Israeli President Isaac Herzog urged leaders at hundreds of college campuses across America to do more for Jewish students following an outpouring of demonstrations both in support of and against Israel as it conducts its war against Hamas.
College campuses have been a hotbed for protests, and the current generation of college students, based on recent polling, appears to be more pro-Palestinian than any other generation. In some cases, violence has broken out between competing protesters, while in what may be the most severe incident to date, a Cornell University college student was arrested after threatening to kill Jewish students on campus.
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"I hear of Jewish students harassed at Harvard University," Herzog wrote to the university leaders, according to the Jewish News Syndicate. "A Jewish student assaulted at Tulane, Jewish students locked in a library at the Cooper Union as a mob shouts outside, signs accusing Israel of genocide, swastikas painted on dorm-room doors, hateful and intimidating demonstrations — too many examples to list. All of this is happening not on the fringes of society, but in the very temples of scholarship, in halls meant to be beacons of humanism, progress, and rigorous inquiry. And it is happening not in Europe a century ago, but in the United States in 2023."
His letter comes about a month after Hamas carried out the worst terrorist attack in Israel's history. Roughly 1,400 people, the vast majority of whom were civilians, were killed in the coordinated attacks. Many of the victims displayed signs of being tortured, executed, and sexually violated, while children were not spared by the terrorists who carried it out.
As news unfolded of the attacks, there were some pro-Palestinian protesters who defended the terrorists' actions as a means of resistance against Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. Protests have continued in the month since the initial attack, while pro-Israel organizations have sought to shame those who support the terror group in public.
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"Debate is welcome on any topic, including Israel’s actions," he said. "This goes without saying. As America has learned in its own wars, the trial of fighting heartless terrorists who hide among civilians is agonizing and offers no easy choices. But the events on campus are not debate but a defilement of the university and its principles. How can anyone endorsing, excusing, or glorifying the Hamas atrocities have a place in any college or in the civilized world?"
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry said on Monday the death toll in Israel's retaliatory military response surpassed 10,000, with more than 25,000 people wounded. The Biden administration has previously cast doubt on the ministry's trustworthiness due to Hamas's control of it, but it has acknowledged that thousands of civilians have been killed in the month of fighting.