Threats, harassment and damage to grades • Jewish students in the US talk about revealing hatred for Israel on campus, both from pro-Palestinian organizations and from lecturers. • Institutions say it is freedom of speech, students hope the presidential decree will benefit "

• Photo: AMCHA

Jewish students prefer not to externalize their religious identity, "says Justin Feldman (21), an undergraduate student in political science and Middle Eastern studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), an Israeli mother and Jewish-American father who was born and raised in Los Angeles. .

"I have many friends who prefer to hide a pendant with a Star of David around their necks, or who are afraid to disclose their family ties to Israel in private conversations, if only because some anti-Israeli lecturer will not hear about it and it will hurt them on the academic level. In fact, it is difficult for us to recruit members of support groups in Israel. Or the rallies we organize, because for many, this is too risky. "

Last year, Feldman headed a student group supporting Israel at a university called Students Supporting Israel, which also has nine other affiliates across the state.

The University of California is the most prestigious academic institution on the West Coast, standing in line with East Coast Ivy League universities, most notably Yale and Harvard. However, even the location in a city that is considered a democratic and liberal stronghold does not make it immune to the scourge of anti-Semitism, which is steadily rising across the United States.

"The university is a place that gives complete religious freedom when it comes to observing Shabbat or holidays, but we are facing too many problematic cases of anti-Semitism where management is not involved enough," says Feldman. "I, for example, address the issue that began last May, when a lecturer from the University of San Francisco, Rabab Abdul Hadi, came to a guest lecture, claiming that Jews and Zionists support racist nationalism of white supremacy.

"This is a statement received by a media outlet in the local press, but whoever invited her, the anthropology professor at Kyung Park, refuses to apologize for her guest. One of the Jewish students who was required to attend a lecture, which was actually part of a course that semester, filed a federal complaint against the university in October, Has taken disciplinary proceedings following the incident, which is just one example of the faculty giving a stage to such hate rhetoric.

"Another example is a pro-Palestinian conference held in November last year, initiated by an organization that protests systematically and blatantly against all our activities, and no Jewish student was allowed to come anywhere. The university's management promised that there would be no platform for anti-Semitic discourse at this conference, but two videos from the conference show two Spokesmen, Samir al-Khattu and Khatam Abu Dhaya, well-known Hamas supporters who have been questioned in the past about involvement in terrorist organizations, called the Intifada.

Has it become a routine?

"It's something that is coming in waves. But if, for example, you place a table on campus to invite people to one of our group's upcoming events, you will likely encounter opponents and absorb derogatory comments and calls. And, of course, demonstrators will come out shouting that we are white nationalists, tearing up Israeli flags and aggressively turning to our speakers. .

"Rarely does it come to physical violence, but mezuzas were torn down in buildings with Jewish identity on campus, and in the past also graffiti and swastikas were sprayed. This is certainly a familiar phenomenon, but not even these things should be seen physically. Sufficient statements, especially on social networks, suffice Who are called to destroy Israel and praise neo-Nazi organizations. "

How does this affect the involvement of Jewish students in campus activities?

"The presence of Jewish students on campus with us in the group is limited. Only about a third of them are involved in activities that have an affinity for Judaism or Israel, and even then only a limited part of them are active throughout the year. Their assumption is that this is an issue that cannot be resolved anyway and they prefer to invest in activities. Others during school, I guess it's a kind of escapism that is very common at this stage of life, not dealing with the hatred that lurks out there.

"To those people, I say it won't change if we continue to live in fear. I'm a student council member who meets with senior executives regularly, and I'm the one who floods the issue of anti-Semitism. I admit that I'm not always taken seriously, but my being there already is significant. To feel welcome. "

How do senior executives really react?

"Our referrals to management are dismissed on the grounds that this is not something sweeping. We need to run to the media to be treated. I have friends who come across scathing and contempt when they complain of being persecuted as Jews on campus.

"The management is taking its time until it makes a comment on the anti-Semitic incident, and not only do they admit that they are aware that in situations where criticism is against Israel, anti-Semitic factors are also taking part, but they usually dismiss our claims of discrimination with the excuse that the other side also "Experience this, and thus avoid confronting the allegations and offering solutions. For them, both parties bear responsibility, but to us it is completely unfair, since no party on our part has ever tried to prevent or sabotage pro-Palestinian events."

Who participates in those pro-Palestinian organizations?

"Ironically, Muslim students or Arab affiliates are hardly involved in these organizations. These are white American guys who identify with the extreme left and have decided that their protest tactics are to threaten Jews. Sometimes students from other ethnic backgrounds, such as Southeast Asia, get there. Palestinian students are a minority in these organizations. "

Photography: AMCHA

The manifestations of anti-Semitism at UCLA are just one example of the alarming growth of anti-Semitism in higher education institutions across the US. Over the past five years there have been more than 3,000 reports of varying degrees of harassment, demonstration or anti-Semitic statements by lecturers and protesters calling them Israel and the Jewish people As a purpose for batting.

A report released last September by Your People's Organization (AMCHA) shows a sharp 70 percent increase in antisemitic incidents during 2018 compared to the previous year. Incidents where Jewish or Israeli students were accused of racism or genocide increased 147 percent, and the number of attempts to drop students Jews from social student activities and related events have doubled. The report also notes the growing activity of the BDS, which was responsible for 86 percent of those cases of Jewish student harassment and calls for an academic boycott of Israel.

"We publish details of any anti-Semitic incident that defines the US Secretary of State's drafting with the International Holocaust Remembrance Task Force that a particular conception of Jews is interpreted as a rhetorical or physical hatred directed at Jewish people or their property," explains the founder. Yours, "Tammy Rosman-Benjamin, a professor of Hebrew studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The "Your People" initiative has been operating since 2015 and records every report, including photographed documentation, to provide victims with a platform for information on what is happening in educational institutions in America and serve as informal evidence to shed light on the severity of the situation.

"Every year, we analyze the information in an attempt to segment varying trends, and the first conclusion is the rise in anti-Semitism. Three years ago, we saw how the emergence of graffiti and swastikas gained momentum around the US presidential campaign and beyond. In 2017, we saw more use of Nazi hate rhetoric, and a year later there was an increase in incidents against anyone who expressed support for Israel or Zionism. "

"There are campuses that have more problems than others, and some do not experience it at all, but in general the rise in anti-Semitism is the" Students for Justice in Palestine "(SJP), which denies the very existence of the State of Israel, and whose intent is to find everyone who supports Israel - That is, every Jew, "explains Rose Rothstein, founder and CEO of Stand With Us, which was established 18 years ago following the second intifada, with the need to strengthen American support for Israel and give back to victims of anti-Semitism.

"This organization's strategy is to root out their ideology against Israel and Zionism and create a permanent state of hatred. They have learned that they must use words to produce anti-Israeli discourse, a collective hatred of rhetoric, which is an ancient tactic. Most often do not get the full picture here in coverage Newswise, so to present a misrepresentation that Israel is killing innocents, without regard to the activities of Islamic Jihad and Hamas, is a simplistic and incorrect situation that works in their favor. "

Why are they investing so much on campus?

"They believe it is a potential incubator for recruiting young people who are not yet fully formed, and they are turning their hearts to a sincere advocate of social justice. They are convinced that this is the right way to drive Israel, hereafter the enemy, and train the means to increase hatred.

"The campus is also a sought-after arena for rallies, gathering people and calls for action. They also use an agenda-grabbing tactic - that is, exploiting burning social and political issues, and forcing Israel into the equation without any real basis.

"At the same time, they are recruiting lecturers who support their ideology. This, ostensibly, is an acknowledgment from academics who are also influencing students. On the other hand, professors who support Israel often fear to comment on the issue so they will not be flagged.

"In addition, they are adopting new methods of harassing Jewish students. For example, professors who reject letters of recommendation at the end of their studies for a master's degree or finding a job, eliminating student expeditions to Israel like 'Birthright' and even claims of Israel being directly linked to violence by police officers in America.

"But it is important to note that if students who have experienced antisemitism have received no response, the increasing the trend of anti-Semitism on campus is growing, so is the need for assistance outside the university walls. Some help them to overcome the problem.

"Just two weeks ago there was a case of a student at McGill University in Montreal, who was called to abandon her student council seat because she intended to visit Israel. These are cases where we intervene, and support the university's appeal or complaint."

Why don't the universities themselves interfere?

"The management is responsible for ensuring the safety and security of the students, but when it comes to Israel there is a double ethic that management feels that condemnation of a pro-Palestinian group will charge them with no freedom of expression.

"They do not make the distinction of hatred rhetoric, and they do not feel comfortable identifying as supporters of Israel. It is not freedom of speech to call a class intifada or to address all Zionists. Imagine you would substitute the word 'Jews' or 'supporters of Israel' for 'women' or In "African Americans," it was unbearable and treated on the spot.

"As long as they do not take a stand, the situation will only get worse. The Palestinian organization is a ticking time bomb with a clear strategy moving forward, there is no oversight."

"Management takes its time, until it spends a response." Jewish University of California Students at Independence Day Event // Photo: HILLEL UCLA

 "We have a good relationship with the management, and everyone wants to make sure that freedom of speech is applied to everyone properly, but it is certainly a complex and sometimes discouraging dialogue," admits Rabbi Aaron Lerner, who heads the Hillel organization at UCLA. The organization, which is represented in more than 550 universities and colleges in North America and around the world, aims to conduct various traditional and cultural activities for the benefit of the Jewish community.

"Our organization is the second home of more than 3,000 students who are away from their home, and most of the complaints come from instances where their Israeli connection is mentioned. More and more professors, such as those who don't really like Israel, are bringing political opinions to the academy and just by expressing themselves Offensive to an entire community during class they create an unpleasant atmosphere for students.

"We are also witnessing a sharp rise in aggressive tactics. The SJP is doing everything in its power to disrupt events of a Jewish or Zionist character. They deny Israel's existence and claim to be a vicious and hostile state, and if they keep saying the same things - they will eventually drift after them. People who believe them, no matter if it's a lie.

"Even when they invite an outside speaker who expresses violence and extremism, in the end, by law, they have a full right to do so. Management cannot escape this problem."

Are you frustrated students coming to you?

"Many times they come from a class where statements were made of no interest, but I wouldn't say the students are constantly frightened. It's not a level of physical violence or provocation, and that's an important distinction. There's no sense of being threatened by an assault, it's just an upsetting experience that manifests itself "If a student faces a controversial professor, he won't dare argue with him because he fears his grades. That's the main scare I run into, and that in itself is unacceptable."

UCLA management said in response: "Discrimination and harassment violate our commitment to build an equitable learning environment and are prohibited by university policy. As University President Gene Block reiterates, anti-Semitism and racism have no place in UCLA. The university also maintains its equally strong commitment to freedom of expression. And freedom of inquiry, which is the bedrock on which we are dedicated to learning and discovery. This is especially important when people disagree about the facts and their meaning. These are commitments that are sometimes difficult to agree with, but we must always do our best. "

In response to universities and colleges, three weeks ago, US President Donald Trump signed a presidential decree defining US Jewry as a race or nationality, not just a religion, as a means to include anti-Semitism as a background discrimination, as banned by civil rights law that institutions Education receiving federal assistance is committed to sustain.

The first to file a complaint with attorneys following the new presidential order is Jonathan Cartan, an economics and psychology student at Columbia University in New York, who worked on the complaint long before Trump's move.

"Thanks to this order, anti-Semitism complaints will be given because too often Jewish and Israeli students are the target of discrimination and persecution," says Cartan, who grew up in Manhattan as an Israeli mother and American father, enlisted in his IDF initiative and served in the Air Force's Horizon unit before returning to Lara. In academic studies.

"Politics is an excuse, and Jewish students and faculty at Columbia University and throughout the United States deserve to learn and work in an environment free of discrimination and anti-Jewish bias.

"During my first two weeks at university, I went out to a bar on campus and talked to a girl. When I told her I was singing in the IDF, and I said the English acronym, IDF, she told me I was a horrible person and walked away. Already then I realized there was a problem in this place. "

"Sometimes I ask friends to accompany me to classes." Barry Skalsky

What manifestations of anti-Semitism have you encountered?

"Apparently there are semantics differences between anti-Semitism and anti-Israel and anti-Zionism. Many opponents of the State of Israel believe, for example, that Zionism is colonialism, and it is not quite as anti-Semitic as we are used to thinking about it. You will not encounter a headache on campus, even though it was an office of a Jewish lecturer. Swastikas last year.

"A friend of mine submitted a job on a PLO attack, and his lecturer rejected the job because he defined the organization as a terrorist rather than a 'freedom fighter.' On the other hand, some Israeli supporters are afraid to be exposed so that they don't cost them their jobs regularly. It is like this more and more on all campuses in the state. "

McKenna Bates, an undergraduate student in international studies and politics at George Mason University in Virginia, encountered antisemitism as a child.

"I grew up in Chesapeake, Virginia, and everywhere I was always the only Jewish girl. I developed an elephant's skin because I came across anti-Semitism, as is the case in many southern US, mostly from religious right-wing Jesus. The bullying I experienced from an early age has made me want to face anti-Semitic factors on campus, and because I'm the toughest Jew - I'm always the main target.

"There have been quite a few instances of anti-Semitic statements by lecturers, times when people have mocked the Hillel and Chabad representatives that I am involved in their university activities, who were concerned about me and my Jewish friends feeling unwanted. Few Jews respond to those objections, and I personally have lost many friends who felt that I was 'too Jewish'.

"My spouse, Dan Kling, was forced to leave the student council that oversees donated grants because he was a Zionist and Jewish, and a group called 'Students Against Israeli Apartheid' posted photos of his face on Facebook with the caption 'White supremacy'. Mine and my boss's email at work so I will be fired and lose my dorm room. I then filed a complaint with the police. "

Did it come to physical violence as well?

"Last semester, a Palestinian student pushed me up the stairs, and there were cases where Jewish students were beaten, received threats that they would not dare to wear a pendant with a Star of David, or wear domes.

"Last year, during Holocaust Remembrance Day, we set up a memorial table on campus with the address 'Never Again', an illustrative form in the form of fictitious passports in memory of victims and candles. A group of Palestinians attacked us, they burned the passports in the fire of candles, tried to extinguish other candles and shouted We went up in Arabic.

"Since those students continue to harass us. They say that Palestinian blood is more expensive than Jewish life, that I am a racist who enjoys the suffering of children in Palestine, that Hitler did not do the job well enough and that I am responsible for bombing Gaza. The management always responds apologetically for the unpleasantness and referral to psychological counseling services on campus. And that's it. Nobody feels safe or desirable in us. "

Bianca Carmeni's family, an undergraduate student in Global Languages ​​and Health at the University of California Preparatory School of Medicine, San Diego, left Iran for anti-Semitism and did not expect to encounter it in the United States.

"I am not afraid but feel that I want to be afraid. Our support as a community in Israel is interpreted by some people, those who are unaware of the reality and history of Israel, as something we should be ashamed of.

"The BDS has been active on our campus since 2013, and every year they hold Justice Week for Palestine, and put content on the so-called" apartheid wall "that is aggressively demonizing our community. I don't see how it would stop if the university didn't reconsider The presence of the BDS, unwilling to take part in any dialogue or discussion between the parties. Anti-Semitism is growing under the guise of social justice, which abolishes our right as a group to take an active part in all kinds of frameworks on campus. "

Carmeni recounts how in one of the cases when a support rally in Israel returned, she was attacked by female students with shouts of "child murderer, settler bitch," and when a complaint was filed in the university's offices that it was a legitimate freedom of expression.

In another case, anti-Semitism came from one of her lecturers. "One of my compulsory courses was ethnic studies, and the lecturer dedicated a whole week of lectures to establish artificial parallels between the U.S. border with Mexico and the separation fence.

"She called Israel" apartheid state "and" colonial settler country, "and argued that the Jewish people forged historical evidence to support the arguments that he was a native of Israel. There are blurred lines between anti-Semitism in academia and the attitude toward Israel."

For Barry Skalsky, a student of leadership and public relations at the University of Houston, the close acquaintance with hostility came only at the academy.

"I have never encountered anti-Semitism before university. I grew up in Houston in a very involved community, and friends have always been happy to celebrate Jewish holidays with us. Suddenly, at such a huge university, Jews are a small and persecuted minority.

"The student organization that supports Palestine has a very strong presence, several thousand members who may declare that they are coming to strengthen Palestinians but mainly attack the existence of Israel. They say they expose the IDF as a terrorist organization, and curse anyone who tries to answer them."

Ever been attacked?

"Once in a while? Sometimes I ask friends to accompany me to classes and lectures because I'm afraid to run into them, they're in a scary amok of rage.

"They know that I support Israel, and in the past I preferred to humiliate it. In the past, I didn't mind sharing with other students what groups I am on campus and what my personal identity is, but I stopped hiding. At every opportunity. But I proudly bear my head. "

Aliyah Jacobson, who grew up in a religious family in Austin, Texas, moved to New York to get more involved in a Jewish population, and attends Brooklyn College for a bachelor's degree in music and child development. In addition, she holds a teaching certificate from La Guardia College, and even managed to live in Israel for a year.

"Only when I started studying in Brooklyn, where there is a great Jewish presence on campus, did I realize how prevalent anti-Semitism is," she says. "SJP activists who protest against Israel tease and call for the intifada. Whenever I'm involved in something related to Israel, I kidnap people. Even when the management provides us with security guards, they do not stop demonstrating against us on the grounds that this is freedom of expression. There is currently a reassurance that they are lowering their profile following media coverage. The latest, according to rumors, they plan to step up activity ahead of spring and near Israeli Independence Day. "

Have you tried talking to any of them?

"I tried to talk to them ahead of a sympathy rally that followed the massacre at the New Zealand mosques last year, but they rejected me outright, saying I'm a white girl who doesn't know what violence is at all.

"In another case, I managed to talk to one of the protesters and asked what her connection was to the Palestinians, and she said she was a parent to Puerto Rico parents. I explained the meaning of Israel to me, and she only memorized the mantra 'Palestine needs to be liberated'."

Aliyah Jacobson (right) at an Israeli support event at Brooklyn College in New York

A recent headline event is the University of New York (NYU), when three weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Education announced that the Office of Civil Rights he was chairing had officially launched an investigation into complaints of a hostile environment for Jewish students at the university.

Here, too, at the forefront of the offensive is the pro-Palestinian SJP. In one of the incidents that received extensive media coverage in April 2018, the organization's activists interrupted the annual event of a support organization in Israel called Realize Israel - a disturbance that turned into a physical confrontation with one of the students and an aggressive demonstration in which Israeli flags were burned. The activist who burned the flag was arrested at the scene by police, and the university's management treated discipline only by two activists in the organization.

The frustration of the university's unsatisfactory response last spring, when it became known that the SJP was awarded the Community Service Award by the university president. The move drew a formal lawsuit from Realize Israel's representatives against the university for allowing anti-Semitism and causing a hostile and dangerous learning environment.

Ben Newhouse, a New York Jewish undergraduate student in economics and accounting at NYU, says that while management responds appropriately to incidents and allegations of anti-Semitism, the situations are repetitive. "The university president has been very clear in his opposition to BDS, and they will usually issue a written message to the media, but I would expect them to act faster and more rigidly. This should not come under pressure to intervene.

"In addition, at 53 NYU student organizations - social circles of groups such as African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians or other minority groups - have signed a pledge not to partner with pro-Israeli groups. That's an agenda the SJP is among those groups as well as among the Democratic-Socialist, Libertarian and even Muslim-Christian student organizations, all of which are required to boycott the pro-Israel groups, and no one is examining them in the administration.

Were you involved in such a case?

"Last year I spent a semester at the NYU Research Institute on the Tel Aviv University campus, and when I returned to New York, I found that the Israeli branch faced criticism from senior executives around calling for boycotts and even closing it. Suddenly, threats from the Department of Social and Cultural Research arrived that it would not send students to Tel Aviv And it requires canceling any academic collaboration.

"As someone who has been studying there for almost six months, I really enjoyed the experience and the very discussion surprised and bothered me. That's why I got myself talking against the move in the media and making sure they know what is really behind it - whose move in that department was led by Dr. Stephen Tracher, who previously stated BDS support And actually initiated the idea of ​​a boycott. But this is a small department and they have no academic involvement with Israel anyway. There was no meaning to the move except making noise. The university objected, saying no student should be allowed to pass a semester in any state. "

How much do you think supporters of the boycott of Israel are well versed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

"A recent Berkeley University study found that 75 percent of students who testified strongly against Israeli policy and advocates for pro-Palestinian organizations do not even know where Israel is on the map. 25 percent thought it was somewhere in the Mediterranean.

"There is a lot of ignorance on campus, and most people who claim that the issue is close to their hearts do not know the meaning beyond the slogans they have heard. There are simplistic assumptions that they have learned to memorize, that Israel occupies and Palestinians are victimized, black and white, good vs. bad. They assume that every minority group is always You're right, and don't really know what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is. "

NYU spokeswoman commented: "No government inquiry has begun, and any allegation that the university is less concerned or unsupported by the Jewish community is not fair, unfair and ignores the protocol. "The BDS is in NYU and elsewhere. The university is the only U.S. that has opened its own dedicated academic campus in Israel, has completely rejected all calls to close it and remains committed to it."

"Anti-Semitism is on the rise all over the world, as a result of the global economic crisis, a waking up of immigrants and a sense of instability, expressed in the hatred of the other and extreme nationalism, especially in Europe and North America," explains Dr. Charles Asher Small, who heads The Institute for Global Anti-Semitism and Policy, which began operating in 2006 at Yale University.

"Political discourse has changed and we are living in a charged reality. Israel has become a political weapon by Republicans and Democrats from different positions, and there are anti-Semitic manifestations in Congress that are being ignored. This is an unthinkable appointment.

"On the other hand, there is the radical right, who is a staunch supporter of Trump, and many of them are clearly anti-Semitic. What people should internalize is that history proves that anti-Semitism begins with Jews, but not only with them. ".

How about the parallel between the rise of anti-Semitism today and the rise of fascism in the 1930s?

"I don't like comparisons to the factors leading up to World War II, which is a problematic comparison. But there is certainly an alarming acceleration in the spread of anti-Semitism. The U.S. has an unhelpful, almost childish confrontation over who is to blame for it, the left or right, one party or another. You have to move on from there. "

Where is the responsibility of the universities?

"The academy has to deal with one question: How can an anti-democratic and anti-Western organization challenging freedom of speech take on a stage like campuses in favor of its activities? In the end, it's an extremist movement supported by the Muslim Brotherhood that has an impact on institutions Education, without anyone objecting to or supervising them.

"There can be no tools to deal with or enforce this. Everyone in this organization has to figure out what is behind them, ask their ideological sources and how they treat women, homosexuals, sectoral or national groups like the Kurds. Is Syria genocidal and everyone is busy in Israel? It's ridiculous!"

dudic@israelhayom.co.il