POV: The Rise of Antisemitism Is Real, and Should Not Be Ignored
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POV: The Rise of Antisemitism Is Real, and Should Not Be Ignored
“If nothing is done to confront it, it will only get worse—at BU and across the world”
Editor’s note: BU Today recently published two POV essays reflecting perspectives of Jewish and pro-Palestinian Boston University students. We received this additional POV that offers a slightly different perspective.
With the recent rise of antisemitism at colleges across America, my Jewish friends and I feel like we are living on a different campus than we did three months ago. The most visible example of this antisemitism at Boston University was when graffiti calling to “Free Palestine” was scrawled last month on a window at HIllel, the center for Jewish life on campus.
Antisemitism is not new to our community. For my entire childhood, my grandfather, who grew up poor on the streets of New York, warned me against outward displays of Judaism. “Grandpa,” I thought in response, “this is America, where freedom of religion is enshrined in our First Amendment. This is where half the world’s Jews live. What could go wrong?”
Yet seeing the rise of antisemitism both on and off of college campuses has proven him right. Swastikas have shown up on Jewish-owned businesses around the country, a Jewish activist was murdered near Los Angeles, and nearly three quarters of Jewish students on college campuses throughout the United States have experienced or witnessed antisemitism this school year alone. We are at a crisis point, and the reaction from the BU administration has fallen short of satisfactory.
As my fellow Jewish students and I have experienced and reported antisemitism at BU, the response has been neither swift nor decisive. Friends who wish to remain anonymous have told me that people on their group projects have refused to speak to them, that they have been pushed off the boards of their clubs, and have been called “colonizer” by their peers. Months later, some are still dealing with BU bureaucracy to address their concerns, while others have given up entirely.
The belated message from the administration following the initial October 7 attacks is emblematic of this. In an age when universities release statements following many catastrophes around the world, it took BU, a school with over 4,000 Jews, nearly a week to publicly offer any support to the Jewish student body following the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Why is a school with a Center for Antiracist Research so unable to confront bigotry against Jews? This impotence has only emboldened those on campus who seek to punish Jews for the actions of a state 5,000 miles away.
Despite these heinous acts, we have been lucky compared to some other campuses. We haven’t seen Jewish students locked in a library like at Cooper Union. Our president did not tell a Congressional committee, as Harvard President Claudine Gay did two weeks ago, that “it depends on context” when asked if calling for the genocide of Jews violated the school’s harrassment policies. There were no protests trying to drown out our celebration of Hanukkah like we saw at schools across the country. So in that respect, we have been lucky.
But I don’t feel lucky.
Being yelled at by a stranger on two separate occasions as I wear my kippah around Boston does not make me feel lucky. Hearing fellow students cry “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”—a slogan popularized by Hamas that calls for the destruction of the state of Israel, where many of my family and friends live—does not make me feel lucky. Seeing fellow members of my clubs perpetuate centuries-old antisemitic conspiracy theories by posting that the only reason the United States supports Israel is because of Jewish lobbying money does not make me feel lucky. Seeing posters of Israeli children and grandparents who were taken hostage by Hamas ripped down by students who say they are “propaganda” does not make me feel lucky.
But I am lucky because I have not personally lost friends due to my religion. And because I have not been at risk of physical assault due to my religion. And because none of my family in Israel has died.
It is abhorrent that this makes me “lucky.”
I have many complex and intense emotions wrapped up in Israel’s war with Hamas. I grieve deeply at the massacres of October 7, I desire revenge against Hamas, and I am saddened when I see the reports of deaths of all civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian. This war should not be relevant to how my fellow Jews and I are treated here in the United States. But it is.
The vandalism at Hillel is proof that Jews in America are being punished for the actions of Israel.
While the rise in antisemitism is nothing new, it is still profoundly disheartening. It is heartbreaking to see so many who are so quick to rightly condemn any other form of hate stay silent when it comes to Jews. It is well within anybody’s right to condemn the policies of a state across the sea, or support the Palestinian people’s right to a state. Many have used what should remain a political disagreement as a rationale to treat Jews in America as fundamentally different from themselves.
Like all kinds of bigotry, if nothing is done to confront the rise in antisemitism, it will only get worse. At BU and across the world.
Mitch Susswein (CAS’24) can be reached at mlsuss@bu.edu.
“POV” is an opinion page that provides timely commentaries from students, faculty, and staff on a variety of issues: on-campus, local, state, national, or international. Anyone interested in submitting a piece, which should be about 700 words long, should contact John O’Rourke at orourkej@bu.edu. BU Today reserves the right to reject or edit submissions. The views expressed are solely those of the author and are not intended to represent the views of Boston University.
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