Mideast War blowback

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Since Hamas militants launched a deadly surprise assault on Israel earlier this month, there has been a significant rise in antisemitic incidents across the U.S., according to data released by the Anti-Defamation League on Wednesday.

The group recorded 312 antisemitic incidents from Oct. 7, the day of the Hamas attack, through Oct. 23, up from 64 in the same time period last year. Of the 312 incidents, 190 were directly linked to the Israel-Hamas war, the ADL said.

According to the ADL, a nonprofit organization that fights antisemitism and extremism, the spike included a 388% increase in incidents of harassment, vandalism and/or assault compared to that same time period in 2022.

In one such assault cited by the ADL, a man allegedly punched a 29-year-old woman in the face on Oct. 15 in New York City's Grand Central Terminal. According to CBS New York, the woman told NYPD officers that when she asked the man why he assaulted her, he replied, "You are Jewish," before fleeing.

Analysts have also been tracking a surge in antisemitic hate speech among extremist groups in recent weeks. Since the war began, the messaging platform Telegram has seen a 1,000% increase in the daily average of "violent messages mentioning Jews and Israel in white supremacist and extremist channels," the ADL said.

A group of Jewish students take shelter in a library at Cooper Union in New York as a group of demonstrators loudly chant “free Palestine” outside.

In video from the college, the Jewish students can be seen in the library as those outside pound on the doors and repeatedly shout, “free Palestine.”

According to New York police, the Jewish students were safely escorted from the library.

Two students who were caught tearing down posters of Israeli hostages outside the Stern School of Business last week may face disciplinary action from NYU, according to the university.

Photos and videos of the students taking the posters off walls, which displayed Israeli hostages taken into the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, quickly spread throughout social media, with some posts garnering millions of views. The posts identified the two students as Hafiza Khalique and Yazmeen Deyhimi, although a third individual who accompanied them has not been identified.

University spokesperson John Beckman said NYU would continue to look into the incident but was unable to provide more information about specific details regarding the matter.

Deyhimi released a statement on her private Instagram account on Oct. 16, where she stated her actions were selfish and hopes Hamas releases its hostages.

I really don't understand the point of harassing Jewish people outside of Israel to express frustration with the Israeli people or state.

Two things come to mind.

1. Anti Semitism.

2. We are in an era of zero sum game politics. If you are not 100 percent with us you are complicit. In that way of thinking neutral is worse than being opposed.

The way I see it, Israel is source of the problems, not the Jewish people. Making non-Israeli Jews feel unwelcome or unsafe in their homelands is only bound to lead to more emigrants to Israel.

Anything that encourages emigration of your Jewish countrymen to Israel makes it harder for Israel to even consider doing the right thing and eliminating settlements on Palestinian territory.

I remember that during the Gaza war in 2014, a group of demonstrators decided to put a severed pig's head in the shelves of the Kosher section in a grocery store here in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Hundreds of people stormed into the main airport in Russia's Dagestan region and onto the landing field Sunday, chanting antisemitic slogans and seeking passengers arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv, Israel, Russian news agencies and social media reported.

Russian news reports said the crowd surrounded the airliner, which belonged to Russian carrier Red Wings.

Authorities closed the airport in Makhachkala, the capital of the predominantly Muslim region, and police converged on the facility. Dagestan's Ministry of Health said more than 20 people were injured, with two in critical condition. It said the injured included police officers and civilians.

[...]

Russia's interior ministry said in a statement Monday that, "More than 150 active participants in the unrest have been identified (and) 60 of them have been arrested," Agence France-Presse reported.

[...]

While voicing support for Palestinians in Gaza, the regional Dagestani government appealed to citizens to remain calm and not take part in such protests.

[...]

"We urge residents of the republic to treat the current situation in the world with understanding. Federal authorities and international organizations are making every effort to bring about a ceasefire against Gaza civilians … we urge residents of the republic not to succumb to the provocations of destructive groups and not to create panic in society," the Dagestani government wrote on Telegram.

The Supreme Mufti of Dagestan, Sheikh Akhmad Afandi, called on residents to stop the unrest at the airport.

[...]

Dagestan Gov. Sergei Melikov promised consequences for anyone who took part in the violence.

Israel Hamas War blowback on American, European Jews.

Threats were posted to Cornell’s Greekrank forums on Saturday, Oct. 28 and Sunday, Oct. 29, including one that threatened a shooting at 104West!, which is home to Cornell’s Center for Jewish Living and the kosher dining hall.

“if i see another synagogue another rally for the zionist globalist genocidal apartheid dictatorial entity known as “israel”, i will bring an assault rifle to campus and shoot all you pig jews [sic],” said one post titled “if i see another jew” by a poster calling themselves “hamas.” “jews are human animals and deserve a pigs death. Liberation by any means. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free [sic]!”

The post also threatened to rape female Jewish students and behead Jewish babies in front of their parents.

Greekrank is a discussion site about the fraternities and sororities across colleges and universities, with user guidelines banning content that “contains hate speech or promotes or condones violence.”

Another post by screen name “jew evil” titled “jewish people need to be killed” [sic] called for students to follow Jewish students home from campus and slit their throats.

“rats [sic] need to be eliminated from Cornell,” said the post, which has since been taken down.

The Sun was only able to view two threatening comments on the Greekrank website as of 7:26 p.m. on Oct. 29, as the others had been removed.

The posts come four days after graffiti stating “Israel is fascist,” “Zionism = genocide” and “F*** Israel” was sprayed across Central Campus on Wednesday, Oct. 25.

There have also been several derogatory posts towards Muslim students on campus posted on the Greekrank platform on Sunday. One post, published under the name “glory to hamas,” threatened to “bring many ak 47 [sic] and slave women in hijab to make party [sic] more fun!”

Another comment responding to the “if i see another jew” post stated “puck falestine.”

Cornell Hillel released a statement on Sunday evening acknowledging the threat against 104West! and Jewish Cornellians in general.

“Cornell Hillel is aware of a threatening statement that was directed toward the building at 104West!, which houses the University’s kosher and multicultural dining hall, as well as more generally toward Jewish students, faculty and staff.”

The statement continued: “The Cornell University administration has been made aware of this concerning language, and the Cornell University Police Department is monitoring the situation and is on site at 104West! to provide additional security as a precaution. At this time, we advise that students and staff avoid the building out of an abundance of caution.”

President Martha Pollack sent out an email to the Cornell community at 7:07 p.m., in which she condemned the threats and announced that the CUPD was on-site at 104West! to investigate, and that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been informed of a potential hate crime. CUPD will remain at 104West! to ensure the safety of community members present.

CUPD released a community threat alert for the entire city of Ithaca at 7:13 p.m. in which it announced it was investigating the posts.

“Evidence suggests the targeted locations were intentionally selected because of the perpetrator’s bias,” the threat alert said.

Molly Goldstein ’24, president of the Center for Jewish Living, said the building’s residents collectively had a feeling of “genuine fear” in an interview with The Sun.

“The first reaction from all the students on the ground is genuine fear. We’ve been getting calls from people who weren’t on the complex asking if it’s safe for them to come back to their room tonight,” Goldstein said. “We’ve had people who are too scared to sleep here tonight. So they’ve gone to other places in Ithaca for their safety. We now have three police cars outside of our complex that will be here 24/7 until we understand what’s happening, the real threat.”

According to Jeremy Zarge ’25, CJL co-president, the police presence has reassured some residents of their security in the complex.

It’s putting a lot of people at ease,” Zarge said in an interview with The Sun. “We’ve actually been able to talk with some of the officers, and they’re totally committed to making sure that everything that we could ask for in terms of security is put in place. They’ve given us a total guarantee that [an officer] is always going to be present there, indefinitely, until they know that we’re 100 percent safe, so I think it’s given a lot of people a lot of peace of mind.”

The complex is not currently under any sort of lockdown, so residents will be free to come and go to their classes or other obligations as they please, although Zarge said some residents prefer to remain in the building with the police nearby. Security will be heightened for non-residents, Zarge said.

“We’re going to be a lot more concerned than normal about who’s coming in if they’re not a resident and making sure that we can monitor everyone,” Zarge said.

Goldstein said parents of residents contacted the CJL in fear, with some even traveling to Ithaca to pick up their children.

“[Parents are] absolutely terrified for their children,” Goldstein said. “Some of them have even come up [to Ithaca] to try to get their kids and they don’t know what to do.”

administration reached out to CJL to offer their support for the group, Goldstein said.

“[Pollack and Ryan Lombardi, vice president of student and campus life,] said that they condemn antisemitism, that their number one priority is the safety of Jews on campus and of all the students on campus,” Goldstein said. “And that it’s scary for them and sickens them that this hatred exists — everything that was said in [Pollack’s email to the Cornell community].”

However, Goldstein also said the University is not providing support or housing for students who do not feel safe sleeping in the CJL following the threats.

“The University is not involved in finding any other housing,” Goldstein said. “There are community members that Jewish community members who are not affiliated with the University necessarily who live in the area and have offered their homes to people. Some people have friends in the area or family members that they’ll be staying with.”

However, Zarge said the University was ensuring professors and other instructors made accommodations for students who required them following the threats.

“We got specific assurance from [Pollack and Lombardi] that they’ll be working on making sure that any accommodations will be put through as much as they can and that [professors understand] not everyone’s going to be at 100 percent,” Zarge said. “And that they’re going to accommodate us for those circumstances.”

Zarge also said CJL was helping coordinate housing for its residents who were uncomfortable sleeping in the complex.

“We’ve had a lot of people who don’t necessarily feel totally safe being on campus or at the complex right now,” Zarge said. “We’ve had people from the community reach out and offer people to stay at other houses tonight if they don’t feel safe. So [we’ve been] helping coordinate that. I think […] communication is the biggest aspect.”

Zarge also said CJL leadership ensured all its residents were accounted for and that they have a list of students who are spending the night elsewhere.

“We got an exact count of how many students will like sleeping here [in the CJL building] as opposed to somewhere else tonight, just so we can have an exact count and make sure everyone’s accounted for,” Zarge said.

Goldstein announced that given the threats, the 104West! dining hall will be closed for dine-in services on Monday, Oct. 30. Students who rely on Cornell Dining’s kosher meals can receive pre-packaged meals at 104West!, visit the kosher station in Morrison Dining or buy Fresh Takes meals from Cornell’s cafés.

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) released a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, at 8:08 p.m. on Oct. 29, in which she called the threats “absolutely horrific” and stated there was no place for such speech.

Gov. Kathy Hochul also issued a statement on X at 10:23 p.m., announcing that the New York State Police were also “engaged” and that the state would ensure the safety of affected students.

Hochul followed up with two more posts reaffirming her dedication to the safety of campus communities across New York State and her belief in free speech, but emphasized that there would be no tolerance threats or acts of violence in New York State.

“Earlier this evening, I spoke to leaders representing the State University of New York system, the City University of New York system and private colleges and universities across New York State. I told them New York State Police and the whole of state government will continue to support their efforts to keep their students and campus communities safe,” Hochul said. “I also reiterated our strong belief in free speech and the right to peaceful assembly, but made clear that we will have zero tolerance for acts of violence or those who intimidate and harass others through words or actions.”

Cornell Hillel sent out an email to Jewish community members at 11:02 p.m. The email, which was obtained by The Sun, addressed the antisemitic and anti-Israel online messages.

A new report, published on Friday has unveiled a deeply troubling trend of antisemitism on university campuses across the United States: A staggering 45 reported antisemitism incidents occurred on university campuses in just three days, out of a total of 134 documented cases in the past two weeks. The report was conducted by the Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism Ministry and Mosaic organization.

According to the report, this surge in antisemitic activity has "raised grave concerns about the safety and well-being of Jewish students across American campuses. These reported incidents span a range of concerning behaviors and expressions, providing a stark illustration of the scale of the issue and its impact."

Among the most disturbing incidents reported was at Cornell University, where a lecturer categorized as "antisemitic," described the Hamas's massacre during the celebration of Simchat Torah in western Negev settlements as an "exciting event." Meanwhile, at UC Davis in California, a lecturer took to social media to call for violence against Jewish students.

According to a survey conducted by Hillel, a significant 74% of students revealed that the ongoing conflict in Israel has had a direct impact on their lives. Even more concerning, 40% of students admitted to feeling uncomfortable expressing their opinions in class and on campus since the outbreak of the conflict. Shockingly, 1 in 4 students reported experiencing violence or hatred on campus within the past 10 days, painting a grim picture of the hostile environment faced by some.

Moreover, a troubling 58% of students expressed feeling unsupported by their respective universities, raising questions about the responsibility of academic institutions to provide a safe and inclusive environment for all students.

In response to these incidents, efforts to combat antisemitism on campus have been actively undertaken by organizations and student groups. Initiatives led by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry, in collaboration with Mosaic, Hillel, and Chabad, "have successfully thwarted numerous BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) events on campuses," according to an official statement.