Newly-appointed United States attorney general Pam Bondi announced last Monday (February 3) the creation of an inter-agency task force to fight anti-Semitism using “the full force of the federal government,” according to Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, specifically aimed at protecting the rights of American Jews on college campuses.

Measures are to include arrests and the withholding of federal funds to universities which fail to protect Jewish faculty and students from harassment.

The Civil Rights Division was created in 1957 and came to prominence in protecting the rights of black students in America’s South during the Kennedy and Johnson era.

Pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order on Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism, the Justice Department announced today the formation of a multi-agency Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. The Task Force’s first priority will be to root out anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses.

In addition to the Department of Justice, the Task Force will include representatives from the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and other agencies as it develops. The Task Force will be coordinated through the Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“Anti-Semitism in any environment is repugnant to this Nation’s ideals,” said Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leo Terrell, who will be heading the Task Force. “The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found. The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump’s renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools.”

Associated Press reported February 10: “The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced.”

Full DOJ text here.

President Trump’s “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism” executive order here.

Interview with Leo Terrell here.