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Columbia. Timing is everything. Unless, apparently, you’re protesting at Columbia University’s Medical Center. On October 10, anti-Israel medical-school students and faculty staged a “die-in” demanding a ceasefire… roughly 12 hours after one had already taken effect. Waving signs accusing Israel of genocide and Columbia of complicity, the group lay on the ground in protest while pro-Israel students and faculty called out the glaring oversight. “We go to school with morons,” posted
Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students. Columbia’s Faculty for a Safe Israel also weighed in, writing that it is “extremely concerning” that medical professionals were spreading misinformation about Israel.
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(Source: @columbiafsi | X/Twitter) |
DEEPER: While there's hope that the hostage release and ceasefire will encourage student anti-Israel activity on campus to simmer down, some California students seem determined to push ahead on pointless protesting. UCLA and Cal State Channel Islands were among those cited in the article.
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National SJP. Rather than praising the ceasefire as a chance for an end to the violence in Gaza, the National Students for Justice in Palestine group instead posted an image calling for attacks on Gazan groups it sees as insufficiently anti-Israel. Commenting on recent killings between Palestinian groups in Gaza, SJP posted this bloodthirsty sentiment: “Death to the occupation. Death to Zionism. Death to all collaborators.”
DEEPER: For more about National SJP and its network of campus chapters, read ADL's backgrounder about the anti-Israel group.
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Harvard. Last week at Harvard College, over a hundred people gathered on a campus plaza to mourn those killed on 10/7; several of those in the crowd came draped in Israeli flags. At the event, Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi said that the very public setting was deliberate: “We unite and come together publicly, even in pain, but filled with hope and with horror, with these contradictory feelings. We don’t have to do so hidden or sheltered in Hillel or Chabad.” A few days later, across campus there was a very different message at a very different 10/7 vigil as a
small anti-Israel gathering called for pro-Palestinian action and BDS goals that the university has already declined.
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Israel vigil attendees. (Source: Frank S. Zhou/Harvard Crimson) |
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George Washington. On the two-year anniversary of Hamas’ 10/7 attack, George Washington University’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) marked the date not with remembrance for the victims, but with a protest calling for university divestment from companies tied to Israel. The event was SJP’s first major demonstration since its disaffiliation from GW following repeated policy violations. Across campus,
Jewish and Israel-centered groups hosted an emotional gathering to remember those lost in the 10/7 attacks and to join together as a community against hate.
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More Campus 10/7 Solidarity. At Indiana University, students from IU Hillel created a powerful 10/7 memorial exhibit with art, photos, recipes and survivor stories honoring those slain and taken hostage. ADL Midwest was there to support this as “an extraordinary tribute” in the face of campus anti-Israel protests. A
roundup from Hillel International shared more about how Jewish students and allies rallied to show solidarity around 10/7, with snapshots from Kent State University, the University of Albany, Boston University, University of Texas, Dallas and Johns Hopkins University. And at Hillsdale College in southern Michigan, the
‘Jewish Mishpacha’ screened a 10/7 film for students.
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Canada. B’nai Brith Canada is backing a proposed class action lawsuit alleging McGill University failed to protect Jewish students
following 10/7. The suit cites McGill’s inaction on repeated antisemitic incidents, ranging from Nazi-style imagery to alleged physical assault during protests. Additionally, it accuses the school of failing to enforce its own conduct policies. The plaintiffs seek damages and a court order compelling McGill to treat certain anti-Zionist activity as antisemitism when it crosses into harassment or intimidation. “McGill’s Jewish students have endured relentless harassment while the university stood by,” said B’nai Brith’s Henry Topas. The suit could become a landmark case for Jewish student protection across Canada.
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UK. Following a deadly Yom Kippur attack at a Manchester synagogue, UK Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson
has urged university leaders to strengthen measures against antisemitism. She called on universities to “not just keep Jewish students safe, but serve as anchors to the communities they represent.” Phillipson also warned that the Office for Students, the UK’s higher-education regulator, can fine or cut off public funding from universities that fail to uphold their responsibilities. “One instance of antisemitism is one too many,” she said. “The buck stops with universities when it comes to ridding their campuses of hate.” | 
