JTA — A new policy from the US National Institutes of Health bars colleges and universities from receiving funding if they boycott business relations with Israel.
The policy, which was announced Monday, added to the terms and conditions for schools that receive funding from the NIH, which awards tens of billions of dollars in research funding via nearly 50,000 grants.
It also bars eligible schools from operating any diversity, equity, inclusion or accessibility programs if they want to receive funds, part of a broader anti-DEI offensive across the Trump administration.
The policy stated that a discriminatory boycott included “refusing to deal, cutting commercial relations, or otherwise limiting commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies or with companies doing business in or with Israel or authorized by, licensed by, or organized under the laws of Israel to do business.”
While pro-Palestinian student groups have long advocated boycotts of Israel, including at last year’s wave of campus encampments, those efforts have not found success. Administrations have almost universally rebuffed them or voted them down. Last year, the president of California State University was placed on leave after announcing an academic boycott of Israel.
The new policy is effective immediately and will apply to all NIH grants. If schools are found to institute Israel boycotts or DEI programs, they could be asked to pay back the funds.
Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrators rally on the Columbia University campus in New York City to mark a year since the Hamas terror group’s onslaught on southern Israel that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, October 7, 2024. (Alex Kent/Getty Images/AFP)
“NIH reserves the right to terminate financial assistance awards and recover all funds if recipients, during the term of this award, operate any program in violation of Federal anti-discriminatory laws or engage in a prohibited boycott,” the policy read.
The new rules align with a January executive order by US President Donald Trump that dubbed DEI programs “illegal” and has spurred efforts to dismantle federal DEI initiatives across the country. And it adds on to laws in dozens of states that prohibit state institutions, including public universities, from engaging with entities that boycott Israel.
The anti-DEI push has ensnared Jewish-focused materials in some instances. At the Pentagon, Holocaust remembrance web pages were removed and a display honoring Jewish female naval academy graduates was taken down, ostensibly to comply with the order. A number of Jewish groups have also protested the anti-DEI policies.
The new NIH policy is the latest restriction placed on U.S. campuses, which have faced intense scrutiny from the Trump administration over their responses to antisemitism. Many universities, including Columbia, Harvard, Brown, Northwestern and Cornell have already faced steep cuts to federal funding. In addition, a growing number of student pro-Palestinian activists have been arrested and threatened with deportation, or had their visas canceled.
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