A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect

Activists who truly care about the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza should focus their energies on rallying against the ruling terrorist group Hamas, not opposing Israel, according to Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism.

“Genuine support for human rights means advocating for freedom from oppressive groups like Hamas and Hezbollah,” Michal Cotler-Wunsh told The Algemeiner in an exclusive interview during a recent trip to the United States, referring to the Iran-backed Islamist terrorist groups in Gaza and Lebanon, respectively.

Her comments came amid rising concerns over escalating hostility toward Jewish communities worldwide during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The US is just one country among several that has experienced a surge in anti-Jewish hate crimes and demonstrations since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with university campuses emerging as a hub for antisemitism and pro-Hamas activism.

“If [these demonstrations] actually are pro-Palestinian and pro-human rights, they would be calling to free Gaza from Hamas, to free Yemen from the Houthis, to free Lebanon from Hezbollah, to free the people of Iran from the Islamic Republic,” Cotler-Wunsh said.

Across the US and Europe, prestigious universities such as Harvard and Columbia have drawn international attention for allowing raucous, unsanctioned, and sometimes violent anti-Israel demonstrations which have included calls for the murder of Jews and the destruction of the Jewish state. The protesters have largely argued their activism is in support of the Palestinian people and human rights.

“Silence, impunity, and false moral equivalency are fueling and normalizing this tsunami of antisemitism,” Cotler-Wunsh warned.

“We realize this is not about human rights or Palestinian advocacy, but reflects support for terrorism, antisemitism, and anti-Western ideologies,” the top Israeli official told The Algemeiner. “They are pro-terror, pro-antisemitism, pro-anti West protests.”

After taking office in January, US President Donald Trump has taken swift action to address antisemitism in higher education institutions. The US Department of Education is investigating dozens of schools and universities for potential civil rights violations related to their alleged failure to address campus antisemitism.

Last month, for example, the Trump administration canceled $400 million in funding to Columbia University, citing the school’s alleged failure to combat faculty, students, and staff from disciplinary action for anti-Jewish discrimination

According to Cotler-Wunsh, higher education institutions “have become platforms easily used for indoctrination, spreading dangerous ideologies.”

“Universities are facing a moment of reckoning: They must decide whether their mission is to teach students what to think or how to think critically,” she told The Algemeiner.

“There seems to be an inability, unwillingness, or lack of courage to enforce existing policies to combat antisemitism and hold those promoting such behavior accountable,” the special envoy continued. “Leadership has failed to understand that this is not a political issue, but rather it is an existential one for all who cherish life and liberty.”

Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order that calls for “using all appropriate legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise … hold to account perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.”

In addition, the order authorizes the deportation of extremist “alien” student activists, whose support for terrorist organizations, both intellectual and material, such as Hamas, has contributed to fostering antisemitism, violence, and property destruction on college campuses.

In the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, Cotler-Wunsh argued that the rise of anti-Zionist protests worldwide reflects “the modern strain of ever-mutating antisemitism.”

She explained that anti-Zionism “denies the right of the Jew among nations to exist, stripping Jews and Zionists of their identity, and of the right to return to their ancestral homeland.”

“There’s a systematic dehumanization, delegitimization, and double standards that denies the Jewish state’s right to exist,” the Israeli official told The Algemeiner. “Zionism is integral to the identity of most Jews and many non-Jews who believe in Israel’s right to exist.”

Far from being limited to US colleges, the rise in anti-Jewish demonstrations and antisemitic rhetoric has skyrocketed worldwide since Hamas’s invasion of Israel.

“The mainstreaming and normalization of antisemitism is deeply concerning, not just for Jews, but as a historically reliable predictor of a major threat to humanity and freedom,” Cotler-Wunsh said. “Antisemitism, when legitimized and normalized in this way, becomes an existential threat.”

According to a report from the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel, there has been a staggering 340 percent increase in antisemitic acts worldwide in 2024 compared to 2022.

The report showed a sharp rise in antisemitic outrages in North America and Europe, with the US up 288 percent, Canada increasing by 562 percent, and Britain seeing a 450 percent spike, with nearly 2,000 incidents recorded in the first half of 2024 in the UK.