The Trump administration’s decision to pull federal funding from public schools that enforce diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies isn’t an attack on equality. It’s a direct response to a system that, while cloaked in the language of justice, has become one of the most dangerous forces for antisemitism in American education.
DEI began with noble intentions – to uplift the marginalized and build spaces where everyone feels seen. But over time, it hardened into a rigid ideology, one obsessed with race-based binaries: the oppressors and the oppressed, the privileged and the victimized. And in this warped framework, Jews are labeled the oppressors, stripped of historical context, and flattened into beneficiaries of success.
My parents didn’t flee the Soviet Union because they were powerful. They escaped a regime that forbade them from speaking Hebrew, wearing Jewish symbols, and practicing their faith. My great-grandparents didn’t survive the Holocaust because they were privileged. They survived because they ran. So when DEI advocates lump Jews into the “white” category, they erase a history of trauma, exile, and genocide that continues to shape Jewish life today.
In 2023, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported a 360% spike in antisemitic incidents on college campuses. And yet, most DEI offices have either ignored this rise or, worse, excused it. Under DEI, Jews are “too successful” to be victims, and Zionism – the belief in Jewish self-determination – is cast as colonialism rather than survival.
We’ve watched DEI mutate into an ideology that doesn’t just exclude Jews; it actively targets them. On campuses across the United States, DEI administrators have hosted anti-Israel panels with no opposing voices, stood by as Jewish students were harassed, and failed to act when posters of kidnapped Israeli children were torn down.
At Stanford, the DEI office backed events calling Israel an apartheid state. At UC Berkeley, law students proposed bylaws banning Zionist speakers. Some Jewish professors have even been pushed out of the institutions they taught at for defending Israel’s right to exist.
These aren’t isolated events. They reflect a deeper rot.
DEI culture tolerates antisemitism
DEI programs have created a culture in which antisemitism, disguised as anti-Zionism, is tolerated. “Zionist” is now a slur on many campuses, a term hurled at Jewish students who support the only Jewish state in the world. When Jewish students speak up, they’re shouted down; when they seek help, they’re ignored.
This is what makes US President Donald Trump’s stance so significant.
For decades, antisemitism was only taken seriously when it came from the far Right. Today, however, it thrives in faculty lounges, student unions, and DEI offices. While other politicians tiptoe around that reality, Trump is calling it out and taking action.
The Left says that pulling funding from programs that define Jewish identity as privilege and treat Jewish safety as expendable is extreme. But what’s truly extreme is using taxpayer dollars to fund them at all. What’s extreme is allowing universities to spend millions on DEI administrators who ignore the harassment of Jewish students while obsessing over imaginary microaggressions.
Since the Hamas mega-atrocities of October 7, 2023, there have been over 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the US – the highest number ever recorded by the ADL. In New York City, Orthodox Jews accounted for more than half of all hate crime victims in religious bias cases. This isn’t history; it’s happening right now. Yet, DEI programs remain silent or are even complicit.
Some will say Jews aren’t oppressed anymore. Yes, many Jews thrive today. We lead businesses, sit in Congress, and help shape culture. But success doesn’t erase bigotry. And it certainly doesn’t justify silence when our communities are threatened. If DEI can’t recognize antisemitism when it comes wrapped in progressive language, then DEI is no longer a tool for justice; it’s a weapon for exclusion.
The truth is, diversity that excludes Jews isn’t diversity. Equity that ranks pain on a political scale isn’t equity. And inclusion that silences Jewish voices isn’t inclusion, it’s discrimination.
Trump’s decision signals a long-overdue shift.
He’s refusing to let DEI hide behind good intentions while fueling hate. He’s acknowledging what so many Jewish students, teachers, and families already know: DEI, in its current form, is not just flawed, it’s dangerous. And unlike the last administration, which elevated DEI into federal policy, Trump is doing what others won’t – defending Jewish Americans against an ideology that claims to be their ally but acts like their enemy.
It takes real courage to confront antisemitism not just when it wears a swastika, but when it wears a name tag that says “equity officer.” For Jews across America, Trump’s move is more than a policy shift, it’s a recognition of our reality. And for those of us who know the cost of silence, that matters.
The writer is a high school student from Great Neck, New York, active in meaningful dialogue about US politics, international relations, and Israel as the Jewish homeland and a key US ally.