ADL Slams Northwestern University's Agreement with Anti-Israel Protesters

The Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Midwest chapter issued a statement slamming Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, for reaching an agreement with anti-Israel protesters who had established an encampment on campus.

In a post on X, the ADL Midwest shared a statement calling the agreement between the university and protesters, “reprehensible, dangerous, and a case study in failed leadership,” pointing out that the protesters had violated several university policies.

The ADL Midwest’s statement comes after Northwestern University announced on Monday that an agreement had been reached between the anti-Israel protesters. In exchange, protesters agreed to end their encampment that had been established for the past week.

Under the agreement between anti-Israel protesters and Northwestern University, pro-Palestinian protests for students, faculty, and staff, will be allowed on campus until June 1, and in exchange, only one aid tent will be allowed to remain on the lawn, according to the Daily Northwestern.

Northwestern University will also, “advise employers not to rescind job offers for students engaging in speech protected by the First Amendment,” the agreement says, according to the outlet.

“The agreement between Northwestern University leadership and encampment protesters is reprehensible, dangerous, and a case study in failed leadership,” the ADL wrote. “For days, protesters violated campus codes of conduct and policies, intentionally fanned the flames of hate and antisemitism, and wreaked havoc on campus life.”

The ADL Midwest added that “instead of holding” the anti-Israel protesters accountable, they were “rewarded” by the university.

“What about Jewish students who have been victims of vicious antisemitic harassment and continuous intimidation on campus for months while the university stayed silent?” the ADL Midwest continued. “How do they benefit from this arrangement? What does this mean for them?”

Northwestern University went on to be downgraded “from a D to an F” by the ADL Midwest, which had evaluated how the university had “responded to this crisis.”

While the university did not agree to divest from Israeli businesses, the university agreed to re-establish an Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility, consisting of students and faculty, according to the outlet.

Anti-Israel protests and encampments have been established on college and university campuses since one was initially established on Columbia University’s lawn on April 17. The following day, several students were suspended and hundreds of protesters involved in the encampment were arrested.

While the first encampment at Columbia University was removed, another one was popped up in its place.

Anti-Israel encampments have also been established at Yale University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Harvard University, the University of California Los Angeles, and George Washington University.

Protesters at various encampments across the nation have issued a varying list of demands to university officials, ranging from asking universities to divest from Israeli companies that are profiting “from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation in Palestine,” severing academic ties with Israeli universities, a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, and full amnesty for students who have either been suspended or arrested over their involvement in the encampments.

Since Hamas, a U.S.-designated Islamic terror group launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, leaving 1,200 people dead and more than 200 people taken as hostages, Israel has launched a self-defense operation in Gaza.

As the war continues, the people in northern Gaza are reported to be facing famine.