Jewish students continue to fear for their safety on college campuses across the US as tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas war escalate into a fourth week, with walkouts, protests and calls for the elimination of the Israeli state emerging in some quarters.
A Jewish student at George Washington University warns that divisive misinformation fuels unrest, and that today’s cultural climate of antisemitism is alarmingly reminiscent of persecution from the past.
“This has scared Jewish students. It’s affecting the campus dialogue to the point where it’s seeping into the classroom, and it’s forcing students like me to change the way we live,” Sabrina Soffer told FOX News on Saturday.
“Last week my mother told me from California… not to leave the house with my Jewish stars. That’s scary. Now I wear one where I actually have to open it, and this was worn by Jews during the Spanish Inquisition. This is the reality facing Jewish students today, facing Jews all over the world in countries from the Middle East to Europe and the United States, countries of freedom and human rights and good values… And now these values has been distorted.”
Soffer said “there should be no tolerance for” showing antisemitism, adding that Jewish students at his school were not immune to the chaos.
Jewish students fear for their safety across US college campuses.Getty Images/iStockphoto
“My friends have been spat on. They have been laughed at for losing family members in Israel and their professors have remained silent,” he claimed.
“At the frat house, some students came and started trying to hit brothers with flagpoles,” he continued. “Yesterday, right before Shabbat, the GW Hillel building was vandalized, and our ransom poster was taken down. Last Tuesday, there was a projection at the Gelman Library with a euphemism for destroying the state of Israel and its Jews and celebrating genocide.”
Projections displayed in the library include the phrases “glory to our martyrs” and “liberate Palestine from the river to the sea.”
The administration has been supportive through statements and has agreed to meet with students, he said.
Responding to calls to expel students behind the projections, the university said in a statement that the “unauthorized” message “violated university policy, and leadership intervened to ensure these projections were removed.”
“The statements made by this individual do not at all reflect the views of the university. We are looking into this incident and will take any appropriate action against the individuals involved in accordance with university policy,” GWU wrote.
GWU President Dr. Ellen Granberg also condemned Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel, writing in an October 11 press release, “This level of brutal violence and shocking loss of innocent life continues to unfold, and I am horrified and saddened,” adding, “Without certainty, I condemn this act of violence.”
Granberg also called for “uniting” during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Soffer said Jewish students at other universities have not been so fortunate to see support from administrators, however.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
