North American students tell of campus antisemitism during Israel fact-finding mission

North American students shared their experiences of antisemitism and radicalism with The Jerusalem Post on Thursday during a visit to the Knesset as part of a fact-finding delegation sponsored by Hasbara Fellowships and IsraelAmbassadors.com.

Two dozen students from schools including the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Michigan; Columbia University; Ohio State University; Rutgers University; and Syracuse University sought to gain firsthand knowledge of the October 7 massacre by meeting key Israeli figures and visiting the impacted towns. Program organizers hoped that they would return to their campuses better equipped to address anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment.

The students who spoke to the Post had no shortage of stories to tell about what they faced back home. Their phones were filled with photographs of inciting activist materials and screenshots of charged online rhetoric.

Jonah, a student at UCLA, recalled how he had run for student council, but a campaign poster was slashed, bloody teeth were drawn on it, and “F**k Zionism” and “Free Palestine” were scrawled across. He showed a photograph of what he said were students stepping on a Star of David on campus.

“Israel was the worst thing for Jews since the Holocaust,” read one sign at UCLA, he said.

Comparisons between the Jewish state and Nazi Germany

A common theme among the students was comparing Israel to the Nazi forces that murdered and persecuted many of the Israelis’ ancestors. According to Taylor, a Rutgers student, someone approached a Jewish student and said, “Hitler would have loved you.”

David, a student at McGill University, had visited Rutgers, only for students to sing the Nazi anthem Horst-Wessel-Lied to his group.

To face animosity from anti-Israel activists, Taylor said, “You don’t need to hold a flag. You just need to associate with a Jewish organization or look Jewish.”

Taylor said she had seen students wearing kippahs harassed with calls of “Free Palestine” when their religious head garb was spotted. Taylor received dirty looks from her peers when they saw her long skirt and Star of David necklace. These looks intensified when she stood against a student government fighting anti-Palestinian racism, which, she said, would have defined anyone protesting antisemitism or support for terrorism as racist. She was ostracized from every group on campus, including her sorority, which accused her of ripping down pro-Palestinian posters.

The Jewish fraternity, AEPI, had its Rutgers chapter house egged on Jewish holidays, she reported. Protests in front of the Hillel house, which, like the Chabad house, had a police car stationed outside constantly, included chants calling for an intifada.

Many of the incidents took place around protest encampments put up on their campuses at different times. Ben from UMich said that the encampment on his campus was set up in the middle of the grounds, which made it impossible to avoid without taking detours that added 10 minutes to the time it takes to walk to class. On David’s campus, activists from Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights established a revolutionary summer camp for youth. Promotional images showed masked men with rifles. At UCLA, Jonah said, the first encampment has continuously expanded until it took over the library. When the library was occupied, activists told students, “Zionists aren’t allowed here.”

“I came to university to learn and have fun,” said Jonah. “These encampments occupy our minds, so we can’t focus on academics. When we should be able to focus on studying, we are worried about how we can even get to exams.”

These encampments were established with the goal of forcing the administration to adopt anti-Israel agendas and policies. In response, Taylor said that the Rutgers administration had attempted to negotiate. When activists planned to protest at final exams, they were merely postponed.

At many campuses, like McGill, police could not act because the administration authorized the encampments. At UCLA, the administration was slow to call in law enforcement, instead opting for private security to watch the encampment. When pro-Israel activists shot fireworks into the camp and clashed with anti-Israel activists, the private security did nothing to intervene, said Jonah. Despite his disagreement with the encampment activists, he expressed concern for their safety and criticized the administration for their lack of protection.

The UCLA administration’s response to the encampments, according to Jonah, was “shameful,” prioritizing those who broke the university rules at the expense of law-abiding students. Taylor described a feeling of dread when the administration and police literally left them behind at a Rutgers University Student Assembly town hall in April that was hijacked by aggressive anti-Israel activists. Police escorted Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway and other officials away, leaving Jewish students behind, as activists chanted, “There is only one solution: intifada revolution!”

Taylor warned that such violent rhetoric was still escalating and could turn into physical confrontations if there was no change on campus. Ben said he felt safe for now at UMich, “but I can see it heading in a bad direction.” David said it was troubling to see McGill students glorifying Aaron Bushnell, who self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, in protest of a supposed genocide in Gaza. He was concerned that people who didn’t care about dying or going to jail could take violent action against Jewish students because there was no fear of consequences.

“How are we supposed to feel safe if there are people in our classes celebrating death?” asked David.

Jonah said that at UCLA, it was not yet a matter of physical safety, but more of ostracization. Still, he described how many feared wearing jewelry with the Stars of David or kippot near the encampments. Despite David’s concerns at McGill, he did not feel unsafe because he believed that taking pride in wearing a kippa and displaying his Jewish identity would repel campus maliciousness.

LIKUD MK Tsega Melaku shared with the students on Thursday her own experiences of antisemitism in Ethiopia before immigrating to Israel when she was 16. The journalist and author explained how she had combated racism in Israel and how, within just a few decades, the state of affairs in Israel had completely changed, offering hope for the students who fought for change in the United States.

“One of the problems with the pro-Palestinian protesters is that they don’t know anything about Israel or the Middle East,” said Melaku. “They don’t know which river or sea they’re chanting about.”

Earlier in the week, the delegation spoke to Likud MK Danny Danon, who commended the students for standing up to anti-Israel animus on campus.

“You have shown tremendous dedication to advocating for Israel’s cause,” said Danon. “Your advocacy efforts are of great significance, and I commend you for your important work both here in Israel and upon your return to the US.”

The delegation was the third in a series of summer delegations as part of Hasbara Fellowships and IsraelAmbassadors.com “Take Action for Israel” program.

“Israel is not only fighting a physical war on its borders; the Jewish people are facing a worldwide war of antisemitism. And nobody is feeling it more than Jewish university students,” said Hasbara Fellowships executive director Alan Levine. “We have to recognize that we are all connected, and as Jewish students, we need to come to Israel to educate ourselves and stand together in solidarity as we prepare to fight back on our campuses next school year.”