Columbia University's response to losing $400 million in grants over antisemitic protests and actions on its New York campus was "way too little" and too late, Morton Klein, national president of the Zionist Organization of America, told Newsmax Sunday.
"[They said] 'We're going to address. We need a reset.' But they never say what they're going to do," Klein said on Newsmax's "Sunday Report." "What they should be saying publicly is, We're going to arrest these students. We're going to expel these students. And if they're foreign students, we're going to deport them."
The grant cancellation was also long overdue, said Klein.
"I'm so grateful to the Trump administration for taking this action," he said. "Students on campuses throughout this country are called names. They're called baby killers. Imagine going to class. They're called terrorists."
The rioters, he added, are also "screaming that we need globalized murdering of Jews throughout the world. Jews are blocked from going to classes. They stop classes. This is an outrage."
Columbia has been "appeasing these people," said Klein. "I can assure you, if these actions were being taken against blacks or Muslims or gays, universities would never tolerate it. This is pure antisemitism that they've done."
Columbia also needs to throw out the Students for Justice for Palestine organization, he said.
"They're a main group that's promoting and organizing these riots. They also must be doing something about the antisemitic professors who are joining these thugs in these rallies. They and Columbia have done nothing, and their statement is woefully inadequate. It's actually an embarrassment."
Meanwhile, Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon has announced specific parameters for universities to receive federal aid, including upholding all federal anti-discrimination laws, and Klein said his organization launched a career to reinterpret those laws to cover Jews.
"We filed one lawsuit after another," he said. "They were ignored by the Obama and the Biden administration."
He said he thinks McMahon's action will bring results, as colleges will have to take action or lose money.
"I think you're going to start seeing changes not just at Columbia, but at George Washington University, UCLA, Temple, Harvard, Yale," he said. "It's all over the country. These students are not just antisemitic. They're anti-American.
"They're condemning America and Christians on campuses as well. This is a serious issue, and I think it's finally going to be stopped now with this very important action by the Trump administration."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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