Up and down the United Kingdom, parents have been packing their cars with bedding, crockery and much more as they hold back the tears and drive their children to university. <\/p>\n
But the usual concerns about how they will fend for themselves have taken on an added dimension for some. <\/p>\n
As a new academic year begins, many Jewish students and their families are apprehensive about a worsening climate of antisemitism on British campuses after Hamas\u2019 October 7 attacks on Israel last year, which triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. <\/p>\n
The latest report from the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that protects the UK Jewish community, revealed a 465% increase in reported antisemitic incidents in higher-education settings in the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2023. <\/p>\n
In total, 96 university-related incidents were reported to the CST, compared with 17 in 2023. There were reports of assaults, threats, damage or desecration and abusive behavior, both in person and online. <\/p>\n
Another mother, who also asked to remain anonymous and did not want to identify the university concerned, said: \u201cWe\u2019ve told our daughter not to wear any jewelry that shows her Jewish identity because we don\u2019t believe it\u2019s safe for her to do so.\u201d <\/p>\n
That would not have \u201ccrossed our minds before October 7,\u201d she added. \u201cSo many people are now so unashamedly vocal and confident in expressing their antisemitism that it fills us with the deepest fear that our child could be exposed to this on campus without our protection.\u201d <\/p>\n
These are not merely over-anxious parents. In February, the University of Leeds\u2019 Hillel House – the center for Jewish life on campus – was daubed with antisemitic graffiti. In a separate incident, the Jewish chaplain there was targeted with death threats after it emerged that he was an IDF reservist. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea was that all you need to defend against antisemitism is a table and a couple of Jewish students willing to have a conversation,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n
There were \u201cpositive conversations,\u201d said Gil, but on one occasion the table was vandalized. Nevertheless, he and his peers continued to present a Jewish front on campus, despite growing anti-Israel demonstrations. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe things being said transitioned from an anti-Zionist agenda to antisemitic comments,\u201d he said, giving one example of Zionists being compared to \u201cjudenrats\u201d – councils of Jews appointed by the Nazis to implement their antisemitic agenda. <\/p>\n
Gil said the defacing of Hillel House was the \u201cbiggest shock,\u201d as well as the abuse leveled at the chaplain, who has since stepped down. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very difficult time and a lot of Jewish students started to become scared. People weren\u2019t wearing their magen david<\/em> (Star of David) on campus or going to campus as often.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cAs a university, we\u2019re committed to supporting free speech within the law, which means tolerating a wide range of views while respecting the rights of others,\u201d the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n \u201cAntisemitism, Islamophobia, abuse, or harassment of any kind is not acceptable. The university does not support any views or actions which seek to exclude or make Jewish, Muslim or any other people unwelcome on campus.\u201d <\/p>\n Universities have long been a \u201ccrucible for different types of politics, including extremist politics,\u201d with people from different backgrounds \u201ccoming together in a close-knit community,\u201d according to Dave Rich, CST\u2019s director of policy. <\/p>\n Rich described the uptick in antisemitism as \u201centirely predictable,\u201d as the organization\u2019s data, collected over the last four decades, shows antisemitism rises when trouble flares in Israel. Yet the last year has been \u201cmuch worse\u201d than ever before, he said. <\/p>\n \u201cSome of this comes from ignorance and some comes from more hardline extremist groups. It only ever involves a minority of students, but the problem is it can affect the atmosphere for everybody.\u201d <\/p>\n He said pro-Palestinian encampments on UK campuses were smaller than in the United States and largely peaceful, though often accompanied by \u201cvery noisy protests and banners and chanting about genocide\u201d which many Jewish students find unsettling. <\/p>\n \u201cMost students aren\u2019t involved in this and there\u2019s always a balance to be struck between the right to protest and free speech and the right of everyone else to go about their daily lives without disruption,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n The level of antisemitism was \u201cunprecedented – quantitatively and qualitatively,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cI\u2019d never experienced anything like it in my 10 years at Oxford. <\/p>\n \u201cFor me, one of the things that was most difficult and would have been unfathomable before October 7, were the calls for intifada (uprising). It was extremist language that became almost normalized overnight.\u201d <\/p>\n Britain is not the only European country experiencing these tensions on campus and on the streets. <\/p>\n She said the situation has been particularly bad in Western European countries including France, Germany and the Netherlands. <\/p>\n In France, where religion is generally kept separate from academic settings, a government study published in June noted a steep increase in antisemitic acts on campuses since October 7, with 67 instances recorded \u2013 twice as many as were registered in the 2022-2023 academic year. The real figure was likely higher, the report noted. <\/p>\n Reports to EUJS have included many cases of harassment – both verbal and physical – Hallali said, and it has recently been informed of a particularly unsettling potential development. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have some information about student organizations on campus planning to celebrate the one-year anniversary of October 7,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s very problematic because the universities are not planning on doing anything as of now. So, we are pushing (for action) and our national unions will be ready to react, but we are very worried.\u201d <\/p>\n The antisemitism experienced on university campuses has been mirrored too by rising incidents in wider society. <\/p>\n \u201cJewish students ask themselves a painful question every day: whether there\u2019s still a future for Jewish life on European campuses and whether there\u2019s still a future for Jewish life in Europe,\u201d said Hallali. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen contacted about their responsibility to provide a safe environment for Jewish students and faculty, the university administration said we could use an \u2018alternative entrance,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cJewish students were basically told to use a back door.\u201d <\/p>\n Laitinen said the suggestion that students use alternative entrances in order to avoid the encampment \u201cwas not in reference to representatives of any particular faith\u201d and that the university cannot by law keep a record of students\u2019 religious beliefs. \u201cAgain, campus safety is of utmost concern to us, and this applies to everyone.\u201d <\/p>\n Bleak as the situation appears, Rosenfeld is keen to point out a silver lining \u2013 Jewish students strengthening their own ties. <\/p>\n \u201cThe community of Jewish students in Oxford has never been stronger and it\u2019s a really vibrant place to be,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Sami Berkoff, president of the UK Union of Jewish Students (UJS), said the pattern has been replicated across the country, with her organization having boosted its membership by 2,000 students this year. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really a want for a \u2018Jewish space\u2019 where you feel at home, where you feel seen and heard and you\u2019re talking to people with shared experiences,\u201d said Berkoff. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a kind of breather where you aren\u2019t having to discuss the conflict if you don\u2019t want to.\u201d <\/p>\n A \u201chotline\u201d set up by the UJS to support students during the Israel-Hamas war has been inundated with calls, Berkoff added, with many students saying their mental health has been affected. UJS has had more than 1,000 calls to the hotline since it was set up on October 8 last year. <\/strong> <\/p>\n Last week, Berkoff and other Jewish students met with the UK\u2019s newly appointed solicitor general, Sarah Sackman, who won a seat in Parliament in July, and shared their feelings about antisemitism on campus and perceived inaction from the authorities. <\/p>\n According to a news release from the Union of Jewish Students, Sackman told the students the government was \u201cactively considering\u201d how best to tackle support for groups like Hamas on campus and beyond. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m confident we\u2019ll see changes and we\u2019re seeing the need for changes from universities,\u201d said Berkoff, adding that UJS is running antisemitism awareness training for thousands of university employees, student bodies and societies. <\/p>\n \u201cThe ultimate goal is to make sure Jewish student life isn\u2019t just surviving and plodding along, but really thriving on campus. You can wear a kippah<\/em> on campus, you can wear a Star of David and you can be proud to do that.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Up and down the United Kingdom, parents have been packing their cars with bedding, crockery…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} \u2018We are very worried\u2019<\/h2>\n
Mental health impact<\/h2>\n