A number of prominent Jewish organizations on Friday pulled out of a scheduled meeting with two top Biden administration officials over the “last minute” inclusion of far-left groups.
At least six mainstream groups signed off or skipped the 10 a.m. Zoom meeting with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Neera Tanden, during which the issue of anti-Israel protests on college campuses was slated to be discussed, The Post has learned.
The groups were the Jewish Federations of North America, the Anti-Defamation League, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Orthodox Union, the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Hillel International.
At issue was the 11th-hour inclusion of groups opposed to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which, in part, deems it antisemitic to criticize Jewish people for the actions of Israel and claim that the existence of Israel is a racist endeavor.
“Sort of at the last minute, they told us they were adding some other participants to the meeting,” one participant who dropped off the call told The Post.
“When we found out who they were, we said, ‘You know, we had requested this meeting and this is really last minute and we’re not aligned on some key issues with some of these groups,” the person added.
The invites to T’ruah, the Nexus Leadership Project, Bend the Arc and Diaspora Alliance, all left-wing groups, surprised the mainstream Jewish organizations.
Diaspora Alliance was described by the representative of one boycotting group as “pretty anti-Israel.”
The White House and Department of Education did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
The Biden administration officials agreed to hold a separate 1 p.m. meeting with the boycotting groups, representatives from two organizations told The Post.
The ADL, Orthodox Union, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Jewish Federations of North America, Hillel International, Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and National Council of Jewish Women released a joint statement on Friday that did not delve into the controversy.
“It was a positive and productive meeting. We appreciate the Secretary rapidly making himself available to us at this critical moment,” the groups said.
“As organizations who have been dedicated to defending and supporting Jewish students experiencing harassment and violence on college campuses around the country, we thank the Secretary of Education for the opportunity this afternoon to share our urgent concerns,” the statement continued.
“We directly raised our urgent concerns surrounding the current climate of antisemitism on campus and the lack thus far of effective response. In this moment of crisis, we asked the Department to be specific in their follow up and implementation of this week’s clear statement made by President Biden and to provide universities with a clear path to effective enforcement of that statement.
“By sharing specific recommendations, we urged the Administration to do more to protect Jewish students and the broader student community from intimidation, harassment, and violence.”
The head of Bend the Arc told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that she was “surprised” that so many groups opted to protest the earlier meeting.
“I was really surprised not to see them there,” Jamie Beran said of the boycotting organizations, noting that there were conservative groups that stayed on the call.
“I was grateful to be with groups that are taking the safety of students seriously and putting politics aside,” she added.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, executive director of the progressive T’ruah organization, called it a “good thing” that the Biden administration was willing to meet with a “broad swath of the Jewish community,” in order to “get the fullest possible picture of what’s happening.”
“If there are centrist groups that refuse to be in a Zoom with an organization that represents more than 2,300 rabbis, including campus rabbis and rabbis who are in touch with college students from their communities regularly, they might want to reconsider that,” Jacobs told Jewish Insider.
The White House faced criticism from Jewish groups last year for indicating that it “welcomes and appreciates” definitions of antisemitism not favored by the majority of mainstream Jewish organizations.
