‘You have to fight’: Netanyahu meets American Jewish college students amid surging antisemitism

The students were brought to Israel by Olami, a nonprofit organization which connects young Jewish people from across the world.

By Dion J. Pierre, The Algemeiner

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with a delegation of American college students in Jerusalem on Monday to discuss rising antisemitism on university campuses, a wave of hatred that swept across academia following Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.

“We’re facing a world struggle to fight slander against the Jewish people and the Jewish state,” Netanyahu told the group, which comprised current and recently graduated students from Tulane University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) — the prime minister’s alma mater, which he attended while serving in the Israel Defense Forces — Columbia University, Rutgers University, the University of Michigan, and Harvard University.

“The most important thing is you have to fight. And how do you fight lies? With truth,” he continued. “A lie can circle the earth 1,000 times before a single word of truth gets through, but we have no other choice. We fight by exposing the lies.”

MIT student Talia Khan, who achieved notoriety for exposing vicious antisemitic abuse perpetrated by anti-Zionist MIT faculty and students during a meeting with US lawmakers, spoke on behalf of the students, discussing the perils posed by growing support on campuses for Islamic antisemitism and terrorism.

“As a Jew, I know the importance of the State of Israel in the shadow of the Holocaust,” said Khan, who noted her father is a Muslim from Afghanistan.

“As a woman of Afghan descent, I understand the importance of Western values and fighting the forces that are trying to set us back. As a patriotic American, it’s obvious that US interests are best served by providing our best and loyal ally Israel with the tools it needs to continue being a beacon of light and democracy.”

She continued, “For this reason, I ask you, Mr. Prime Minister, to help us become better partners in this war on terror. We all in this room, and many others that couldn’t make it on this trip, we’re all ready to dedicate our lives to protecting democracy, Western values, and Israel and America.”

The students were brought to Israel by Olami, a nonprofit organization which connects young Jewish people from across the world. Their trip so far has taken them to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, as well as the site of the Nova Music Festival massacre where Hamas terrorists murdered hundreds of young people on Oct. 7.

“That was incredibly hard to see,” recent Tulane University graduate Yasmeen Ohebsion told The Algemeiner during an interview she agreed to take in taxi going from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.

“A survivor there explained her story. She was trapped under a trash container with 40 people piled on top of her. Only 10 people at the very bottom of the container survived, so she almost suffocated to death because there were limbs and dead bodies on top of her. That was very intense.”

The students have also traveled to the Kfar Aza kibbutz, where Hamas murdered over 50 people.

“We heard from a man who lost his daughter and his daughter’s boyfriend,” Ohebsion, who later led a discussion with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, continued. “I hugged him; he cried in my arms and broke down. He showed me the last text his daughter sent me before she was murdered. It was truly such a moving yet hard experience.”

US college campuses experienced an alarming spike in antisemitic incidents — including demonstrations calling for Israel’s destruction and the intimidation and harassment of Jewish students — after Oct. 7. In a two-month span, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 470 antisemitic incidents on college campuses alone.

During that same period, antisemitic incidents across the US skyrocketed by 323 percent compared to the prior year.

The campus climate has, by numerous accounts, pushed Jewish identity underground. Since the tragedy of Oct. 7, more than one in three Jewish college students reporting feeling the need to hide their Jewish identity on campus, according to a survey conducted by Hillel International.

A striking 37 percent of Jewish students said they have needed to hide their Jewish identity and 35 percent of respondents said there have been acts of hate or violence against Jews on their campus.

A majority of those surveyed said they were unsatisfied with their university’s response to those incidents.

Speaking to The Algemeiner via iMessage, Khan said the Olami trip to Israel allowed American Jewish students and Israeli students to connect and process lingering trauma related to the events of Oct. 7.

“Sharing our stories and having mutual empathy for these different experiences after the horrors of Oct. 7 helped each side process their pain and begin to work on turning this pain into something productive,” Kahn wrote.

“I think this helped us all see that we must not wallow in our sadness, but rather honor the victims of this horrific attack by spreading Jewish joy and love, and combating those who seek to dismantle democracy and Western values on all fronts.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer met today with a delegation of US Jewish students, who have arrived in Israel at the initiative of "Olami".https://t.co/fKuqAEZK9t pic.twitter.com/rsh5yHezAa

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) June 3, 2024

AntisemitismBenjamin Netanyahucollege protests