NYU urges dismissal of antisemitism lawsuit citing 'decisive' action
According to NYU's statement, antisemitism occurrences have decreased drastically to "near nothing".
New York University said it had fought "decisively" to eliminate antisemitism on campus and that a lawsuit filed by Jewish students alleging mistreatment should be dismissed.
In a Monday night petition in Manhattan federal court, NYU stated that complaints of antisemitism had decreased considerably, sometimes to near nothing, following a rise shortly following the commencement of the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023.
In October, US media reports revealed that the US federal government was initiating new efforts to monitor and address the purported rise in what is alleged to be "anti-semitism" on college campuses across the country, which is fallaciously argued to have surged since the war on Gaza began.
NBC News reported that the Biden administration has instructed the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Justice to collaborate with law enforcement agencies at colleges and universities nationwide to surveil online hate activities.
The report detailed that the administration will additionally allocate federal funding to educational institutions and has designated a team of cybersecurity and other security experts within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to offer their specialized knowledge in this endeavor.
The University also stated that student victims of antisemitism lack the legal basis to seek significant reforms, citing that it has taken "far more" efforts than the law needs to address their concerns, including the implementation of a "10 Point Plan" that strengthens on-campus security and imposes penalties on those who violate its anti-discrimination policy.
Although it acknowledged that the past months have been "profoundly challenging for many members of its community," the university asserted that the allegations made "do not state a claim."
"There is no need for this court's intervention now, and likely never will be."
The complaint, filed on November 14, was one of the first of several charging prominent colleges, including Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia, Harvard, MIT, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Pennsylvania, of failing to prevent and even encourage antisemitism.
Columbia was sued separately last week for suspending two pro-Palestine student clubs that criticized "Israel's" actions in the ongoing war on Gaza, citing antisemitism as a pretext.
Pro-Palestine students, academics being threatened in US
Meanwhile, supporters of Palestine who spoke out against the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip are being threatened and censored in the United States.
At the end of October, The New York Post reported that a "doxxing truck" was circling Harvard University’s campus to expose students who allegedly signed a letter blaming "Israel" for the atrocities on Gaza, and the truck has been displaying students' pictures and standing outside their homes.
Doxxing is the act of publishing someone's private information in order to shame them or make them feel unsafe.
The president of news watchdog Accuracy in Media, Adam Guillette, who deployed the truck told The Post that his organization "expanded our fight against antisemitism at Harvard."
"We only focus on leaders of these organizations rather than members," Guillette said Thursday, adding that the students’ addresses "were very easily publicly available."
The truck’s LED screens displayed the phrase "Harvard’s Leading Antisemites." One homeowner "called law enforcement," according to Guillette who added that "as is always the case, authorities explained that we’re not breaking any laws" and that the aim was that "everyone in the community can learn who the antisemites are among them."
There have been real hate-motivated crimes targeting Palestinians in the US, such as the attack on 3 Palestinians in Vermont in a hate crime and the deadly stabbing of an 8-year-old child in Chicago, to name a few.