We Need Tactical Training to Combat Campus Antisemitism

In the past few weeks, I have visited numerous college campuses and watched the antisemitic madness grow. I have also spoken to many groups about how the progressive ideologies that have been ascendant in higher education have left campuses and have permeated the mainstream, now heavily influencing the media, corporate culture, and many facets of our nation’s government. Jewish students are now under extreme threat and duress.

In response, various donors, groups, professors, and leaders have spoken out against this Jew hatred. Most recently, major Columbia donor Robert Kraft suspended his giving. And Jewish communal organizations like the American Jewish Committee have been calling on universities and their leaders to keep Jewish students safe on their campuses. As AJC CEO Ted Deutch said: “We will not accept conditions that are so fraught for Jewish students that they rightfully fear attending classes or going to the library on campus.”

But even with all this valuable pushback and more, the critically important localized responses have been remarkably weak, poorly coordinated, and ineffective. What we need now is on-the-ground tactical training for Jewish student activists and leaders. This strategy has been neglected and is something that must be corrected if the Jewish community is going to push back against this madness and protect college students.

I share this idea now because I am regularly asked what can be done to address the dangerous post-October 7 environment on many campuses as many have noticed that the elite level responses and attempts to help put an end of the violence and intimidation are simply not working in the short run, and the dangers are increasing as schools cancel classes, change finals, and cancel graduation ceremonies. Fortunately, there are some concrete and powerful steps that the Jewish community can take on the campus or local levels that can complement the various legal and Title VI claims that are mounting along with varied lobbying attempts.

Immediately, the many Jewish institutions that have established campus outreach initiatives or programs to address antisemitism need to coordinate and collaborate effectively. Jewish students do not need or want numerous online pages and “helpful” literature or guides. There is constant talk of various top-heavy initiatives and education to teach about the history of Jews, as well as Jewish leaders and organizations releasing statements about campus troubles or debating narrow-minded, antisemites on major mass media.

But none of this is effective—not if we want to help students on campus right now.

Students report to me that while they appreciate the various efforts, they remain confused about how the organized community’s actions and statements asking for help and intervention will actually change anything for them. For weeks if not months, Jewish students have been worried about the calls for their extermination and most recently, many feel they can no longer safely set foot on their own campuses.

In reality, Jewish students want and need on-the-ground support, real legal and practical guidance, and the reassuring conviction that they are not alone. Despite not being widely seen in the public, calls for Jewish harm are widespread and known to Jewish students. A now former Columbia student was expelled after a video surfaced showing this student stating, “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.” Sadly, students also know that he is far from being the only one harboring such sentiments.

Since October 7, Jewish students have been managing calls for their death and various other threats along with numerous instances of antisemitism from many administrators and professors in dining halls, dorms, and even classrooms. Far too many Jewish students have been assaulted and attacked; they understandably feel unsafe. With good reason, Jewish students at Columbia were told by Rabbi Elie Buechler, Director of the Orthodox Union-Jewish Learning Initiative on campus, to “return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved.”

But as sound as his advice may have been, the many students who have stayed on campus have too often been left to fend for themselves. It is critical that students and collegiate Jewish communities have the tools and backing to manage this crisis. Unfortunately, off-campus Jewish groups are not focused on supporting the students directly. This needs to change.

It is critical that students and collegiate Jewish communities have the tools and backing to manage this crisis.

They can help students in many ways. As one example, students need legal counsel and professional and practical help to know that their rights and legal protections are intact. They need the proper support and services to hold others who are committing hate crimes against them accountable.

A second critical area of need now involves improving the Jewish community’s media performance and messaging. Tragically, the Jewish community has lost control over the narrative. The false narrative that Israel is committing genocide is being disseminated at too many campuses. These same players also work to delegitimize the Jewish state’s right to exist.  Campus Jewish community leaders would benefit from media training along with preparation on conflict diffusion and crowd management tactics.

Over the years, I have experienced absolutely unhinged student protestors in my face, spitting at me, screaming, and calling me a host of things from a rapist to a genocidal maniac; some even threatened to murder my children. I have learned how to react and not to give them the rise that they seek.

Regrettably, we now need to train our Jewish community leaders and our students to contend with similarly hate-filled crowds. Jewish students need to take control of the narrative and present well in print, online, in public actions, and protests. While one of the most effective ways to push back and change the narrative. The Jewish campus leaders need clear talking points and must know how to respond to lies and misinformation. We need to train the students and leaders to debate in uncomfortable situations and to demonstrate that Israel has the right to exist and that it is not committing genocide. This is a ground game and rather than debating progressive ideologues on podcasts and an TV, the Jewish community must support the students and community organizations that are on the front lines of this tragedy.

A powerful and instructive video at UCLA shows a student handling a purported professor who appears unhinged and maniacal, incapable of reasoned thought and dialogue. The student however is calm, reasonable, and holds the professor accountable for her claims that Israel has been committing genocide. The professor cannot handle the student’s impeccable logic and the video shows her becoming increasingly agitated, angry, and frustrated, eventually screaming for help because she was not able to answer basic questions about what she was protesting.

And then there’s the matter of local support. Our nation’s colleges and universities are not isolated. Schools like Columbia, Northwestern, and the University of Pennsylvania that have seen incredible hate are embedded in areas with large Jewish populations. Local Jewish communities need to come to campus and show support for the Jewish students. This does not mean being aggressive or behaving in ways that are unethical or dangerous. But it does mean making it known to both Jewish students and the campus communities at large that Jews are here to support one another. I know that the experience of solidarity when hundreds of pro-Israel supporters recently showed up outside Columbia’s gates was deeply appreciated and affirming to many students last week.

Without question, the Jewish community has every right to be outraged, scared and anxious since October 7th. But the time for shock and confusion is over. Truths have been revealed and we know just how deep the antisemitic rot is in our institutions of higher education. It is now time to fight this madness on the ground and not only in the halls of Congress, the national mass media, and alumni associations. It is time to change tactics and equip Jews on campus and in the surrounding communities with the requisite tools and training. Certainly, Jewish communal actions and impending federal intervention will help as will the avalanche of litigation coming. But Jewish students need support immediately and with the right help, can be more knowledgeable, mobilized, organized, competent and effective.

Truths have been revealed and we know just how deep the antisemitic rot is in our institutions of higher education.

With so many school terms ending in the next few weeks, Jewish students will have a moment of peace and a second to pause. But the Jewish community should see the summer break as an opportunity to prepare for the long run. The fall term may be quieter than the spring, but there is no reason not to prepare for the worst and help train our younger Jewish community members in how to manage the far too frequent calls for their destruction.

Organizations can and should work on top level change and reform. But they cannot continue to overlook the ground game that students are facing. The time is now for the Jewish community to step up and provide this care. For we as Jews are commanded (Shavuot 39a) to care for our own community as we are all interconnected, share a linked fate, and must be prepared to help each other. Or as Hillel famously commented (in part): “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if not now, when?”

Samuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.