As fierce pro-Palestinian protests dominated American colleges in recent weeks, few Jewish students responded with rallies in support of Israel or against perceived expressions of anti-Semitism.
That reluctance may be starting to change.
Like many Americans, Jewish students’ views on the war in Gaza and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict are broad and often nuanced. It was not because of a lack of passion for the war, empathy for its victims, or the backlash the fighting has brought to their campuses that they shied away from demonstrating.
They have had heated debates with each other over whether and how to respond as pro-Palestinian camps spread from one university to another. Some joined the encampments. Many felt unnerved by what they perceived as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric and said they feared crossing campus, let alone counter-protests.
Now groups standing in solidarity with Jewish students are planning dozens of rallies from coast to coast in the coming days. Protesters flew Israeli flags at Indiana University Bloomington and near George Washington University on Thursday, and more are expected to fly in Boston on Friday.
The goal is to show that Jewish students remain unbowed and that there is room for empathy for both Palestinians and Israelis affected by the war.
At George Washington University in Washington, D.C., about 150 people — including many Jewish students — gathered in a grassy courtyard on Thursday for an event billed as “A Rally Against Anti-Semitism on Campus.”
Senior Brina Cartagenova held a necklace with her Hebrew name on it, the same necklace she had previously removed for fear of reprisals on campus.
“I was afraid to put this back on for at least three weeks, and then I finally did it the other day,” she said. “These types of events definitely make me feel more comfortable.”
The pro-Palestinian camps across the country have been largely peaceful. There have been some clashes, with one of the most violent occurring this week when a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles, was attacked and the two sides fought for hours before police intervened. It is not clear who was behind the attack, but some participants carried Israeli flags.
Tensions on campus are complicated by the deep history and emotions involved in the war between Israel and Hamas. It started on October 7 when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 250 hostage – the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
Israel vowed to eradicate Hamas and has waged a brutal campaign against the militant group that rules Gaza in a conflict that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians along the way, according to the Health Ministry.
Protests in support of Israel or the Palestinians have bubbled up in the US since October 7. But the wave of pro-Palestinian rallies on campuses began two weeks ago, after more than a hundred protesters were arrested at Columbia University in New York. . They have demanded that universities stop doing business with Israel and companies associated with it.
Young American Jews are roughly divided over whether Israel’s post-October war will happen. According to a Pew Research Center poll from early April, the seventh military campaign in Gaza has been acceptable.
But the hateful elements in the anti-war protests have many Jewish students in turmoil, regardless of how they feel about the Israeli government or its treatment of Palestinians.
Some examples of campus protests that stung: A poster with the Star of David crossed out in red. “Death to Israel” scrawled in spray paint. Chants of ‘We are Hamas’. A chalk-written plea to “Bring them home,” tangled under the sole of a shoe.
“Not everyone actively supports these anti-Semitic posters, chants, signs and graffiti, but it feels like a large majority at least agrees with it – okay enough to ignore it and continue to make Jewish students feel unwelcome,” says Lily Cohen. 21, a Jewish student at Northwestern University.
“It felt very scary to do counter-protests,” she said.
In the northwest encampment was another Jewish student, junior Paz Baum.
Baum, who held a Passover seder among the tents with other pro-Palestinian protesters, said her religious values compelled her to protest the war in Gaza.
“I see a direct parallel between the experiences of my Jewish ancestors and the experience of the tens of thousands of Palestinians who were slaughtered,” said Baum, whose grandparents fled the pogroms in Eastern Europe.
Baum insisted that hateful posters were removed as soon as they were spotted, and said the only anti-Semitism she witnessed came from several Jewish counter-protesters, mostly older adults, who encountered the encampment on Sunday.
As Baum held a sign reading “Jews for a Ceasefire,” she said they hurled anti-Semitic slurs at her. Other pro-Palestinian protesters have said accusations of anti-Semitism are being spread only to discredit their movement.
The encampment at Northwestern reached an agreement with the university on Monday and evacuated.
In Columbia, some pro-Palestinian protesters have condemned hateful rhetoric from their ranks, including comments from a student who said in a recently surfaced video: “Zionists don’t deserve to live.” That student, who acted as spokesperson for the encampment and has since retracted his statements, has been banned from campus. But the incident, along with others, struck a chord.
“It is completely okay to protest the war in Gaza or be shocked by the various actions of the Israeli government,” said Jacob Schmeltz, a student at Columbia, but “Jewish students at Columbia do not feel physically or emotionally safe right now to be on board. campus.”
Schmeltz, one of the leaders of the national Jewish on Campus Student Union, said the group has developed a strategy on how to respond as protests multiply.
They used social media to highlight what they saw as anti-Semitism on campus, but a counter-protest wasn’t really on the table.
“How is it possible to organize a counter-protest when many of us are at home or just trying to stay in our dorm rooms because they are afraid of what will happen if they go to campus?” said Schmeltz.
Organizations including Hillel and the Israeli-American Coalition have planned more rallies in the coming days to show Jewish and pro-Israel students and teachers “that they are not alone,” said Elan Carr, the organization’s CEO.
Adam Lehman, president of Hillel International, said the meetings will affirm that Jewish students are resilient, worthy of respect and “can demonstrate empathy for the plight of Palestinians while also demonstrating empathy for Israelis.”
At the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, pro-Israel Jewish students have been tossing around different ideas for weeks. Some advocated ignoring the pro-Palestinian encampment on campus to show that “you can do that, but you have no control over it,” said Jewish student Eliana Halivni. Some waved Israeli flags.
Some wrote the Star of David in chalk, Halivni said, “so they know we are here even if they cannot physically see us.”
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Associated Press reporters Darren Sands in Washington, Isabella Volmert in Bloomington, Indiana and Kavish Harjai in Los Angeles contributed to this report.