For three weeks now, I’ve been approached by Jewish students seeking support, reassurance, and a sense of community in the aftermath of the worst act of aggression against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Hamas’s acts of terror in Israel unleashed a global wave of antisemitism that has swept through American college and university campuses in particular.
At elite universities, such as Columbia , Cornell , Penn , and even my own Sarah Lawrence College — faculty and students are on the front lines, chanting antisemitic slogans and, in some cases, explicitly calling for Jewish genocide . Such actions breach conduct codes, but leadership at some revered institutions continue to look the other way and issue weak statements, as George Washington University did. Another example: at Indiana University, the president only made simple references to violence in the Middle East, prompting outrage, with the former student body president calling the statement one of “cowardice.”
With little support, Jewish students do not know where to turn.
Jewish students are in shock and do not know who their allies are on campus. Professors, meant to be the voices of reason, are often the ones who support the destruction of Israel and, therefore, the Jewish people. Professors lead chants, protest, and engage in activism intended to harm Jews . One professor at Stanford asked Jewish and Israeli students to “identify themselves” before telling them to grab their belongings and stand in a corner, saying, “This is what Israel does to the Palestinians.”
Jewish students and their allies should be asking, “Do Jewish lives matter?” This is not a trick question, there are no caveats or qualifications for the question, and this should not require much thinking whatsoever.
Unfortunately, I suspect the answers will reveal truths that students may not want to see.
Rather than asking, “ Will you condemn terrorism ?” as UMass Amherst lecturer Rachel Weber was asked, students should ask if Jewish lives matter. Words matter, and this question cannot be easily dismissed or twisted. Weber was able to respond with deliberate doublespeak to obfuscate that she did not want to condemn Hamas’s behavior and argued that the question of terrorism is “not a yes or no question.” But asking directly about the sanctity of Jewish lives avoids the justification of terrorism. It also exposes Jewish hate.
Moreover, probing one’s belief of whether or not Jewish lives matter does not run into the many problems that emerged when Black Lives Matter (BLM) was in the news in 2020. Were Americans being asked to quite reasonably state that they supported the lives of persons of color — here “black” — or were they being asked to agree with the deeply controversial Black Lives Matter organization?
In contrast, there is no formal “Jewish Lives Matter” group; there is no history or baggage, as no one entity speaks for the Jewish community. Black Lives Matter was fraught with issues that, again, are avoided by simply asking others if Jewish lives matter.
“Jewish lives matter” is a statement asking people if they value the lives of Jews; it should not be upsetting or nuanced to the person being asked. I can think of no modern or legitimate religion, creed, moral or ethical code, or worldview that would not agree with the notion that all persons of all backgrounds matter.
Yet, given the incredible rise in Jewish hate and incidents in the past decade and over the past few weeks, I suspect sadly that there will be people who will say that Jewish lives do not matter.
A 2022 survey in Germany by the American Jewish Committee , for instance, found roughly a third of Germans hold at least some antisemitic views, with roughly half of Muslims in Germany holding similar views. Specifically, 18% of Germans and 45% of Muslims agree with the statement “Jews have too much power in politics.”The 2024 Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression free speech survey found a clear imbalance on college campuses. Only 24% of Muslim students and 49% of all students support pro-Israel student groups on campus. This compares to 57% of Jewish students and 54% of all students who support pro-Palestinian student groups.
Being a Jewish student on college and university campuses today is frightening. Before the tragic act of terrorism that Israelis suffered from Hamas, hatred toward Jewish students was commonplace—albeit much more subtle. Diversity, equity, and inclusion offices did not value real diversity and promoted a disturbing view that the world can be divided into oppressors vs. the oppressed . This past month, it has become clear that our universities consider Jews to be oppressors and Israel a “genocidal, settler, colonialist state.”
To find allies, Jewish students should ask if “Jewish lives matter” to see who has been infected with hate and who may support them. The results will be sobering, but realities will emerge about the threats we face going forward.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM RESTORING AMERICASamuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.