On June 30, a task force set up by the U.S. federal government, aimed at combatting antisemitism, published an open letter to Harvard University. "Harvard University is in violent violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin," the letter alleges. "The enclosed Notice of Violation details the findings of fact supporting a conclusion that Harvard has been in some cases deliberately indifferent, and in others has been a willful participant in anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff."

The letter continues to outline the task force's findings, including that a majority of Jewish students feel unsafe; Jewish and Israeli students have been physically assaulted; and antisemitic imagery and slogans have been prominent on campus. The letter concludes by stating that failure to adequately change Harvard's culture "will result in the loss of all federal financial resources". The university, meanwhile, has told reporters that it "is far from indifferent on this issue and strongly disagrees with the government's findings."

So how much of this has to do with Jews, really? And how much is President Donald Trump's administration simply taking aim at left-leaning, Democratic-aligned instutitions?

David Weinfeld—a Harvard alumnus, former columnist with The CJN and current associate professor of world religions at Rowan University—joins Phoebe Maltz Bovy on The Jewish Angle to analyze the issue, and how the university's symbolic status makes it an ideal focal point for a larger assault on America's higher education system.

Credits

• Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy
• Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman
• Music: "Gypsy Waltz" by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective

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• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The Jewish Angle

When Zohran Mamdani announced his candidacy for mayor of New York City in late 2024, he flew under the radar of voters and critics. But as his campaign gained steam—notably for arguably radical proposals such as free bus fares, municipally owned grocery stores, and a $30 minimum wage—he wound up overtaking his chief rival, Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York, and winning the Democratic candidacy for an election that will take place Nov. 4, 2025.

Some of New York City's Jews started to fret. Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, is a vocal ally of Palestinians and a critic of Israel, promising to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to visit the city, as per the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants for the Israeli leader.

On this week's episode of The Jewish Angle, Phoebe Maltz Bovy—who grew up in Manhattan—speaks to Aryeh Cohen-Wade, an opinion editor at The Hill, to unpack Mamdani's background, from his college days as a co-founder of his campus's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine to his role as a state assemblyman. They examine how his youth, charisma and progressive policies have inspired voters—while angering others—and whether a Mamdani mayoralty could herald a new era of Muslim-Jewish solidarity in the face of rising right-wing authoritarianism.

Credits

• Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy
• Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman
• Music: "Gypsy Waltz" by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The Jewish Angle

Hadley Freeman often goes back and forth, in her head, about Israel and Palestine. One the one hand, Israel has killed more than 57,000 Gazans; on the other hand, can you trust those figures when they come from Hamas? But what other number can you trust, if Israel refuses to allow in international reporters? Then again, can you even trust outsider news media anyway, or are they blatantly biased?

And on, and on.

This internal dialogue formed the basis for a compelling new article she wrote in The Times in the U.K, entitled, "A conversation every Jew I know is having". In it, Freeman quickly unpacks the inherent nuance and historical lens that Jewish onlookers—especially in the Diaspora—bring to a conversation dominated by loud, reductive activists.

Freeman returns to The CJN Podcasts to discuss this piece, making the internal debates external, with Phoebe Maltz Bovy on The Jewish Angle.

Credits

• Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy
• Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman
• Music: "Gypsy Waltz" by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The Jewish Angle