The teacher used quotation marks around the word Holocaust.
And her answer was "Well, it's all because of the government and the Jews."
They were saying that "Jews were killed in camps and now you're doing the same thing."
There was anti-Semitic graffiti that said "Gas the kikes!" on the main bridge.
[They] put up a mock apartheid wall.
And that she had received an eviction notice.
And they saw me alone, spat in my direction, and called me a Zionist Pig.
You know, as a Jew, I really had never encountered anti-Semitism
or I had really never confronted it like that so,
at first I was shocked and I felt you know, how can this be happening on my campus?
This was a really hard experience for me.
I remember listening to this woman, kind of speak in such a derogatory tone about Israelis and Jews,
that I was shaking in my seat and
left the class almost crying.
Well, I was surprised.
I think it was the most upfront anti-Semitic experience that I ever had.
It was particularly upsetting for me because,
it demonized Israel as an apartheid state.
I wanted to do something immediately, but it was unclear to me where to begin.
It's not easy when it comes from someone who's older than you or might be even a professor,
but you have to stand up.
But I called the police and I emailed some members of the administration,
and I just expressed my concerns and said that I feel very uncomfortable as a student.
So really if something happens to you,
make sure your report, make sure you talk to your Hillel director about it.
You can reach out to ADL.
Know that there are people out there to support you.
As a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors,
and generally as a Jew, I feel that we cannot let this continue.
There needs to be a discussion about what anti-Semitism is,
and there also needs to be an established procedure about how to deal with it.
It's really good to know that no matter where you are in the country,
there's 27 ADL regional offices located all across the United States,
and each one has experts with the knowledge and resources to totally help you
navigate these types of situations with anti-Semitism and anti-Israel Bias in an effective and practical way.
