A new report released this week shows a massive bias on US college campuses against Israel, something closely mimicked here in the UK.
It has long been seen that far-left ideologies have taken academic institutions in a direction against Israel and the things of God, but this latest report shows just how negative the impact is becoming with an unbridled bias against the Jewish state.
The report from the Almus of Campus Fairness reviewed articles from leading US college newspapers. It found that between 2017 and 2022, 92.82% of articles published by these newspapers strayed from journalistic objectivity and were anti-Israel.
Large public universities produced the most content about Israel while liberal arts colleges produced less, and small private colleges exhibited the most anti-Israel bias.
As expected, these papers’ coverage of Israel spiked during times of conflict with Hamas in Gaza. In total there were nearly 1,500 stories on the topic of Israel showing it is a key subject in the minds of student journalists.
Avi Gordon, executive director of ACF, told JNS that the increase in “hatred towards Jewish and pro-Israel students standing up for the truth” reflects the fact that Israel has become a “divisive topic.” Israel is always considered newsworthy, which fosters a culture of saturation coverage in which bias against the Jewish state is popular, he explained.
Gordon said there has also been a shift in the general discourse on Israel. “Whereas it used to be, ‘I am not antisemitic – I am anti-Israel’ or ‘anti-Zionist,'” this distinction is increasingly becoming meaningless.
“Jewish students are more afraid to share their Judaism or their love for Israel” openly, he noted, describing instances of people who are scared to wear a yarmulke or IDF shirt on campus or to share their culture and faith.
Douglas Sandoval, the managing editor of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), said that “in the last five years, groups like Students for Justice in Palestine, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace and ‘activists’ masquerading as academics have intensified their efforts to demonize the State of Israel and gather support for this hateful ideology in the classroom, student life and campus papers.
“Not only are we seeing articles with a negative and inaccurate slant on Israel. We are also seeing an uptick in the chilling of speech of Jewish and pro-Israel students,” he continued.
Whilst this report looks at US campuses, we can be sure that the UK scenario is much the same. Anti-Israel narratives are widely proclaimed on college and university campuses throughout the United Kingdom. And this in turn is producing future politicians and voters who are going to be increasingly hostile towards Israel and Biblical truth.
Not only is Israel under attack, so too are the things of God. From the belief in Creation to our understanding of Biblical marriage, the right to life, and many other aspects we are taught in the Bible.
We must continue to pray for the youth of our nation who are being led astray. We must pray for Godly men and women to get involved in these institutions to enact change. And we must especially pray for Christian students that they will not believe these falsehoods or be manipulated by the coercive practices of these institutions. That they will instead have the courage to shine a light into the darkness.
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