Ever since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7th, there have been 1,574 total reported antisemitic incidents on college campuses. That is a 700% increase compared to last year. Looking beyond college campuses, a study done by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) shows that 1.9 billion people in the world harbor antisemitic attitudes, with 25% of them between the ages of 18 and 34. Another study done by ADL stated that “73% of Jewish college students surveyed have experienced or witnessed some form of antisemitism since the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year alone.” Colleges in America should foster a positive environment that instills excitement in all rising high schoolers. However, as a sophomore at a Jewish high school, who is about to enter the steadfast period of college applications, hearing about the statistics of the increased antisemitism on campuses truly scares me.
With the anti-Israel, antisemitic encampments and protests that have taken over many college campuses, it’s almost impossible to find a campus where Israelis, let alone Jews, can feel safe. What disturbs me most is that these protests have morphed into the repetition of classic antisemitic acts, not just targeting Israel and Israeli policies, but targeting Jewish students. The antisemitic chants at every protest on the campuses, such as “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” call for a Palestinian state that extends from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea — effectively erasing and destroying the entire Jewish state.
Benjamin Zadok, a rising Jewish sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin states that, “Being on campus can feel like a threatening environment when the anti-Israel protests are happening.” Benjamin continues on to explain that he sees “first hand the Jew hatred and false information that is being perpetrated. Protesters actively call for the destruction of Israel and for intifada.” Benjamin also includes that he has been “personally pushed and shoved aggressively by people for supporting Israel during the protests and has also been told to “go back to Germany” by many of them.
Knowing that there are thousands of people in the world who are hungry for the state of your religion to be destroyed and wiped out is scary and heartbreaking. It makes me think of the Holocaust survivors who endured the agonizing concentration camps where six million Jews were killed, just to witness history repeat itself after Oct. 7th. It makes me think of the innocent lives taken by Hamas, that instead of getting justice, are being protested against at colleges that people just like them could end up in. I hope that by the time I get to college, our world will become a less hateful place, and I won’t be a part of that 73% of kids who experience antisemitism on my campus. Past that, I pray that everyone worldwide will begin to look past people’s religion or beliefs and start valuing them based on who they are and the morals they carry.
