Campus protests opposing Israel lack factual grounding and rely instead on impassioned ideology, according to a Jewish studies professor who walked among tent demonstrations at Indiana University.
Alvin Rosenfeld, director of the university’s Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, said he approached a student shouting slogans about the Intifada during the 2024 demonstrations. The student had no knowledge of the Second Intifada, which killed roughly 1,000 Israeli civilians in bus and restaurant bombings between 2000 and 2005, Rosenfeld told The Times of Israel.
“We’re not in a fight about facts,” Rosenfeld said. “The facts can be all wrong. We are in a fight about feelings, and those feelings are very impassioned, very determined, very aggressive.”
Book Examines Post-October 7 Hostility
Rosenfeld edited a new book, “Toward the Last Encampment: Campus Culture and the Jews Before and After October 7,” which examines the rise of anti-Israel activism and antisemitism across universities in the United States and Europe following the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught on Israel.
The institute behind the collection recently received a $6 million grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, marking the largest award announced by the agency for the year. The book combines firsthand accounts and scholarly analyses to detail political and ideological forces driving hostility on campuses.
In the opening chapter, Rabbi David Wolpe recounts Harvard University protests where a Jewish student told him, “They don’t just hate what I believe. They hate me.” Another contributor, Israeli scholar Eliyahu Sapir, examines how Dutch university administrators handled complaints by universalizing the problem rather than addressing specific grievances.
Student Activists Mobilized Quickly After the October 7 Invasion
Activists mobilized with remarkable speed immediately following the October 7 invasion, according to Rosenfeld. More than 30 student organizations at Harvard issued a statement blaming Israel for the attack before any Israeli soldiers entered Gaza. Within 24 hours, a resistance handbook was distributed nationally by Students for Justice in Palestine and Faculty for Justice in Palestine.
When encampments emerged at over 100 American universities in the spring of 2024, Indiana University saw poster destruction, anti-Israel slogans on sidewalks, and the removal of mezuzahs from dormitory doorposts. Rosenfeld said that a core group of 200 to 300 students shifted the tone across the campus of 45,000 students.
University leaders initially struggled to respond until congressional hearings in December 2023 grilled the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania. Rosenfeld credited the subsequent political pressure, including threats of federal funding cuts under the Trump administration, with forcing administrators to enforce existing rules against harassment.
Resurgence of Jewish Life
Amid campus tensions, Jewish identity has seen a revival among students. Indiana University counts roughly 4,500 Jewish students among its population, where communal life thrives through Hillel, Chabad, and Jewish Greek organizations.
“There are more and more kids gravitating to all of these things in a positive spirit,” Rosenfeld said. “Some of that might have been born originally out of anxiety and concern, but once they see that they’re on a welcoming campus and that one can thrive Jewishly here, the results are very good.”
