Day 797 -- Final Columbia antisemitism report reveals classroom aggressions
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.
US reporter Luke Tress joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.
As the fourth and final report of the Columbia University antisemitism task force is released, it focuses on what happened in the college's classrooms, says Tress, addressing the discrimination against Jews and Israelis throughout the months of protests, and finding the balance between free speech and academic freedom.
Tress discusses two related situations at two California colleges, as a livestreamed class of a prominent academic and activist at Cal State showed her coaching students to oppose a state bill meant to combat antisemitism in local schools. He also mentions a legal settlement at the University of California at Berkeley regarding a visiting Israeli lecturer who sued the school after being disinvited to lecture due to her nationality.
Ahead of mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's taking office, Tress discusses that liberal Democrat Brad Lander is running for state office with Mamdani's backing, as progressive Democrats look to Mamdani's victory.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Jewish students singled out, scapegoated: Columbia releases final antisemitism report
Cal State investigating professor seen coaching class to oppose antisemitism bill
In legal settlement, UC Berkeley acknowledges discriminating against Israeli prof
Herzog, in NYC, calls Mamdani’s rhetoric about Israel ‘outrageous,’ ‘anti-American’
Prominent NY rabbi: Mamdani understood Jewish community fissures better than we did
NYC’s Lander announces run for Congress with Mamdani’s endorsement
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IMAGE: A pro-Israel protester outside Columbia University in Manhattan, April 22, 2024. (Luke Tress)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to the Times of Israel's Daily Briefing. It is Thursday, December 11th, and I'm Jessica |
| 0:08.3 | Steinberg. I'm speaking today with U.S. reporter Luke, how are you? Hey, good Jessica. Good to see you. |
| 0:16.1 | Good. It's good to have you on the daily briefing. It's been a little bit of a while. It is day |
| 0:20.2 | 797 of the war. |
| 0:23.0 | In our headlines, there is news that the U.S. plans to formally announce the Board of Peace, |
| 0:28.8 | an international board tasked with overseeing the management of Gaza. It will be headed by |
| 0:34.2 | U.S. President Donald Trump. In other news, Iceland joined Spain, Ireland, |
| 0:40.3 | Slovenia, and the Netherlands in quitting next year's Eurovision contest in protest of Israel's |
| 0:46.1 | participation. We will look at some of the news in the U.S., how Jewish students were singled out and scapegoated, |
| 0:56.0 | as was found from Columbia University's last final anti-Semitism report. |
| 1:02.4 | Luke will also tell us about some discrimination case at UC Berkeley and at Cal State, |
| 1:09.3 | both in different stages. And the latest on mayor-elect |
| 1:13.6 | Zoran Mamdani and what is being discussed in the Jewish community about him. So stay with us. |
| 1:25.3 | This episode is brought to you by the Jewish Communal Fund, the largest and most active Jewish donor-advised fund in the country. |
| 1:33.4 | What is a donor-advised fund? |
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| 1:56.6 | your giving reflects your values. |
| 1:59.8 | In fact, JCP fundholders granted over $1 billion to charities |
| 2:04.8 | they care about in 2025 alone. With new tax legislation on the horizon for 2026, now is the |
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