We are a coalition of Jewish and Israeli students and affiliates from Harvard, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and Jewish and Israeli organizations across the United States. In the past two months, there have been grave and chilling instances of antisemitism on our campuses. But when universities and political representatives wrongfully deploy the serious charge of antisemitism as a tool to silence criticism of the Israeli government and calls for Palestinian liberation, they undermine the severity of those horrific incidents. We are disturbed and frustrated by this dangerous conflation.
We are a coalition of Jewish and Israeli students and affiliates from Harvard, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and Jewish and Israeli organizations across the United States. In the past two months, there have been grave and chilling instances of antisemitism on our campuses. But when universities and political representatives wrongfully deploy the serious charge of antisemitism as a tool to silence criticism of the Israeli government and calls for Palestinian liberation, they undermine the severity of those horrific incidents. We are disturbed and frustrated by this dangerous conflation.
As Jewish students committed to peace and safety on our campuses and around the world, we stand in complete solidarity with the Palestinian advocacy groups on our campuses, including the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee, the MIT Coalition Against Apartheid, and Penn Against the Occupation.
On Tuesday, December 5th, the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania will testify before the Congressional Committee on Education and the Workforce in a hearing titled “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism.” The hearing calls on our presidents to “answer for [the] mishandling” of “countless examples of antisemitic demonstrations on college campuses.”
Antisemitism is a legitimate and rising danger. We see and experience it on our campuses and in our communities. We’ve been horrified by last month’s neo-Nazi march in Wisconsin and the antisemitic threats on Cornell’s campus. At the same time, no discussion around antisemitism and how to eradicate it from our institutions can be honest or effective when it conflates all criticism of the Israeli state with antisemitism.
Our Jewish ancestors faced the horrors of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and expulsion; in our present moment, we are compelled to act in their memory and resist Israel’s militarized, colonial actions, which perpetuate the same violence towards the Palestinian people. Bearing our history and identities in mind, we find safety in solidarity and share with our campus groups a vision of peace for Palestinians, Israelis, and Jewish and Arab diasporic communities around the world.
For over 75 years, Palestinians have endured brutal and violent dispossession, displacement, and military siege. Today, we are witnessing a genocide of the Palestinian people and violent censorship of those who properly name it as such. This erasure of Palestinian culture, history, and people is paralleled by the silencing of Palestinian voices and advocates on our university campuses. We are disturbed by this silencing and the exacerbating of anti-Palestinian hate, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and racism on our campuses, abetted by national rhetoric.
At our universities, Palestinian, Arab, Black, and Muslim students have been disproportionately targeted for their advocacy. Their personal information has been leaked and their names and faces paraded on billboard trucks; they have been defamed in mass mail and mass social media campaigns and they have faced verbal and physical harassment on and around university campuses. Students have lost employment opportunities due to their participation in protests; student workers have faced job and housing insecurity. In Vermont, three Palestinian college students were shot simply for speaking Arabic and wearing keffiyehs.
These students are our peers, classmates, and friends. We condemn the violence perpetrated against Palestinians in the name of Jewish protection. We reject the idea that the safety of Jewish students requires the elimination of Palestinian organizing. Rather, we must recognize the intertwined nature of antisemitism and anti-Palestinian racism across our campuses, the nation, and beyond. Jewish students are not safe until Palestinian, Arab, Black, and Muslim students are also safe.
We, Jewish and Israeli students, share a vision of peace and justice with Palestinian organizers and advocates on our campuses and beyond. We echo their demands and call for immediate reconciliation with the following truths:
- Jewish safety — in Israel and the diaspora — is inextricably linked to Palestinian liberation; a permanent ceasefire is the only way towards peace for all people.
- Criticism of the Israeli regime is not inherently antisemitic.
- Free speech is not free until it protects Palestinian voices and advocates.
We have personally experienced the rise in antisemitism since October 7th. As we call for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the occupation of Palestine, we have had our Jewish identities questioned, ridiculed, and dismissed. We are Jewish and our advocacy for Palestine is rooted in our Jewish values — not in spite of them. Our Jewish history reminds us that never again means never again for anyone. Our Judaism tells us to struggle with and question authority when our moral autonomy comes into jeopardy.
As the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania prepare to testify before Congress about antisemitism on college campuses, we ask that they consider our perspectives they claim to represent and protect their Jewish students. We call on our presidents to shut down Congress’ efforts to denounce criticism of Israel as inherently antisemitic and reaffirm their commitment to freedom of speech, especially speech regarding Palestine.
University and government leaders, we implore you to listen to the students who will inherit this world, and join us on the path to peace and liberation for all people.
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