Cruz: Trump admin will go after rising antisemitism on college campuses

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) suggested that the incoming Trump administration will meet antisemitism on college campus in the U.S. with federal investigations and prosecutions from the Justice Department, attorney general and FBI.

"I’ll tell you something that you’re going to see in New York … next year with a new Department of Justice, a new attorney general, and a new Director of the FBI, you’re going to see the federal government going after antisemitism on college campuses. You’re going to see federal investigations. You’re going to see federal prosecutions," Cruz told John Catsimatidis on his radio show Cats Roundtable.

Cruz's comments come in the wake of an October report from House Republicans on the Education Committee regarding antisemitism on college campuses after a nearly yearlong investigation that played a part in at least two university presidents resigning from their roles.

"So, whether it’s Columbia University or NYU or universities across the country in blue states that have tolerated and encouraged antisemitism, you’re going to suddenly see what it means to have a Department of Justice enforcing the civil rights laws and protecting Jewish students on campus," Cruz added. 

The congressional probe, which collected more than 400,000 documents from 11 schools across the country in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, marked the first time in the committee’s history that lawmakers would subpoena the leadership of universities.  

The investigation had four main findings: the concessions universities were willing to make to protesters were “astounding;” the schools chose to “withhold support from Jewish students;” university leadership failed to discipline students who engaged in antisemitic activities; and universities were themselves hostile to the House’s investigation. 

Leaders at various universities including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Pennsylvania were called to a House hearing last year after weeks of backlash over their schools’ responses to campus protests against the war. The hearing was titled “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism.”  

Trump himself faced scrutiny on the campaign trail for his remarks at an event raising awareness for combating antisemitism in which the GOP nominee suggested Jewish people would partly shoulder the blame if he lost in November.

Supporters of Vice President Harris and leaders in the Jewish community were quick to sound the alarm over his remarks.