Across the country, university campuses have been bombarded with antisemitic protests and anti-Israel activism. At times, threats and harassment coming from these provocateurs follow students and professors who stand up for the Zionist cause that Jews deserve to continue living in their own country on land sacred to their culture. This political climate can be fierce and daunting for anyone to navigate. Yet, interviewing some of my peers and talking to many others at Oral Roberts University (ORU), an entirely different portrait is painted—people are open-minded, calm, and factually driven.
I have found that many students here have had little to no interest in the rhetoric that their peers at other, more politically active, institutions have clung to. Thankfully, my campus has yet to experience any anti-Israel demonstrations since the black Sabbath morning, last year when Palestinian terrorists decided to kidnap, rape, and murder innocent Israelis.
Though students may bear no conscious antisemitic views, the ubiquitous presence of lies and half-truths on social media platforms can unintentionally mold student perspectives to resonate with false narratives of Israel or Hamas sympathizers.
When asked if they were even aware of the atrocities that took place on Oct. 7th in Israel, a common response was “not at all.”
Nonetheless, ORU students expressed a positive sentiment toward Israel. With comments such as “Israel is God’s chosen, they are His people, and I stand with Israel,” and “the Bible tells us to pray for Israel. God will keep Israel safe and God is faithful but we need to do our part in continuing to pray for Israel,” it’s easy to see why antisemitic pro-Hamas sentiment hasn’t taken hold of our campus.
Keeping in mind the amount of disinformation out there attempting to persuade the world that Israel’s response to 10/7 has been more evil than Hamas’s actual effort at genocide, it’s hard to take comfort in the fact that general support for Israel at ORU is expressed solely through a religious perspective.
For instance, one interviewee explained his perspective that “those people running the other countries are so much more politically adept than me with just all those issues so if a majority of the countries [at the UN] are condemning what Israel is doing, I am more willing to side with their opinion.” His appeal to authority is a logical fallacy which exemplifies the vulnerability of uninformed students.
I countered his claim by highlighting the unreliability of basing arguments solely on authority figures and providing context on Israel’s prior peace efforts before October 7th, and while I’m unsure if I was able to change his views, his response—marked by genuine curiosity upon learning a new fact—mirrored how others reacted when confronted with overlooked truths.
Compared to the ideologically stubborn activists at other schools who reject any claims that put Israel in a positive light, answers like these help me stay hopeful that having honest and informed discussions about Israel is still a possibility here at Oral Roberts University.
Having constructive and meaningful conversations are the best way to move forward fruitfully, not shouting and intimidating others into agreement. I experienced the former with every student I spoke with. My peers were open to changing their minds when presented with evidence and voiced a desire to work toward creating a peaceful coexistence in the region.
ORU students and I were able to healthily disagree with each other. We walked away from our discussions feeling more informed, not emotionally charged and offended.
All things considered, our academic community continues to be a great place to have difficult discussions about Israel as I firmly believe that sharing as much honest information as possible will naturally lead reasonable people to support Israel against Hamas. For my Christian peers, this will equip them with sound reasoning in addition to what their faith has already confirmed them with. This is the only way to effectively counter antisemitic lies and fight misinformation.
This article was originally published in Israel 365 News.
