Image courtesy of Spectator World.
The following is an opinion contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.
In May 2021, the terrorist organization Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups launched more than 4,000 rockets and mortars toward Israeli population centers. Twelve civilians were killed — including two children — and several hundred more were injured during the attacks. In response to the violence, hundreds of Princetonians signed their names to a “Princeton University Community Statement of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” published by The Daily Princetonian on May 18th.
In response to the statement, Tigers for Israel (TFI), a pro-Israel student group, decided to speak up. But they were careful to approach their response with both confidence and compassion. “We were very conscious that we didn’t want this to be a counter-petition; we didn’t want to get into that tit-for-tat,” says TFI President Harrison Snowden ’22. “At the same time, I got tons of emails from alums and from students, hundreds of emails per day…and they felt really isolated, because there was no voice speaking out in favor of Israel.”
TFI drafted a statement titled, “Princeton Stands With Israel,” which addressed select key issues. “We support Israel’s right to exist, we support Israel’s right to defend itself, we want peace in the area, and we condemn Hamas, the internationally recognized terror organization,” Snowden summarizes. “Pretty simple.”
Over the next few months, the statement gathered hundreds of signatures from Princeton faculty, alumni, students, and staff. Some were concerned about the double standard to which Israel is often held when it comes to defending its citizens. Snowden, for example, argues that the Iron Dome can’t be Israel’s only defensive weapon. “When you advocate for Israel’s only right to defend itself being the Iron Dome…you’re tacitly putting up with what is really an assault on Israelis everyday lives, constantly running to bomb shelters, constantly hiding, constantly living in fear,” he says. “[And] two, you’re saying, ‘Yeah, Israel, they have to put up with some of their people dying.’ Because the Iron Dome isn’t one-hundred percent effective. And that is a standard to which no other country would be held to.”
But for many, the statement was intensely personal. Kayla Jurkevich ‘25 was studying abroad at a Jewish seminary program when the first rockets were fired into Israel — she had never experienced anything like it. “For the three weeks until the ceasefire, I remember being scared to walk out on the street,” says Jurkevich. “Even though we were getting assurance that our area was safe, I knew people in Tel Aviv who were in and out of the bomb shelters…They were just like me, American post high school students studying. I can’t even begin to imagine the families who live on a daily basis in that fear.” Coming to Princeton after living in Israel, she wasn’t sure what to expect. She watched fellow students post on social media in support of Palestine and worried about what the environment would be like on campus. But the “Princeton Stands With Israel” statement eased her worries. “The petition was very reassuring to me,” she confirms. “Being able to sign and recognize familiar names on it, that was mind blowing.”
Estelle Botton ‘25 was also “very nervous” about the anti-Israel environment she might encounter at Princeton. “I remember back in May, when I would open my Instagram feed and every single Instagram story was anti-Israel, and there were things that weren’t even true, infographics that were not even real,” she explains. “Everyone was just reposting them without even thinking or knowing what the story was. That was very harmful.” When Botton posted her own pro-Israel graphic to Instagram, she lost twenty followers within the hour. But hearing about the TFI statement reassured her that there were others on campus who shared her views — she wasn’t alone, after all. “I love Israel,” she says. “I stand with Israel.”
Instagram post shared by an anonymous Princeton student
The controversy over the Hamas attacks also led to a rise in hate crimes against Jewish people. In Los Angeles, for example, Jewish customers were physically assaulted in a diner; and on Princeton’s campus, students were heckled for praying and wearing yarmulkes in public. So how can the Princeton community help to address antisemitism and anti-Zionism?
Educating others about the Israel-Palestine conflict, Jurkevich proposes, should be our first step. “With social media, people can repost things so easily,” she argues. “It might not be correct, but they’ll go along and post it…A lot of people don’t understand the years of history from which the issue stems.” Botton concurs: “I feel like people just see things on social media or read one article and take it as a fact, and they need to do their part and learn the facts before making assumptions,” she adds.
But our efforts can’t stop at education, Snowden contends: Princetonians must also be on alert to spot harmful behavior. “When it comes to other forms of bigotry,” he says, “when it comes to other forms of hate, I think that our campus always has their antennae up. [But] when it comes to anti-semitism, those antennae are off,” he says. So when incidents of prejudice occur, the onus is on each and every one of us to advocate for truth, no matter the circumstances. “I see a lot of people speaking out against anti-semitism when anti-semtitism is perpetrated by a white supremacist. And I think that’s great, they should be speaking out,” Snowden says. “[But] when anti-semitism is committed by someone who is not a white supremacist…then suddenly you don’t hear very much about it. I think that there has to be more of a willingness to speak up regardless of who the perpetrator is.”
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