Israel’s Netanyahu says ‘antisemitic mobs’ have taken over America’s ‘leading universities’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video message Wednesday saying “what’s happening in America’s college campuses is horrific.” 

“Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities. They call for the annihilation of Israel. They attack Jewish students. They attack Jewish faculty,” he said. “This is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s. It’s unconscionable. It has to be stopped. It has to be condemned and condemned unequivocally. But that’s not what happened. The response of several university presidents was shameful.” 

Netanyahu spoke as American college students are continuing to hold anti-Israel demonstrations Wednesday around the nation. 

“Now, fortunately, state, local, federal officials, many of them have responded differently but there has to be more. More has to be done. It has to be done not only because they attack Israel, that’s bad enough, not only because they want to kill Jews wherever they are, that’s bad enough, it’s also when you listen to them, it’s also because they say not only, “Death to Israel. Death to the Jews,” but “death to America,’” Netanyahu said. “And this tells us that there is an antisemitic surge here that has terrible consequences.  

LIVE UPDATES: ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS ON US COLLEGE CAMPUSES 

The Israeli prime minister also said he is seeing an “exponential rise of antisemitism throughout America and throughout Western societies as Israel tries to defend itself against genocidal terrorists, genocidal terrorists who hide behind civilians.” 

WHAT PROTESTERS AT ELITE US UNIVERSITIES ARE SHOUTING 

“Yet it is Israel that is falsely accused of genocide, Israel that is falsely accused of starvation and all sundry war crimes. It’s all one big libel,” he added. “But that’s not new.” 

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He concluded his message by saying “So I ask all of you, Jews and non-Jews alike, who are concerned with our common future and our common values to do one thing: stand up, speak up, be counted. Stop antisemitism now.” 

Fox News’ Yonat Friling contributed to this report.