According to a recent report in Yedioth Achronot, Jewish students from 15 US universities have transferred into Reichman University in Herzliya, Israel.
By Rachel Avraham
According to a recent report in Yedioth Achronot, the antisemitism on US college campuses has become horrific to the level that some Jewish students want out. This assessment is confirmed by the recently published antisemitism report put out by Tel Aviv University: “A study of how American student newspapers in Ivy League universities reported and opined about the conflict in Gaza raises concerns of double-standards applied against Israel and pro-Israel activists, and demonstrates how mainstreamed the denial of the right of the Jewish people to self-determination has become.” Eden Yadegar, 21, a senior at Columbia University, described to Yedioth Achronot the antisemitism at her school as “systemic” and “pervasive.”
“We still have students that are being singled out by professors,” she told ILTV. “We still have regular festivals of antisemitic hate… And we still have Jewish students being held to the ultimate litmus test, which is, while Jews are fine, Zionists are not, so you are only welcome here if you are willing to denounce your connection to the State of Israel, to your homeland.”
Shai Davidai, an Israeli assistant professor at Columbia Business School, told Yedioth Achronot he witnessed similar behavior as early as October 12, 2023—before Israel launched its ground invasion into Gaza: “It’s like they were starting to protest against an imagined war,” Davidai said. “They were really just celebrating the massacre.” He said he was stunned by the level of animosity: “When you see hate up close, and when you see it at the place that you’re supposed to feel most comfortable… it is just shocking,” Davidai said.
According to a recent study conducted by Brandeis University titled Jewish Students Experiences of Antisemitism at US Colleges, “One student at a university in the highest hostility tier said that their art history professor brought in a Palestinian speaker who held anti-Israel views for a session on “seeing art through an anti-racist lens.” According to the student, the professor prefaced the speaker’s introduction by discussing SJP’s protests on campus and then encouraged students enrolled in the course to attend. Another student, at a different campus in the highest hostility tier, reported that she dropped her Hebrew minor because the chair of the Middle Eastern studies department, in which the Hebrew program was located, was “integral” to the pro-Palestinian protests on their campus. According to the student, the faculty member frequently shared their personal views on social media, including their support for Hamas after October 7 and the killing of Israelis.”
The study by Brandeis University found that: “Nearly two thirds of Jewish students rated issues related to antisemitism, Israel, and the Israel-Hamas war as the most pressing issues on their campus, not only in the days and weeks after October 7, but also during the spring 2024 semester. Concerns about safety were common, leading many Jewish students to avoid conversations about Israel or even hide their Jewish identity. The Israel-Hamas war and the climate on campus had an especially profound impact on Jewish students’ social relationships, destroying friendships and widening divisions between Jewish and non-Jewish students. These conflicts also led Jewish students to feel excluded or ostracized from many of the student groups and clubs that are an important part of the undergraduate experience. Stress and anxiety related to the war and antisemitism also affected Jewish students’ academic pursuits, mostly due to interactions with other students as opposed to faculty members. Jewish students and campus professionals felt that university administrators were often ineffective in their response to the events of October 7 and Jewish students’ concerns about antisemitism.”
As a result of growing hostility on campus, some Jewish students are transferring to Reichman University in Herzliya, Israel, Yedioth Achronot reported. Reichman University is unique from other Israeli universities in the sense that it offers many English-language degree programs, which do not require proficiency in Hebrew as a prerequisite. The style of education at Reichman University is also more American than Israeli. According to Jonathan Davis, vice president for External Relations and head of the Raphael Recanati International School, Reichman University has recently accepted students from 15 U.S. universities, Yedioth Achronot added.
“A young woman showed me her transcript. Her transcript had all As and one B minus. What’s the B minus? Her professor was of a different ethnicity and of a different point of view, and gave her a B minus,” Davis recalled. “I, being the non-politically correct person that I am, crossed out the B minus and put in an A, and told her on the spot that she’s accepted to the graduate program that she wanted to go to, even without consulting the dean.”
Davis said Zionism is a core value at Reichman: “We’re not embarrassed to call ourselves Zionists.” Still, he said he hopes students are not forced to come because of fear. “I had a student from the University of Barcelona who was actually attacked in his dorm room,” Davis said. “I’ve met a whole bunch of people who have been impacted.”
Yadegar stressed that U.S. universities must take responsibility and act with moral clarity. “I think that the biggest policy change that needs to be made is that we need our leaders to actually hold people that propagate antisemitism, that violate university rules and policies, accountable for their actions,” she told Yedioth Achronot. “I’m purely talking about conduct. Students and faculty members that bar Jews from entering parts of campus, that close off gates, that harass Jewish and Israeli students need to be held accountable.”
Photo from Yagasi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichman_University#/media/File:IDC_Herzliya_School_of_Communications.JPG
