Jewish students protesting at Columbia University claim that their pro-Palestinian activism is motivated by their faith rather than by reason of religion.
On Tuesday, a group of Jewish student activists met with members of the United States Congress in Washington, DC, to tell their stories, which they say have been left out of mainstream narratives about anti-Semitism on college campuses.
Columbia University in New York became a hot button as student protests against Israel’s occupation of Gaza last year dominated the nation.
One of the first student encampments ever to be built in the country was erected at the university to demand that all investments in companies that were involved in human rights abuses were stopped. Shortly after the tents started popping up, the campus also witnessed some of the first mass arrests of student protesters in the Palestinian solidarity movement.
Due to its visibility, President Donald Trump’s efforts to combat what he called “illegal protests” and campus anti-Semitism have focused on Columbia.
Mahmoud Khalil, a student from Columbia, became the first student activist to be detained by the Trump administration and facing deportation earlier this year.
Tuesday’s delegation of Jewish students came to Congress to push the case that Khalil and others like him should never have been detained in their name. At least 17 Democratic members of the Senate and the House of Representatives met with them.
Al Jazeera spoke with a number of students who took part in the advocacy organization’s Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Action’s lobbying day. Here are some of their stories:
Tali Beckwith-Cohen
Tali Beckwith-Cohen, a history major from upstate New York, claimed she was raised in a community where Zionism was common. She remembers being told “myths” about Palestine as “a land without a people for a people without a land”: a slogan used to justify the establishment of Israel.
Beckwith-Cohen claimed that her beliefs were challenged as she began to study and interact with Palestinians.
She eventually took up Palestinian rights activism after the Gaza War started in October 2023.
Human rights groups and United Nations experts have found evidence that Israel’s tactics in Gaza are “consistent with genocide”. So far in the conflict, more than 52 Palestinians have died.
How can I reconcile these values I hold dear to Zionism with what I have for a long time, including this sensation of discomfort, wrestling, and cognitive dissonance? Beckwith-Cohen told Al Jazeera.
“We are witnessing the disregard for human life, for children, for hospitals, and for schools,” the statement read. I had to make a decision because of it.
She stressed that the protests were spaces of solidarity, where students of all backgrounds were committed to the idea that their safety is intertwined.
According to Beckwith-Cohen, “there is so much in the media narrative about what is happening on Columbia campus that is just disingenuous and so untrue.”
“So we’re here today to inform our Congresspeople that what we’re seeing on campus is undoubtedly an authoritarian, fascist crackdown on all dissent, not just students peacefully calling for the end of the genocide,” we said.
Carly Shaffer
Some of Carly Shaffer’s fellow students questioned her Judaism when she expressed concern for the Israeli-led escalation in Gaza during a university WhatsApp conversation.
Out of the hundreds of people on the chat, she remembers that Khalil – the activist arrested for deportation – was the only person who contacted her directly to reject the comments she was subjected to.
She came to know Khalil as the “embodiment” of someone who was concerned for the safety of all students on campus as she got to know him.
Shaffer claimed to be “horrified” and “sick” when Khalil was detained. Her discomfort was then compounded when she saw that the Trump White House celebrated his detention on social media with the phrase “Shalom, Mahmoud” – a Jewish greeting repurposed as a taunt.
Shaffer, who is pursuing a master’s degree in social policy and human rights, was born and raised in a low-income household by a single mother.
She claimed that her Jewish faith teaches her to speak out against injustice, even in Palestine.
“The Columbia protest movement, it’s a movement of love. It’s a demonstration of unity, Shaffer said. Additionally, Jewish students play a significant role in this movement.
She said that, when Jewish student protesters held religious events on campus, their peers from the encampment joined them and inquired about their traditions.
According to Shaffer, “These are the same students who are being called anti-Semites, who are going out of their way to learn about Passover and celebrate a Jewish holiday with their Jewish friends.”
She decried the “weaponization of anti-Semitism,” claiming that it is being used to silence discussions about Israeli atrocities in Gaza.
“Jewish students are being used as pawns in Trump’s political agenda”, she said. The use of anti-Semitism to demonize this movement is a threat to everyone, not just Jews, but also everyone. In order to correct this false narrative, it is crucial for us as Jews to do so.
Sarah Borus
Sarah Borus, a student at Barnard College, claimed she was raised in a “very Zionist community” and was arrested while the Columbia encampment was being investigated.
She felt it was important for Jewish students like herself to convey their experiences directly to the people in power in Washington, DC.
Borus told Al Jazeera, “We’re talking to members of Congress to share our stories with them that aren’t covered in mainstream news.”
Trump’s “mission” does not include safeguarding Jewish students. It is about using fears of anti-Semitism – because of the way that the Gaza solidarity encampment was portrayed last year – in order to target non-citizen student activists, in order to target academic freedom, free speech, and really put many, many people in danger”.
When Borus was questioned about the potential negative effects of her activism, she acknowledged that the current political climate had made her concerned.
She said, “I’m scared, but in the grand scheme of things, I’m proud of the choices I’ve made.” “I would not make any different ones, and I am willing to take on the risks, if that’s what must be done”.
Shay Orentlicher
Shay Orentlicher has no regrets about participating in Columbia University’s encampments, despite the administrative and political crackdowns.
Christian nationalists are attempting to redefine Judaism in a way that best fits their political objectives, according to Orentlicher, who uses the pronoun “they.”
But according to Orentlicher, Palestinians’ protests reflect both their religious and secular values. And Orentlicher believes that Columbia’s demonstrations have helped raise awareness nationwide.
We have changed the public discourse in a really significant way, Orentlicher said, “despite the oppression we have experienced, despite the suffering, and despite the despair of worrying that we have not done enough to stop the genocide,” to stand up for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
“As well, we’ve created a truly beautiful community. And I don’t regret what I did at all. Nothing would I change.
Raphie
Raphie said he was “very Zionist” growing up, and that he only knew his first name. But as he learned more about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, he felt he had been deceived.
He said, “The Jewish elementary school I attended, for example, had a map of Israel, and it had no Gaza or West Bank on it.”
I was like, “Wait, I was lied to,” I thought when I saw the actual map of the occupied territories. And that kind of made me go on this whole journey of exploring what Zionism is, what occupation is, what settler colonialism is”.
Raphie, a student of mathematics, said he felt a “personal responsibility to fight for what is right” because of the war in Gaza, the protests on campus, and the backlash the protesters faced on campus.
According to his observations, the demonstrations were welcoming but not anti-Semitic. What was anti-Semitic, he said, was the fact that the university targeted Jewish student protesters for their political views.
Raphie, one of the students, claimed Columbia refused to grant permission for Jewish Voice for Peace students to hold religious celebrations in public spaces. That rejection was characterized as discriminatory, according to them.
The university did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment by the time of publication.
Raphie also distinguished between being uneasy about controversial ideas from being safe in the real world.
“New viewpoints, new perspectives are typical in college,” says the professor. That’s how I became more pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist”, he said. When I first encountered anti-Zionist viewpoints, I initially felt uneasy, but over time I came to understand them. That is typical.
Raphie stressed that the real suffering is happening in Gaza.
Source: Aljazeera
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