On Tuesday, a group of Jewish student activists met with the members of the United States Congress in Washington, DC, to tell their stories, which they say they are omitted from the main narratives in the campus for anti-Seties.
As students protest against Israel’s war in Gaza broke the country last year, Columbia University in New York became Flashpoint.
The university has seen one of The first student ropes The state was raised to require the end of investment in complicating companies in human rights abuse. Shortly after the tents began to step up, the campus was also some of the first mass arrests of student protesters in the Palestinian solidarity movement.
This visibility has made Columbia a focus for President Donald Trump to break into what he called “illegal protests” and campus anti-Semitism.
Earlier this year, columbia student Mahmoud Khalil He became the first student activist who would detain them by Trump administration and targeted at deportation.
Tuesday was a delegation of Jewish students to come to Congress to push the case that Khalil and others like him should never be closed in their name. They met at least 17 democratic legislators from the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Al Jazeera talked to several students who participated in a lobbying day, organized by the Jewish voice for peace (JVP) action, advocacy organization. Here are some of their stories:
Tali Beckwith-Cohen
Raised in New York Prize, the main major Tali Beckwith-Cohen said she grew up in the community in which Zionism was the norm. He remembers that “myths” is said about Palestine as “land without people for the people without the country”: Slogan justified Israel.
But as the learning of Palestinian history began and meet Palestinians, Beckwith-Cohen said that its beliefs were challenged.
Finally, after the war in Gaza, he began in October 2023. years, she became involved in Palestinian law activism.
Human Rights and United Nations Experts have found evidence that Israeli tactics in Gaza are “in accordance with genocide”. So far, more than 52,615 Palestinians have been killed.
“I’ve had such a feeling of discomfort for a long time, that feeling of wrestling, this feeling of perhaps cognitive dissonance and how can I reconsider these values I keep dear with Zionism?” Beckwith-Cohen told Al Jazeera.
“We see bombing, ignoring for human life, for children, For hospitalsfor schools. Forced me to make a choice. ”
She emphasized that protests were spaces of solidarity, where students are all backgrounds dedicated to the idea that their safety was intertwined.
“It’s so much in the media on the narrative about what happens at Columbia campus that is just impatient and so untrue what we experienced,” Beckwith-Cohen said.
“So today we are here to say our congress that what we see on campus is obviously an authoritarian, fascist passage on all disagreements, not only students calmly advocating for the end of genocide.”
Carly Shaffer
When Carly Shaffer expressed concern about Israeli escalation in Gaza at the University of WhatsApp Chat, some of her compatriots questioned her judaism.
From hundreds of people on the chat, he remembers that Khalil – activist was arrested for deportation – was the only person who directly contacted to reject comments.
As she met Khalil, she came to see him as “incarnation” of someone who took care of the safety of all students on campus.
Shaffer said al Jazeeri said he feels “sick” and “horrified” When Khalil was arrested. Her discomfort was then complex when she saw a trump white house celebrated His custody on social media with phrases “Shalom, Mahmoud” – a Jewish greeting that is full of taunt.
Shaffer, who deals with a master’s degree in human rights and social policies, grew up in California and raised a single mother in a household with small incomes.
She said she was talking against injustice – including in Palestine – the practice is rooted in his Jewish faith.
“The Colombian protest movement, it’s the movement of love. It’s the movement of solidarity,” Shaffer said. “And Jewish students are also an integral and key to this movement.”
She said that, when the nurtured Jewish students held religious events in the campus, their peers from the camp in them joined them and inquired about their traditions.
“These are the same students who are displayed as anti-seeds, which go out of their ways to go and learn about Passa and celebrate Jewish holidays with their Jewish friends,” Shaffer Al Jazeera said.
She assessed the “weapon of anti-Semitism”, saying that the question was used to exclude talks on Israeli atrocytes in Gaza.
“Jewish students are used as pawn shops in the Trump Political Program,” she said. “And the weapons of anti-Semitism for dismantling this movement is not just a threat to Jewish students; it is a threat to all of us. That is so important for us as Jewish students to directly correct this fake narrative.”
Sarah Borus
Student Barnard College Sarah Borus, who was arrested during the slot at the Colombian Kampar, said she grew up in an anti-zionist family in the “Very Zionist Community”.
She felt that important that Jewish students like to convey their experiences directly to people in power in Washington, DC.
“We talk to the members of Congress to tell them our stories that are omitted from the main news,” said Borus Al Jazeere.
“Trump’s mission does not apply to the protection of Jewish students. It is afraid of anti-Semitism – due to the way the trial campaign is presented last year – to target academic freedom, in targeting academic freedom, free speechAnd really put many people in danger. ”
When asked how he feels because of the potential return fighter for her activism, Borus admitted that the current political climate left her fear.
“I’m afraid, but in a magnificent scheme of things, I’m proud of the choice I made,” she said. “I wouldn’t make any different ones, and I’m ready to take the risks, if that must be done.”
Shay Orentlicher
Shay Orenthlicher has no regrets in connection with the participation in the uplump university in Columbia, despite administrative and political interruption.
Orentlicher said Christian nationalists They try to erase the perspective of pro-Palestinian Jewish students and define Judaism in a way that suits their political purposes.
But protesting against the murder of Palestinians, Orentlicher said, he is an expression of both Jewish and humanities. And Orentlicher believes that Colombia demonstrations helped raise awareness of the whole width.
“Despite the oppression we faced, despite suffering and despite the despair of concern that we did not do enough to stop genocideTo advocate for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Coast, I think we have transferred the public discourse in a really important way, “Orentlicher said.
“And we also built a really beautiful community. And I don’t regret what I did. I wouldn’t change anything.”
Raphie
Raphie, who decided to identify himself only by name, said he grew up “very Zionist.” But as he learned more about the conflict of Israelis and Palestinians, he felt he was deceived.
“For example, the Jewish primary school, for example, had a map of Israel and was like a diamond – without Western Bank or Gaza,” he said.
“When I saw the actual ticket with Busy territoriesI was like, “Wait, I lied.” And I made such a surveillance on this journey of research that is Zionism, what is interest, which is the colonialism of the settlement. ”
Raphie, who is studying mathematics, said the war on Gaza, campus protests and background student protesters faced everyone to feel “personal responsibility for the fight for what is right.”
In their experience, demonstrations were welcomed, not anti-Semitic. What was the anti-Semitic, said, whether the fact that the university aimed at Jewish student protesters for its political attitudes.
Several students, including Raphie, said Colombia refused to give a student associated with a Jewish voice for peace permits needed to maintain religious celebrations in public spaces. They described this rejection as a form of discrimination.
The university did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment until the time of publication.
Raphie also pulled out the difference between feeling inconvenience about ideas that challenge one’s worldview and actually insecure.
“It is normal at the Faculty to encounter new views, new perspectives. So I became more pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist,” he said. “At first I felt embarrassing when I encountered the views against Zionicism, but then I realized I understand them. That’s normal.”
Raphie stressed that real suffering occurs in Gaza.
“Students who are not sure at the moment, of course, are Students in Gaza. Every university in Gaza was destroyed. They didn’t have food for 60 days. ”
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2025-05-07 02:53:00
