On October 7, 2023, the world watched in horror as Hamas terrorists brutalized and murdered 1,400 innocent people in Israel, the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. In the subsequent weeks, Jews around the world have been appalled as students on college campuses across America have come out to support a terrorist organization. In the name of free speech, elite higher-ed institutions have twisted their values so that inclusivity, liberalism, open-mindedness, and academic integrity have lost all meaning. The American commitment to diversity of thought, particularly in academia, remains ever crucial and admirable. Yet events on college campuses since October 7^th indicate that academic institutions aren’t interested in advocating for basic human morality.

In the name of free speech, elite higher-ed institutions have twisted their values so that inclusivity, liberalism, open-mindedness, and academic integrity have lost all meaning.

Hamas presently holds 229 innocent citizens of various nationalities (including babies, the elderly, and the disabled) hostage in the Gaza Strip, while targeting millions more Israeli civilians with daily barrages of rockets. There could be no rationale for murdering babies, burning corpses, and raping women. There is no excuse for the savagery Hamas has committed. Anyone who advocates for human rights must unilaterally condemn it.

But that is not happening on college campuses. On the contrary, on October 30, over 100 professors at Columbia University signed a letter in support of the students who defended Hamas’s actions on October 7^th. In this letter, Ivy League professors call to “recontextualize” the October 7^th massacre as a response to an “occupying power.” By doing so, colleges are justifying atrocities and giving Hamas permission to murder and kidnap anyone in the world who does not fit their worldview. The neglect of university administrations to condemn Hamas and its supporters is an abject moral failure.

For context, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, and forcibly evicted every Jewish resident living there. Hamas, an internationally declared terrorist organization, has maintained violent control and spends its $2 billion yearly budget, including international humanitarian aid, on building its militia instead of allocating it for the betterment of the Palestinian people. Hamas uses its own civilians as human shields to protect rocket launch pads and weapons stores in schools and hospitals. Such actions show that Hamas has no interest in protecting Palestinian civilians.

Academic integrity, complexity, and critical thinking have lost their place on college campuses, as revisionist history is espoused in an alternate universe where virtually all historical records showing a constant Jewish presence in Israel are being neglected by a growing community of pseudointellectual echo chambers. Young people have not invented this behavior on their own; they are mimicking the attitudes of those above them. It is unconscionable for university professors to declare the October 7th massacre as “awesome” (Columbia University’s Joseph Massad), “extraordinary” (Yale University’s Zareena Grewal), and to call Jewish students “colonizers” while ridiculing the Holocaust (an unidentified Stanford University instructor) without being reprimanded. Graduate Student Instructors who offered students extra credit for attending a pro-Palestine rally should have been immediately reprimanded instead of protected by UC Berkeley. Students have bought into Hamas’ propaganda that dehumanizes Jews and serves as justification for their murder.

As leading institutions of forward-thinking learning and leadership, colleges have utterly failed to enforce their commitments tosafety and inclusion, which is leading to greater antisemitism. Since October 7^th, Jewish students have been assaulted and harassed at Tulane and George Washington Universities. At Georgia Tech University, a Jewish fraternity house was vandalized. At Cooper Union, Jewish students were forced to hide in a library after being cornered by pro-Palestinian protestors. At a Columbia University vigil for the victims of the massacre in Israel, Jewish students mourning a murdered friend were told “you deserve this.” This Sunday, students at Cornell University wrote on an online discussion board, “If you see a Jewish ‘person’ on campus follow them home and slit their throat.”

There is nothing inclusive and open-to-debate about such morally reprehensible behavior. Most alarming in these incidents of outright violence against Jews is a widespread inaction against their perpetrators, a trend practiced by nearly every American university. There is a direct correlation between universities’ weak response to anti-Zionist protests and the increase in swastikas being drawn on walls.

If we are to begin to confront this looming, deadly problem, higher-ed administrators must awaken to a simple truth: it is possible to be pro-Israel, pro-Palestine, and pro-human rights at the same time. But good and evil are always binary, and supporting human rights must mean supporting Israel and Palestinian civilians – against Hamas. It seems so simple – as Israel supported the United States after September 11, American universities should stand by Israel after the country experienced this brutal act of terrorism.

American colleges and universities, don’t fool yourself that this issue is just about Israel. Behavior of this kind has in the past and will again lead to enormous tragedies in the future. Nazi Germany started by hating the Jews and became the biggest threat to global freedom the modern world has known. Hamas’s charter plainly calls for the genocide of all Jewish people. Without treatment, Hamas will become the next global threat. They have shown us this by indiscriminately killing and kidnapping civilians of over 20 nationalities, including Muslims. It is too late to save the staggering 9,000 innocent dead in Israel and Gaza because of the actions of a brutal terrorist organization. It is not too late to help save the futures of their children, and those of America’s children as well.

To leaders of colleges and universities: in the name of human rights and global liberal freedom—unequivocally condemn Hamas. Anything short of this will ultimately empower terrorism and extremism. Punish antisemitism, amongst students and staff, no differently than all forms of bigotry. Finally, teach about antisemitism, and the historical context of the world that is being ever minimized in favor of unverified 8 second internet videos. It is critical that you do so to protect our future as a free world.

Inbar Brand is a junior at Columbia University studying Economics and Political Science. She recently studied Philosophy and Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University as part of the International Dual BA program with Columbia. Inbar is Israeli-American, and lived in Israel for three years.

Noam Woldenberg is a freshman at Columbia College studying Political Science and Film. Noam also studied the Jewish diaspora and the history of Zionism at The Kivunim Institute in Jerusalem.

How can highly educated people in the finest universities justify the pogrom of October 7? How can rational individuals in prominent positions ignore history, facts and truth? The answer is ideology.

Ideology is an idea or way of thinking that justifies actions regardless of the course of events.  An ideologue holds fast to a political viewpoint, no matter how vile, if it justifies an initial premise, even if that premise is demonstrably false.

If your ideology is such that you believe that America and Europe have been, and still are, racist constructs and imperial powers that seek domination, then you will use any means possible, including lies and distortion, in your self-righteous quest to undermine them. And if you believe that Israel is their ally or agent in the Middle East, a colonial implant imposing itself on a hapless people, then you can call a pogrom a response to oppression and a death cult like Hamas a liberation movement.

In order to ignore or lie about historical fact, educated people need to have an overarching view of the world, which used to be called ideology. It’s now often referred to as narrative, a term I actually prefer. Ideology at least has an internal consistency and coherent thought process. Communism and fascism are ideologies. They have been proven to be destructive and tyrannical, but at least they had a philosophical base. The term “narrative” suits the current situation better because it evokes the notion of fiction or storytelling rather than philosophy or theory.

The current narrative of western civilization as irredeemably wicked is hypocritical and demonstrably false. European nations were colonizers in the past but no longer are. Societies change. But today’s critics refuse to recognize facts that stare them in the face. Israel is an indigenous people returning to its ancestral homeland after 2,000 years of living at the mercy of other nations that eventually turned on them as scapegoats for whatever went wrong in their societies.

The false narrative claims that Israel is a colonizer. It’s true that many Jews emigrated to Palestine from then-colonial powers, but they did so via Auschwitz. It’s a verifiable fact that the early Zionists returned to their indigenous land not to exploit it or take advantage of any Arabs who lived there, but to develop it, and to live with the Arabs in peace. Indeed, many of the Arabs who call themselves “Palestinians” today came into the land from neighbouring countries at around the same time as the early Zionists did, hoping to benefit from the agricultural developments and increased commerce that the Jews were generating.

To promote the narrative of the evil West and its partner in crime, Israel, you must stand with terrorists and countries that are corrupt and undemocratic, where human rights do not exist and the individual has no right to express an opinion. But to lie and distort for a cause or ideology is intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt.

Democracies are admittedly imperfect, but if they are undermined and uprooted, these pseudo-intellectuals would have to live in illiberal societies that have no tolerance for dissenting opinions. If they were to live under Hamas or the PA or any of the other dysfunctional Arab countries they would likely be imprisoned or executed if they dissented. It is easy to pontificate from afar about injustice elsewhere but they clearly do not know the history of the Middle East or, indeed, world history.

Let us not forget that the current narrative is, for many, a convenient cover for antisemitism, the longest hatred, the unfilterable virus. It has been termed a form of elder abuse: We gave birth to Christianity and Islam, and they turned on us. In any event, we need to treat with contempt the bigots masquerading as human rights activists. If they love the dispossessed, let them search for the true oppressors.

If they love the dispossessed, let them search for the true oppressors.

For a thousand years, Jews were hated for their religion, then the Nazis hated Jews for their ethnicity or bloodlines, and now they are hated for their state. The common theme is hatred in whatever guise.

In a world with 82 Christian-majority nations and 56 Muslim-majority ones, it appears that one Jewish state is one too many. That is antisemitism and it needs to be called out. We cannot call our societies civilized until we rid ourselves of this toxic and destructive force.

I was struck by the fact that diaspora Jews in Israel were understandably lining up at Ben Gurion airport anxious to leave for the safety of home after the October 7 pogrom. But Israelis abroad were lining up to board planes in order to go home to fight for their country.

Therein lies the hope: The Jewish ghetto mentality is dead. It died in the death camps of Europe. Long live the proud Israeli who understands that the answer to lies, hatred, antisemitism and false narratives is to live and to fight for self-preservation and for the truth.

Dr. Paul Socken is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and founder of the Jewish Studies program at the University of Waterloo.

Discrimination against Jewish students and hate and harassment directed at them is rife at American universities and has grown dramatically in the last month since the Hamas massacres in pervasiveness and intensity. Intimidation, incitement of bigotry, and exclusion are widespread and profoundly harmful to Jewish students, faculty, and staff.  

As the Dean of Berkeley Law School, Erwin Chemerinsky, recently wrote in The Los Angeles Times, “I call on my fellow university administrators to speak out and denounce the celebrations of Hamas and the blatant antisemitism that is being voiced.”

He noted the massive increase in antisemitism at UC Berkeley in the last few weeks, and how disturbing, harmful and hateful it is and he noted that “There has been enough silence and enough tolerance of antisemitism on college campuses.”

UC Berkeley does not listen to and respect its Jewish faculty despite their pleas for support and solidarity. It is largely silent and complicit.

UC Berkeley, however, does not listen to and respect its Jewish faculty despite their pleas for support and solidarity. It is largely silent and complicit. Mostly, it provides excuses for inaction that are not plausible and that frankly, insult our intelligence – moral, emotional, and analytical. 

Just as Jewish students have reflected in the Jewish Journal on their experiences of harassment and abuse at UC Berkeley and the university’s failure to protect them, as a faculty member, I too share their experience. 

Like the students interviewed in the Jewish Journal I find the administration’s response unethical, callous, indifferent, and endangering my rights and welfare and the rights and welfare of Jewish students. 

It is intolerable personally and professionally. 

The passivity of UC Berkeley’s current leadership in the face of rising antisemitism is increasing the marginalization and distress of our university’s Jewish community, and sustaining and deepening the campus culture that enables abuse, harassment and discrimination against Jewish students and faculty. 

It must stop. 

Like Harvard, Columbia, and University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley has failed its Jewish students but unlike those universities it has not issued a corrective plan of action to repair its systemic exclusion of Jewish students, faculty and staff from adequate civil and human rights protections. Jewish students, faculty and staff have been marginalized, devalued, belittled and dehumanized at UC Berkeley with ferocity because of their Jewish identity. 

As Dean Chemerinsky has noted, Berkeley is not unique in having a campus culture where Jews are routinely vilified. It is distressingly typical of universities across the country, including the UC system and UCLA. 

I write this despite not having the protections of tenure. Many Jewish faculty are in a similar position as I am but, understandably, fear to speak out because of the possibility of retaliation and because after years of speaking out and being met with rejection and indifference, they wonder of its utility.

I never imagined when accepting a job at UC Berkeley that I would fear for my freedom, welfare and safety. 

I never imagined when accepting a job at UC Berkeley that I would fear for my freedom, welfare and safety. That I would need to sometimes hide my identity, downplay, disguise and silence it so as not to be subject to abuse; hate speech, conspiracy theories, demeaning and denigrating comments about my religion, culture, ethnic and racial background, and justification for me and other Jews to be attacked, raped, tortured, and murdered because we are Jews.  

UC Berkeley speaks a lot about championing diversity, equity, equality, inclusion and belonging. But it systematically fails to include Jews in a meaningful way in that purported promise and commitment. It excludes me. Our Jewish faculty, students, and staff are not safe, included, welcomed and respected at UC Berkeley.  

When I taught at George Washington University for two years attacks on Jewish students were growing. Now they have reached a fever pitch there as they have here. There, as at Berkeley, when I reached out to the administration I was either outright ignored or met with indifference. 

My Jewish students and their allies at George Washington University had similar experiences and spoke to me about how the university did not protect them. Now that anti-Jewish racism has been normalized at UC Berkeley and other universities across the country it will be very hard to effectively address the hatred and discrimination universities have enabled to grow and fester for so long. 

The prejudice, discrimination, abuse, and hate against Jewish people are deeply rooted both in American society and specifically, on our college campuses. UC Berkeley had better start rooting them out and create a well-resourced, substantive plan of corrective action in partnership and with the consultation of Jewish students, faculty, and staff to repair a broken campus culture that discriminates against Jews, threatens and marginalizes us.  

Every university within the UC system should take responsibility for ensuring the safety, welfare, equity, equality, and freedom from discrimination and harassment of its Jewish students, faculty, and staff. 

Now.

Noam Schimmel is a Lecturer in International and Area Studies at University of California, Berkeley

When Jews scrolled through their phones on October 7, we saw such horrific videos of hate that some of us wished we could simply press a magic button and permanently erase those atrocities from our memories. 

The first thought that ran through my mind was, “How can such evil exist in the world?” The second thought was, “Do I post about this?”

I have been a social media influencer for the past 12 years, mostly posting about fashion, mental health, and being your most authentic self, and I proudly address being Jewish in many of my posts. The name on my Instagram handle even includes my Hebrew name, Chaya, in it. Yet, I’ve often avoided posting about news related to Israel because I was always aware of the heated and hostile nature of social media posts and comments against the world’s only Jewish state. 

My parents fled from Iran during the 1979 revolution because it wasn’t safe to exist there as Jews. From childhood, I grew up engrained with a simple lesson: There are people and places in this world that don’t like Jews. 

But that was then. And this is now. We have progressed so much as mankind. Things should be different, no?

Many of my 79,600 followers (down from 81,000 since I began posting about Israel) are not Jewish. I have always been conscious about that when sharing anything about Jews on my page, making sure whatever message I’m relaying can universally relate to people of all different backgrounds. I vowed to continue with that awareness when posting about Israel.  

My first post in response to October 7 was one explaining to my non-Jewish followers how what was happening in Israel was not only terrifying for Israelis, but for every Jew around the world. Most Jews quickly understood that Israel’s response to Hamas’ barbarism would immediately result in an exponential increase in antisemitism. 

And while I’ve always been proud to call my Instagram page a safe space filled with love and positive comments from followers, I noticed how quickly that changed the moment I publicly mentioned Israel. Comments included, “I hope you all burn in hell” “You’re disgusting,” and “Ew, I didn’t know you were Jewish — UNFOLLOW” (a shout out to the algorithm on that last one for finally boosting my post to all my followers).

No matter how compassionate, universally welcoming, or politically correct I strived to be with every word I typed and every post I wrote, I realized that for many who didn’t know me personally, it didn’t matter. The fact that I was Jewish or cared about Israel was enough to make me a villain.

No matter how compassionate, universally welcoming, or politically correct I strived to be with every word I typed and every post I wrote, I realized that for many who didn’t know me personally, it didn’t matter. The fact that I was Jewish or cared about Israel was enough to make me a villain.

There was one comment in particular that stood out. One morning, a young woman blasted my notifications with angry comments on every single one of my Israel posts. In one comment, she claimed that Israel and the Jewish people are the “next coming of Hitler and the Holocaust.” 

How can someone spew such hateful words? I wondered who this person was, so I clicked on her Instagram page. I want to describe her to readers: If there was ever a unicorn in human form, she was it. This young, bubbly woman posted photos of herself wearing unique rainbow outfits and sporting hot- pink bubblegum hair. 

On the surface, she seemed like someone whom I could have called a friend, given my own passion for rainbows and everything colorful. Scrolling through her Instagram, I was saddened to imagine that at possibly any other time, she and I may have bonded. But that would have meant I would have had to deny my entire being as a Jew. And now, because she had learned I am Jewish, I was persona non grata in her otherwise sparkly eyes. 

Right now, Diaspora Jews are in living in two alarming worlds. One, the physical world, includes feeling terrified to walk down Pico Boulevard to pick up food from our favorite Kosher restaurant, for example. The second, the one more immediate, more accessible, and sometimes even more volatile fear—is the social media world.

It’s disheartening to see just how much hate can exist in both worlds. But despite the anger, the hate and the fear, I know that I, and all Jews around the world are speaking up louder than ever before because we are the Jewish people and we will NEVER let hate defeat us.

May Hashem grant us a swift victory against all those who want to tear us down. May the world soon come to honor us, instead of hate us, for simply being Jewish, and may we one day read a headline that states, “It’s Finally Safe to be a Jewish Influencer on the Internet.”

Elaine Chaya is a writer, speaker, and digital content creator who talks about societal pressures and empowers people to authentically be themselves. Find her on Instagram @elainechaya