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Harmeet Dhillon on Distinguishing Between Protected Speech and Actionable Discriminatory Conduct

David Bernstein | 8.5.2026 10:30 AM

Jewish Insider:

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, urged pro-Israel college students to distinguish between protected speech and actionable discriminatory conduct — "people literally interfering with your ability to get an education" — when facing antisemitism on campus.

"[With] a lot of young people these days, there's kind of a snowflake culture with 'I feel unsafe.' I feel unsafe everyday when I go to work and get a mean email from a colleague. Life is full of challenges," Dhillon said on Tuesday at the conclusion of the Israel on Campus Coalition's National Leadership Summit in Washington.

"Someone wearing a keffiyeh or shouting 'from the river to the sea,' it's protected by the First Amendment," Dhillon said. "Holding a red triangle over a student's head in a mob setting and saying 'Jews not welcome' is much closer to not protected speech."

"You have to sort out people being mean or rude to you versus people literally interfering with your ability to........

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