The point is; Trump's 48 billion ultimatum to universities: Drop Israel boycotts or lose funding The memorandum defines a "discriminatory forbidden boycott" as "refusing to engage, severing commercial relations, or restricting commercial relationships specifically with Israeli companies." by Dudi Kogan Published on 04-22-2025 11:50 Last modified: 04-22-2025 12:38 Trump's 48 billion ultimatum to universities: Drop Israel boycotts or lose funding Reuters/Nicholas Pfosi Demonstrators rally on Cambridge Common in a protest organized by the City of Cambridge calling on Harvard leadership to resist interference at the university by the federal government in Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 12, 2025 | Photo: Reuters/Nicholas Pfosi The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a federal agency that regulates medical research in the United States, published a memorandum on Monday that conditions research grants on not boycotting Israel and eliminating all DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs. Enlarged Prostate Has Nothing To Do With Age: Just Stop Doing This One Common Thing Enlarged Prostate Has Nothing To Do With Age: Just Stop Doing This One Common Thing Natural Healthy Way This Game is So Beautiful. If You Have a Computer it's a Must-Have. This Game is So Beautiful. If You Have a Computer it's a Must-Have. Raid: Shadow Legends According to the memorandum, the agency "reserves the right to cancel financial aid and return all funds" if grant recipients do not comply with federal guidelines prohibiting diversity and equality research and "forbidden boycotts." The memorandum defines a "discriminatory forbidden boycott" as "refusing to engage, severing commercial relations, or restricting commercial relationships specifically with Israeli companies or with companies conducting business in Israel or with Israel, or those authorized, licensed, or incorporated under Israeli law." According to the announcement, "By accepting the grant, recipients confirm that they are not engaged in and will not engage in a discriminatory forbidden boycott during the grant period." Demonstrators take part in an "Emergency Rally: Stand with Palestinians Under Siege in Gaza," amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 14, 2023 (Photo: Reuters/Brian Snyder) REUTERS The new policy will apply to "local recipients of new grants, renewals, additions, or continuations" issued from April 21, as stated in the announcement. The NIH is the world's largest public funder of medical research. It awards approximately 60,000 grants annually to nearly 3,000 universities and hospitals. More than 80% of its annual budget of $48 billion is directed toward these research grants. The battle against DEI programs, which the Trump administration views as discriminatory, along with the fight against anti-Israeli demonstrations and actions, is also driving the American administration's recent moves against elite universities in the US. Officially, boycotting Israel in American institutions is not widespread, but anti-Israeli student associations and faculty lead petitions and calls to boycott Israel. Some institutions accepted some of these students' demands during the wave of anti-Israeli protests throughout the war. Harvard University recently decided not to comply with the administration's demands, which could cause the university to lose $9 billion in grants and other financial transfers. The university responded yesterday with a lawsuit against the administration. In a letter to the Harvard community, university president Alan Garber argued that the administration's recent escalation against the prestigious institution "has serious real-world implications for patients, students, faculty, staff, researchers, and the status of American higher education in the world." Credit rating agencies have warned that the administration's actions could lead to damage to the financial strength of these institutions, which hold enormous budgets.
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AntisemitismCanada In 2026, Tulsa And Panama Are Courting Canadian Jews As Antisemitism Redefines The Cost Of Staying As antisemitism reaches unprecedented levels across Canada, Jewish families and professionals are quietly reassessing their futures, and some are being actively courted elsewhere. Ron East By: Ron East December 31, 2025 SHARE A growing number of Canadian Jews are exploring relocation options A growing number of Canadian Jews are exploring relocation options as antisemitism intensifies and confidence in public protection erodes. (Image: Illustration.) TORONTO — For generations, Canada sold itself as a country where Jews could thrive without constantly looking over their shoulders. That assumption no longer holds for a growing number of Canadian Jews, particularly in the aftermath of October 7 and the months that followed. What has changed is not only the number of antisemitic incidents. It is the atmosphere. Public hostility has been normalized. Jewish schools, synagogues, and community centres operate under permanent security protocols. Anti-Jewish intimidation is increasingly framed as political expression. Enforcement is inconsistent. Accountability is rare. When Jewish life requires constant risk assessment, mobility stops being a luxury. It becomes a rational act of self-preservation. That reality helps explain why, in 2026, two very different destinations, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Panama, are appearing with growing frequency in serious conversations among Canadian Jews who have the means and flexibility to move. This is not a panic migration. It is a strategic recalculation. Canada’s new warning lights Jewish Canadians represent a small fraction of the population, yet account for a vastly disproportionate share of reported hate crimes. This is not a perception problem. It is a documented pattern. More troubling than the statistics themselves is the message many Jews hear in response: concern, sympathy, and context, but little deterrence. Protests that spill into harassment are tolerated. Jewish institutions are targeted repeatedly. Antisemitism disguised as antizionism is parsed endlessly rather than confronted directly. The result is a slow erosion of confidence in the state’s willingness or ability to enforce equal protection. When a community moves from assuming it belongs to hoping nothing happens today, the social contract has already been fractured. It is within this context that Tulsa and Panama are not merely attracting attention but actively courting. Lech Le’Tulsa and intentional Jewish welcome Tulsa is not presenting itself as a refuge city. It is presenting itself as a place that wants Jewish life to grow. In 2026, that effort has taken concrete form through Lech Le’Tulsa, a Jewish-focused relocation initiative designed to attract Jewish families, professionals, and entrepreneurs to the Tulsa area. The program combines relocation assistance with intentional community building and access to Jewish infrastructure. The name is deliberate. Lech Lecha, the biblical call to go forth and build a future, is not branding by accident. It speaks directly to a Jewish historical instinct that understands movement not as retreat, but as agency. Lech Le’Tulsa offers what many Canadian Jews increasingly feel is missing at home: A clear signal that Jewish presence is welcomed, not merely accommodated Immediate access to synagogues, schools, and Jewish communal life A civic environment where Jewish identity is not treated as a liability The financial incentives matter, but the social architecture matters more. Tulsa is offering a landing ramp. It is saying, we are prepared for you to arrive. That clarity stands in stark contrast to the ambiguity Canadian Jews experience when their safety concerns are acknowledged but endlessly deferred. Panama and the appeal of optionality Panama represents a different but equally rational response to insecurity. For Canadian Jews with international mobility, Panama offers residency pathways tied to investment, business activity, or long-term economic contribution. It also offers something increasingly valuable: optionality. Panama has an established Jewish community, a comparatively lower cost of living, and an immigration framework that openly courts skilled and capital-carrying residents. For some, it is a permanent relocation. For others, it is a second base, a contingency plan, or a future passport pathway. What matters is not the destination itself, but the logic behind the choice. When Jews seek second options, they are not rejecting diaspora life. They are applying historical lessons. Jewish continuity has always depended on redundancy, resilience, and the ability to move before crisis becomes catastrophe. The Zionist lens Canadians prefer to ignore Zionism does not deny the legitimacy of diaspora life. It insists that Jews must never be dependent on the goodwill of others for safety or equality. That lesson was written in blood long before the modern State of Israel existed. Israel institutionalized it at a national level. Individual Jews apply it on a personal level. When Canadian Jews explore Tulsa or Panama, they are not abandoning Canada in anger. They are responding rationally to warning signs. They are building leverage. They are ensuring their children have options. This is what Zionist consciousness looks like outside Israel. It is quiet, pragmatic, and unsentimental. An indictment Canada should take seriously Tulsa and Panama are not superior societies. They are intentional ones. Tulsa is saying, we want contributors, and we are prepared to integrate them. Panama is saying, we want residents and investment, and we have clear legal pathways. Canada, too often, is saying something else entirely: we are sorry you feel unsafe, but the politics are complicated. A serious country does not treat antisemitism as a public relations challenge. It treats it as a threat to civic order. That requires enforcement, deterrence, and moral clarity, including the willingness to name antisemitism even when it hides behind fashionable political language. Until that happens, Canada should not be surprised when Jews quietly explore exit ramps. The bottom line In 2026, the fact that Tulsa and Panama can plausibly court Canadian Jews is not an oddity. It is a warning. When antisemitism reaches levels that fundamentally alter how Jews calculate their futures, movement becomes strategy. History teaches Jews to act before apologies arrive too late. Canada still has time to reverse this trajectory. But time matters. And Jews, having learned this lesson repeatedly, are no longer inclined to wait.
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