of a public school, are government actors) are involved in these campaigns to deprive Jewish students of their rights,” Greendorfer added.
Greendorfer pointed to recent examples of the KKK laws being implemented, including the “successful prosecution” of protesters who blocked access to abortion clinics. He also noted that the KKK laws were used to charge former President Donald Trump for crimes related to his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
“The fact that the Biden DOJ touts the enforcement of the same laws to protect abortion clinics while ignoring the sweeping problem of violent antisemitic activities on campuses that could be addressed by these laws is unconscionable,” Greendorfer lamented.
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