My mother always taught me to “be a leader, not a follower.” Throughout my life, I’ve watched people blindly follow senseless trends, and nowhere is this more apparent than on college campuses — where ideas, both good and bad, take root and spread.
Before college, my exposure to Jewish history and culture was limited to small but meaningful moments: studying and singing Oseh Shalom in choir, visiting the Holocaust Museum and hearing from a survivor, or staying up past my bedtime to read a biography of Anne Frank.
Despite these glimpses, I had never actually met a Jewish person until I arrived on campus.
Universities are one of the major front lines for the battleground of ideas and this became extremely apparent after the anti-Israel protests were started in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 atrocities.
It was there that I saw firsthand how misinformation about Israel distorts history, fuels antisemitism, and turns ignorance into hostility.
After observing the ambivalence — if not outright hostility — that many people on my campus showed towards the Israeli victims, I decided to host a Vigil for Israel on October 17, 2023. It featured prayers, a candlelit moment of silence, and chalk messages across campus advocating for fellow Hawkeyes to stand with Israel.
Within 24 hours, our vigil was defaced. Individuals crossed out our Israel flags, replaced the word Israel with “Palestine,” and washed away our messages.
Since then, whenever I’ve attended so-called pro-Palestinian “peace” rallies, I’ve been confronted by individuals who told me I wasn’t welcome and singled me out simply for being there.
Recently, in March I saw a student wearing a hoodie that said in Arabic, “If you come back, we will crush it and blow up your entire army.”
The previous summer, while covering a rally, I captured video of a woman denying the rape of Israeli women and openly declaring her support for Hamas.
While she was free to do so, it’s hard not to see a connection between this level of discourse and hearing stories about Jewish students being followed and harassed by would-be thugs sporting pro-Jihad sweatshirts.
These incidents aren’t isolated. I was asked to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Free Speech and Antisemitism on November 8, 2023, after continuing to witness how free speech was only protected for some students and not others on college campuses.
During this testimony and the national news interviews that followed, I heard firsthand from students at Cornell and other universities who have faced blatant antisemitic harassment, enabled by misinformation that has justified Hamas and demonized Israel.
Last December, I shared how the situations on campus aren’t getting better when I testified at Congressman Greg Murphy (R-NC)’s Annual Free Speech Roundtable,
My experience, and the experiences of my peers seems to be the norm. I was the president of the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) student group at the University of Iowa, and chapter members from across the country have faced similar situations.
At Saint Louis University, in September 2024, two YAF students were disciplined for including a pre-approved banner in a 9/11 memorial that expressed solidarity between the US and Israel against radical Islamic terrorism after an anti-Israel student complained that part of the banner was leaning up against a building.
An activism initiative that Young Americans for Freedom has begun is the Stand for Israel Memorial each October. To remember the one year anniversary of October 7, chapters at the following schools attempted to participate in the project which, involves displaying Israeli flags to remember the hostages, but were met with challenges on campus:
At Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, administrators prohibited a YAF chapter from displaying Israeli flags to commemorate victims of Hamas’ October 7 attack. This has led to a Civil Rights complaint being filed by Young America’s Foundation in February 2025.
At the University of Georgia, officials delayed approval for a memorial display and later used bike racks to shield Israeli flags from extremist student backlash.
At Michigan’s Waterford Kettering High School, administrators refused to recognize a YAF chapter and barred students from displaying Israeli flags in remembrance.
At my school, the University of Iowa, in October 2024, pro-Hamas students vandalized a banner for our pro-Israel speaker, shouting slogans calling for the destruction of Israel.
Fighting unrestrained anti-Israel lies and bullying is important — not just for Jewish students, but to anyone who values free expression, academic freedom, and genuine inclusion on campus.
As someone who believes in diversity of thought, speaking out against this unfair abuse of free speech is essential to protecting those values. This fight will only be won when people of all backgrounds — especially the non-Jewish majority — step up, take ownership, and demand not just support for Israel, which is both justified and necessary, but also the fundamental right of every student to feel safe and free to speak their mind.
This article was originally published in The Algemeiner.
