Just days after the 7 October 2023 terrorist attack, CAIR accused Israel of provoking the massacre through its “apartheid policies.” A few weeks later, CAIR’s Executive Director, Nihad Awad, publicly declared that he was “happy to see” Hamas killing Jews.
CAIR regularly campaigns against what it calls “Islamophobia” in American society and has used this highly elastic term to demand the dismissal of teachers and academics. Among those targeted have been art historian Erika López Prater from Hamline University; primary school teacher Tamar Herman from Maplewood; political science professor Nicholas Damask, who had taught students about Islam for twenty years in Arizona; and California school superintendent Greg Calvert. The accusations had severe personal consequences for those affected, several of whom were forced to relocate and required police protection.
Antisemitism at Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private institution located in Evanston, near Chicago, Illinois.
The university has in recent years faced a number of antisemitic incidents, which escalated dramatically in April 2024, when several hundred students joined the pro-Palestinian encampments that spread across US campuses. At Northwestern, tents were erected on the central lawn known as Deering Meadows. President Michael Schill concluded that a police operation to remove the encampment would endanger both the officers and Jewish students who already felt unsafe. After five days—and only following attempts at dialogue and de-escalation—the tents were removed.
Passersby later reported being called “dirty Jew” and “Zionist pig.” A Jewish student wearing a kippah was spat on. Another was assaulted. One Jewish student was told: “Go back to Germany and get gassed.”
A sign for Mogen David, the well-known kosher wine producer, was defaced and placed at the entrance to the Deering Library grounds.
One of the university’s centrally located buildings—the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies—was spray-painted with the words “Death to Israel” and red handprints (a reference to Palestinian terrorist Aziz Salha, who helped murder two Israelis in 2000 and afterwards displayed his blood-stained hands from a window).
Several members of the faculty moved their classes to the encampment or cancelled them so that students could participate. Police also failed in their duty: officers repeatedly refused to respond to antisemitic incidents or to take reports from victims and witnesses.
In 2025, during the Jewish Passover period, antisemitic graffiti once again appeared on multiple university buildings, including “Death to Israel,” calls for intifada, red painted hands, and the red triangle now used as a symbol of Palestinian “resistance.”
Congressional Committee Criticises the University’s Failure to Address Antisemitism
At a hearing of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on 23 May 2024, Northwestern University’s president was questioned about the antisemitism on his campus. The committee also demanded concrete measures to curb it.
Congresswoman Elise M. Stefanik criticised his decision to negotiate with the pro-Palestinian encampment and to enter into what became known as the Deering Meadows Agreement. Schill consulted only the chair of the university’s board when drafting the agreement, and several board members were angered by having been excluded.
Under the agreement, the university committed itself to covering the full costs of five Palestinian students, funding a two-year residency for two Palestinian scholars, and creating a dedicated house for Muslim students. Students would also be granted representation on an advisory committee on investments—a platform that could be used to push BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) demands. The activist group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) hailed the deal as “a milestone in our struggle for Palestinian freedom.”
The University’s New Anti-Discrimination Training
In response to the criticism, President Michael Schill introduced a new mandatory training programme addressing current antisemitism as well as other forms of discrimination. Ahead of the new academic year in September 2024, Schill announced that students would take part in “a series of teaching sessions and panel discussions on antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism.” He added:
“Our efforts to ensure that antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of identity- or religion-based hatred do not take root on our campus reflect our commitment to diversity, inclusion, and tolerance, and are in no way inconsistent with those values.”
The new mandatory training includes a video that presents a highly skewed comparison of hate-crime statistics against Jews and Muslims. The figures for anti-Jewish hate crimes are taken from official FBI data: they increased from 1,277 in 2022 to 2,005 in 2023.
Had the university used the same source for hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs, it would have cited these numbers:
– Muslims: 176 (2022) to 283 (2023)
– Arabs: 116 (2022) to 156 (2023)
Instead, the video uses CAIR’s self-reported incident numbers. According to CAIR, complaints rose 56% from 2022 to 2023, reaching 8,061—an implausibly high figure compared with FBI statistics. The video downplays hatred directed at pro-Israel students and questions whether anti-Zionism constitutes antisemitism.
Students must also watch a video produced by the Jewish United Fund, which juxtaposes quotes from Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke with statements from anti-Israel activists.
CAIR’s Lawsuit Against Northwestern University
On behalf of the campus group Graduate Workers for Palestine, CAIR filed a complaint on 15 October 2025 objecting to the training programme, particularly the video produced by the Jewish United Fund. The complaint alleged that students were being forced to undergo “propaganda training.”
CAIR argues that the programme erases Palestinian identity and “silences” anti-Zionist students. Graduate Workers for Palestine claim that the university bans “speeches in solidarity with Palestine” and relies on a “pseudoscientific and discriminatory definition of antisemitism.”
The plaintiffs state that they will not complete the training, as the university requires them to comply with its anti-discrimination policy, which cites a definition of antisemitism endorsed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
CAIR has for years sought to remove this definition, claiming that the IHRA framework “criminalises criticism of Israel.” They routinely portray efforts to combat antisemitism as “Islamophobia,” depict Jewish organisations as right-wing oppressors, and find credulous local media willing to amplify their narrative. In doing so, CAIR attempts to shield pro-Palestinian activism from scrutiny.
The case collapsed quickly, but the pro-Palestinian media coverage—particularly from WFLD Fox 32—had already served its purpose.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) is an intergovernmental organisation established in 1998 to promote education, research, and awareness about the Holocaust. It has 35 member states. In 2016, IHRA adopted a working definition of antisemitism that has since been endorsed by 45 countries, including the United States, all EU member states, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Israel. In the United States, the definition has been adopted at the federal level as well as by numerous universities in response to harassment of Jewish students.
IHRA provides several examples of antisemitism, including:
– “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour”;
– “Drawing comparisons between contemporary Israeli policy and that of the Nazis”;
– “Holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the State of Israel
