OPINION: A year after 7 October – when the hatred on campus unmasked itself
Fear is silencing Jewish voices on campus amid rallying cries for the death of our people
In September 2023, Jewish students across Europe, from Lisbon to Warsaw, could still navigate their university lives, though never without difficulty. Wearing a kippah, speaking Hebrew or displaying a Magen David was never without risk. There was always a murmur, a glance, an occasional spit, or a shout of “Free Palestine!” but there was still space to embrace our Jewish identity, even if that space was sometimes small and fragile.
Then came 7 October, the darkest day for Jews since the Shoah. Pro-Palestinian, or rather anti-Israel, student protesters, emboldened by months of unchecked hate incitement, declared this day a “revolution,” celebrating the massacre of 1,200 Israeli civilians as if it were some twisted victory. What had once been a subtle undercurrent of hatred suddenly became impossible to ignore. This was not a call for peace or justice. This was not activism. It was, and is, pure hatred that had been festering for far too long, just waiting for the moment to erupt.
On that Saturday morning, when Israeli families were still being slaughtered and their houses were being invaded by terrorists, social media pages of student groups were already celebrating the victory of the so-called “Palestinian resistance”. The cruelty of Hamas’ hybrid psychological warfare could hardly be surpassed. By live-streaming their crimes to the world, every Jewish person, no matter where they were, should know: we were all a target.
For a year now, we’ve seen this hatred on full display. Under the guise of “pro-Palestinian activism”, demonstrations – often referred to as the “Student Intifada” – have spread across Europe. But let’s be clear: this is not a movement of liberation; it is a movement fuelled by hatred. The slogan “From the river to the sea” echoes through our campuses and streets, not as a call for peace, but as a demand for the elimination of an entire people. These rallies, far from being spontaneous outcries for justice, are frequently funded and orchestrated by foreign actors like Qatar, whose well-documented ties to Hamas, a terrorist organisation recognised by the European Union and the United States, cannot be ignored.
Jewish students have been physically attacked, intimidated, and ostracised. In academic environments that pride themselves on inclusivity and the free exchange of ideas, Jewish voices are being silenced through fear and intimidation. For some, this could be “context-dependent”, but it is not. This is a matter of human rights and dignity. Jewish students feeling vulnerable, abandoned and unsafe in the very places that should foster their growth and development is not just morally unacceptable; it represents a fundamental failure of our academic institutions to protect the intellectual and physical well-being of all students.
No matter what, Jewish students and their allies across Europe have been on the forefront of the fight for democracy, security and against antisemitic hatred. Nevertheless, this is not a fight Jewish young people should dedicate all their lives to. Universities must do better. The silence of administrators and faculties in the face of rising antisemitism is as dangerous as the hate speech itself. By allowing this toxic atmosphere to persist, they are complicit in the erasure of Jewish identity from academic spaces. And make no mistake, this erasure has consequences far beyond the walls of the university. It feeds into a broader societal trend that normalises antisemitism, turning it into just another facet of political discourse, exploited by both far-right and far-left groups.
What we are witnessing on campuses is not grassroots activism for a better world – it is the legitimisation of violence and terrorism, where the celebration of Jewish death has become a rallying cry. The silence of political and academic leaders, who have stood idly by for a year now, is nothing less than complicity. It’s time to stop pretending otherwise. The mask has fallen.
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