The recent violence in Israel and Gaza has ignited antisemitism, especially on social media, in a way we have not seen before. Our Jewish student community has been greatly affected by the content and toxic nature of these online interactions and has spent countless hours fighting misinformation and untruths. On top of this, there have been a handful of alarming events at UCSD, including misinformed teach-ins around Israel/Palestine, a BDS resolution in the Graduate Student Association, and a one-sided statement in support of Palestinian students drafted by multiple UCSD colleges. At USD, the student government issued a misinformed and damaging statement against Israel and at SDSU, individual antisemitic incidents are on the rise. Exacerbated by the growing pattern of antisemitism worldwide, our students are reporting that they are feeling beaten down, vulnerable, and fearful on campus.
Hillel staff have been working around the clock to provide direct support to students, document and report each issue, convene meetings with the campus administration, and prepare students to advocate and raise their voices to confront BDS resolutions in student government. We have our students’ backs, and we are so proud of all the Hillel student leaders who have felt empowered to fight back.
We want to highlight our graduate students who successfully fought a one-sided resolution calling for an academic boycott against Israel this past Monday, June 7, at UCSD. After a tense meeting, our students convinced the Graduate and Professional Student Association to reject this one-sided resolution and instead vote on creating a new committee with representation from Israeli, Palestinian, and Jewish students. These students will draft a new and collaborative resolution that supports both communities. In addition to thanking our students who worked tirelessly on this resolution, we would like to thank our partners at Hillel International, Israel on Campus Coalition, and StandWithUs who supported UCSD Hillel and our students the whole way through.
As a Jewish community, we are living through a unique and difficult time. Antisemitism is at its highest level in decades, a painful and frightening reminder that we can never rest in our collective battle against hatred. Jewish students at all San Diego campuses are being targeted, as are Jews worldwide. We are grateful for our partnerships on campus and in the larger San Diego community as we continue to strive for a more inclusive culture.
If you would like to get more involved with our on-campus fight against antisemitism please reach out to Karen Parry (kparry@hillelsd.org) or Lisa Motenko (lisa@hillelsd.org). Our students could use all the support they can get right now.
