NEW YORK — Ten US Jewish groups, including representatives from the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements, on Tuesday denounced the Trump administration’s crackdown on non-citizen activists and universities.

The Jewish organizations said the federal actions threaten Jews’ safety, despite the administration’s claim that the effort is in response to antisemitism.

“These actions do not make Jews — or any community — safer. Rather, they only make us less safe,” the joint statement said.

Signatories included the Union for Reform Judaism, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the National Council of Jewish Women, the American Conference of Cantors, HIAS, the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.

A swath of American Jewry has been alarmed by President Donald Trump’s crackdown, citing perceived threats to due process and free speech while acknowledging that action is needed to combat rampant antisemitism. The statement released Tuesday appeared to be the most forceful denunciation so far of the federal effort by mainstream Jewish groups.

The statement recognized the need to combat antisemitism, saying that Jews were being held accountable for Israeli actions and that Jewish Americans were being ejected from classrooms and communities for their heritage and connection to Israel. Some have celebrated the murder of Jews and spread dangerous antisemitic tropes in politics and on social media, the statement said.

The Jewish groups said that, amid those threats, “escalating federal actions have used the guise of fighting antisemitism” to deny students due process and threaten academic research.

“There should be........

© The Times of Israel