Given these numbers, it is not surprising that Jews played a leading role in protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza. After 11 days from October 7th, 2023, a progressive and anti-Zionist Jewish group, including Jewish voices for Jewish voices, attracted around 400 protesters. Later that month, Jewish voices for peace and its allies led the acquisition of New York's Grand Central Terminal. Brown University requires a sale that requires initial requests from companies affiliated with Israel.
Jewish students are generally less vulnerable than Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, black and non-citizen counterparts, but it is precisely this assumption of greater security that they were willing to protest more in the first place. And many people pay the price. Because university disciplinary procedures are often secret, it is impossible to know whether the proportion of students punished for Palestinian pro-activism is Jewish. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that it is important. And regardless of your views on how universities should treat campus activities, there is something strange about oppressing it in the name of Jewish safety when many students are being oppressed.
Since October 7, at least four universities have been temporarily suspended or probation. In 2023, 20 members were arrested as they protested with Brown Jews for a ceasefire. (The charges have been withdrawn.) A Jewish student reportedly was suspended for the remainder of his academic year for a pro-Israel event at the Rockland Community College of New York State University on October 12, 2023, who temporarily called out “From river to sea, Palestine will be free” and “Jews for Palestine.” In May 2024, a Jewish tenured professor of anthropology at Moulenberg University said, “Don't bear Zionists, don't be embarrassed, don't welcome your space.” In September, the Michigan Attorney General resisted or obstructed officers against three Jewish activists and four other crimes for crimes related to the operation of Gaza Solidarity on the Ann Arbor River at the University of Michigan, resulting in felony charges on misdemeanor trespassing charges. (They all pleaded not guilty).
Even if protests take the form of Jewish religious observance, it is often closed. Last fall, Jewish students opposed to the war on Scott's holiday last year, when Jews built structures like temporary booths where Jews could eat, learn and sleep on their holidays, at least eight universities forced them to demolish them or cancelled their construction approval to the students. (The university said the group was not permitted to build structures on campus.)
Nevertheless, Jewish pro-Israel organizations praise the university for cracking down on the pro-Palestinian protests. When Colombia suspended the branch of Jewish voices for peace with students for Palestine justice, ADL congratulated the university for fulfilling its “legal and moral obligations to protect Jewish students.” After New Hampshire Police dissolved the Gaza Solidarity Camp in Dartmouth, ADL thanked the university's president who “protects the rights of all students studying in a safe environment.” However, for Anneelys Oleck, former chairman of the school's Jewish Studies program, the experience was hardly safe. He said she was tightened, squeezed, and forced to drag her down by police when she moved. The ADL has since overturned prior support for the Trump administration's detention of pro-Palestinian activists. But it still hopes the university will impose strict restrictions on campus protests. When I contacted the organization and asked if there was a position where it wiped out Jewish students in the crackdown on campus, the representative introduced me to Greenblatt's recent opinion essay. Each reiterated the need to fight what they consider to be anti-Semitism on campus, but also proposed a legitimate process for all involved.
