Policy Guidelines Concerning Antisemitism and Certain Federal Actions

 There should be no doubt that antisemitism is rising—visible, chilling, and increasingly normalized in our public discourse, politics, and institutions. Countering this rise in antisemitism and making our Jewish community safer is an urgent and profound task for the JCRC, and one which remains one of our highest priorities. To do so, we must pursue many strategies, including ensuring that real penalties are assessed on those who abuse their positions of authority and power to discriminate against Jews or to spread antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes.

At the same time, we reject the false choice between confronting antisemitism and upholding democracy. Our safety as Jews has always been tied to the rule of law, to the safety of others, to the strength of civil society, and to the protection of rights and liberties for all. The necessary fight against antisemitism cannot be used as a pretext to legitimize the degrading of key democratic protections and demands that institutions align with partisan political positions.

Here in Northern California, the alarming impacts of growing antisemitic attitudes and rhetoric are revealed by the 40 reports of anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2023-24, following only 12 reports in the previous two years (data from the California Department of Justice). Jewish students at UC Davis, Sacramento State University, our community colleges, and our K-12 schools have been targeted for harassment, exclusion, and derision by their fellow students and even professors. The Sacramento region’s Jewish community understands that antisemitic attitudes will lead to violence, just as it did in the firebombing attacks in Sacramento in 1999 and the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history in Pittsburgh in 2018.

Countering antisemitism requires urgent and consistent action by our leaders in every sector of our region, state, and nation. We are fully committed to demanding change and creating opportunities for these actions. The Sacramento JCRC has adopted the IHRA working definition of antisemitism. We are encouraged by recent developments such as the publication of the Golden State Plan to Counter Antisemitism by Governor Newsom in 2024, and the passage by the California Legislature of SB 1287 and AB 2925 in 2024 and AB 715 in 2025, but we know that much more needs to be done.

However, of concern is that escalating federal actions have used the guise of fighting antisemitism to justify threatening billions in academic research and education funding, demanding billion-dollar payments by universities to the federal government, and attempting to install politically appointed federal monitors on campuses with unclear authority and accountability. Most of all, these actions have been taken completely apart from the important federal, state, and judicial processes and institutions that were established to remedy these types of problems, and which were in several cases successfully progressing toward doing so.

Universities and other schools have an obligation to protect Jewish students, and the federal government has an important role to play in that effort. However, these sweeping draconian funding cuts and other demands will weaken the free academic inquiry that strengthens democracy and society, rather than productively countering antisemitism on campus.

These actions do not make Jews—or any community—safer. Rather, they only make us less safe. The rule of law, freedom of inquiry, access to vibrant places of higher education, and strong democratic norms and institutions have allowed American Jewry to thrive for hundreds of years.

We reject any policies or actions that foment or take advantage of antisemitism and pit communities against one another; and we unequivocally condemn the exploitation of our community’s real concerns about antisemitism to undermine democratic norms and rights, including the rule of law; the right of due process; and/or the freedoms of speech, press, and peaceful protest.

It is both possible and necessary to fight antisemitism—on campus, in our communities, and across the country—without abandoning the democratic values that have allowed Jews, and so many other vulnerable minorities, to thrive.

We appreciate the civil society; academic; and local, state, and national leaders who are committed to seriously and thoughtfully addressing the threat of antisemitism. We remain committed to working alongside university leadership and public officials here locally and at every level to ensure policies and practices that protect the Jewish community and uphold for all people the principles of justice, fairness, and equal protection under the law. That is the only path to true safety.