Yad Vashem head says antisemitism in universities a major threat

The head of Israel's main Holocaust memorial center has welcomed criticism levelled at three top U.S. university presidents over their comments on campus antisemitism but said an anti-Jewish climate in parts of academia remained a profound threat. Dani Dayan, chairman of   Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, said a surge in antisemitic incidents worldwide reflected trends that had been developing well before the start of the war in Gaza in October but that had taken on "a new magnitude" since. "And the epicentre of that is in the academy," he told Reuters. "I think that in Western academies, stone by stone, piece by piece, article by article and book by book, a pseudo-academic theory is being developed that calls for, justifies and even advocates for the elimination of the Jewish state," he said. Dayan said the backlash against the presidents' testimony had been encouraging but was not enough. "Any antisemitic call, any antisemitic action should be off limits in campuses," he said. (Reuters) 