Jewish students continue to fear for their safety on college campuses across the United States as tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas rise in week four, with defacements, protests and calls to eradicate the State of Israel emerging in several fronts.
A Jewish student at George Washington University warns that divisive misinformation is fueling unrest and that the current cultural climate of anti-Semitism is alarmingly reminiscent of past persecutions.
“This has intimidated Jewish students. It has affected the dialogue on campus to the point that it infiltrates the classroom and causes students like me to have to change the way we live,” Sabrina Soffer told FOX News on Saturday.
“Last week my mom told me from California… not to leave the house with my Jewish star. That scares. Now I use one where I have to open it, and this one was used by the Jews during the Spanish Inquisition. This is the reality that Jewish students face today, Jews face all over the world, in countries from the Middle East to Europe to the United States, the land of freedom, human rights and good values… And now “These values have been distorted.”
Soffer said there should be “no tolerance for” displays of anti-Semitism, adding that Jewish students at his school have not been spared from the chaos.
Jewish students fear for their safety on US college campuses. Getty Images/iStockphoto
“My friends have been spat on. They have been laughed at for having lost relatives in Israel and their teachers are silent,” she stated.
“At the fraternity house, there were students who came up and started trying to hit their brothers with flag poles,” he continued. “Yesterday, just before Shabbat, the GW Hillel building was vandalized and our hostage signs were removed. “Last Tuesday, there were screenings at the Gelman Library with euphemisms for destroying the State of Israel and its Jews and celebrating mass murder.”
Projections displayed in the library include expressions “glory to our martyrs” and “Free Palestine from the river to the sea.”
The administration has been supportive through communications and has agreed to meet with students, he said.
Responding to calls to expel the students behind the screenings, the university said in a statement that the “unauthorized” posts “violated university policy, and leadership intervened to ensure these screenings were removed.”
“The statements of these people do not in any way reflect the opinions of the university. “We are reviewing this incident and will take appropriate action regarding the individuals involved in accordance with university policies,” GWU wrote.
GWU President Dr. Ellen Granberg also condemned the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, writing in an Oct. 11 press release: “The extent of this brutal violence and staggering loss of innocent life has continued to come to light. light, and I am horrified and heartbroken,” adding: “In very clear terms, I condemn these acts of terrorism.”
Granberg also called for “uniting us” during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
However, Soffer said Jewish students at other universities have not been as fortunate to witness support from administrators.
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn