Dr. Charles Asher Small, Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), issued the following statement:
“We are horrified and outraged by the brutal shooting of two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington, D.C. last night. This targeted act of violence is not an isolated incident. It is the latest and most chilling manifestation of a global surge in antisemitism that we have been tracking and warning about for years.
Antisemitism has been tolerated and institutionalized in our best universities and our media of record for years. Since October 7, young people have been chanting horrific hate and incitement on our campuses, in the streets, and more recently in front of synagogues. University and political leaders have largely remained silent while the Jewish people and Israel have been systematically demonized. This brazen act of terror and murder in our nation’s capital is an extreme act of the hate that has become normalized. We must never tolerate antisemitism and anti-democratic ideologies. Democracy is worth defending.
Behind this wave of ideological extremism is a well-funded infrastructure. ISGAP’s investigations have revealed that the government of Qatar, through opaque financial contributions totaling billions of dollars, has become the largest foreign donor to American universities. These funds have fueled anti-Israel and antisemitic narratives, eroding academic objectivity and contributing to a climate in which violence against Jews and Israelis is increasingly tolerated, and even justified.
We mourn the victims of this attack and stand in solidarity with their families and the State of Israel. We call on the U.S. government and academic institutions to immediately confront the ideological and financial networks that are inciting hatred and enabling violence. Antisemitism is not only a Jewish issue. It is a threat to democratic values and to the fabric of civil society itself.
Silence is complicity. It is time for action.”
Dr. Small is available for interviews and expert commentary on the normalization of antisemitism, the role of foreign funding in U.S. academia, and what must be done to confront rising ideological extremism and hate.