DOJ’s Leo Terrell Says K-12 Schools Pose Biggest Challenge to Trump Administration’s Fight Against Antisemitism

Washington, D.C. – Senior Justice Department official Leo Terrell told attendees of the National Review-Republican Jewish Coalition antisemitism symposium on Tuesday that he considers K-12 schools to be the Trump administration’s biggest challenge for combatting antisemitism nationwide.

Speaking at the event at the Museum of the Bible, Terrell emphasized the need to focus on combatting antisemitism in the curricula and lesson plans of K-12 schools, and also voiced concern about the lack of hate crime prosecutions in heavily Democratic areas.

“Antisemitism is local!” Terrell said during a fiery speech to close out the antisemitism symposium. He touted the Trump administration’s progress against antisemitism on college campuses and contrasted it to the local nature of the K-12 challenge.

“They are attacking our schools, our children, K-12,” Terrell said. “They’re attacking our curricula, our lesson plans at K to 12.”

A common theme of the antisemitism symposium was concern over the surge in anti-Jewish sentiment among young people, primarily due to the impact of online influencers. Terrell was the most prominent speaker to highlight K-12 education and the unwillingness of Democratic prosecutors to pursue hate crime cases against those targeting Jews.

“Antisemitism exists in the fact that they fail to prosecute hate crimes! When you’re in front of a synagogue, you’re throwing items, rocks and bottles, that’s not free speech. That’s a crime! And it’s happening every day,” Terrell emphasized.

Terrell is senior counsel at the Justice Department’s civil rights division and the head of the Trump administration’s antisemitism task force. Terrell considers President Trump to be the greatest president of his lifetime and praised Trump’s “firm commitment” to fighting antisemitism. Trump is a strong proponent of the U.S.-Israel alliance and has Jewish grandchildren through his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner.

The Trump administration has pursued numerous investigations and lawsuits against educational institutions for fostering antisemitic campus environments. Numerous premier universities have agreed to settlements with the Trump administration and some of the agreements have featured additional protections for Jewish students.

As a black American, Terrell linked his battle against antisemitism to Jewish American contributions to the success of the civil rights movement. He also connected the fight against antisemitism to the fundamental American right to religious liberty. Terrell repeatedly called his crusade against antisemitism the “right thing to do” and asserted that it was an issue of importance to the entirety of western civilization.

A former Fox News personality and a longtime civil rights attorney, Terrell said the fight against antisemitism is a 24/7 commitment from himself and the administration at large. Terrell plans on fighting antisemitism for the rest of life and believes it is essential for non-Jews to be part of the cause.