When a Foreign State Shapes Minds on U.S. Campuses—and Calls It Education

 American universities used to be noisy places. Argumentative. Annoying, even. That was the point.

Lately, something else is happening.

A foreign state is openly running “educational” programs aimed at American student leaders. The language is not subtle. Students are flown in, briefed, shown a carefully curated reality, then sent back “confident to refute lies” and defend a state under criticism. That phrasing matters. It tells you the mission before the plane even lands.

This is not a student exchange. It’s narrative discipline.

The story surfaced through a report by CBN News, framed as a response to rising antisemitism on U.S. campuses. The stated goal is to help students counter claims of genocide, racism, and apartheid. In other words, the debate is declared over before it begins. One side arrives labeled “lies.” The other, “truth.”

That’s not education. That’s pre-emptive argument control.

Here’s the awkward part no one wants to say out loud. If China, Russia, or Iran sponsored similar trips—training American students to return home and “refute lies” about Xinjiang, Ukraine, or sanctions—Washington would lose its mind. Editorials would scream “foreign influence.” Committees would convene. Funding would freeze.

But when Israel does it, the conversation shifts. Suddenly it’s about faith. Trauma. Identity. Sacred history. The state dissolves into symbolism, and policy becomes personal.

Criticism is no longer disagreement. It’s hatred.

Scroll through the reactions and a pattern emerges. Some comments are devotional: “God’s chosen people,” “Prayers,” “Love to Israel.” No policy discussion. No law. No borders. Just belief. Once a state is wrapped in theology, accountability becomes blasphemy.

Others take a harder line. Anti-Zionism equals antisemitism. Questioning legitimacy equals bigotry. Language itself is put on trial. This framing is effective because it short-circuits thought. It doesn’t argue with claims about occupation or civilian harm. It simply declares the speaker immoral.

And then there’s the quieter group. The ones asking an unglamorous civic question:

Why is a foreign state organizing influence programs inside American universities at all?

That question rarely gets answered. It usually gets buried.

What’s also missing is telling. Gaza appears only as a word to be denied. The West Bank barely registers. Settlements, military law, land seizures—absent. Even when commenters mention attacks on Armenian churches in Jerusalem or pray for murdered children, the context dissolves. Suffering floats free of cause.

October 7 is invoked repeatedly, but always as a moral endpoint. History pauses there. Everything before vanishes. Everything after becomes unspeakable. Trauma, real and horrific, is turned into a firewall against scrutiny.

This isn’t about Jews versus Muslims. And it’s not even about Israel versus Palestine anymore.

It’s about how power manages dissent in an age where images travel faster than arguments. Universities are no longer treated as spaces for uncertainty. They’re treated as terrain. Students are not thinkers to be challenged but messengers to be prepared.

The real question isn’t whether antisemitism exists. It does. The question is why combating hatred now requires insulating a state from examination.

If your case is strong, it should survive questions. If your history is complex, students should see all of it. And if your policies are just, they should not need theological armor.

Education begins with doubt.

Anything that starts with “refute the lies” is something else entirely.