Hillel across America needs to rally its student troops

(JNS) — Turning out for a barbecue is nice; showing up for Israel is essential.

The University of Maryland Hillel rightly took pride in hosting a back-to-school barbecue that attracted 1,500 Jewish students. However, the event was partly overshadowed by the university administration’s unconscionable decision to allow Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace to hold an affair on Oct. 7. After facing significant backlash and unfavorable publicity—the only thing besides money that moves administrators—UMD reversed its approval of the event for student promoters of terrorism.

It is still unclear how and if UMD will enforce its decision. The university’s statement about using Oct. 7 to “continue these urgent conversations” and “mark this solemn anniversary” is insufficient. Hamas in Gaza just brutally murdered six more hostages. The Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon adds daily to its total of 8,000 rockets fired into northern Israel, so what kind of conversations are we talking about? Will we hear chants like “From the river to the sea”? Masked agitators targeting Jewish students? Speakers who glorify Hamas?

This is a test of Hillel’s mettle. Convincing Jewish students to show up for food is one thing; mobilizing them to stand up for Israel’s survival is quite another.

Rabbi Ari Israel is one of Hillel’s longest and strongest directors. Hopefully, he and his colleagues countrywide spent the summer planning for another antisemitic tsunami and the commemoration of the terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7. UMD alone has a potential army of 6,000 Jewish students who need to be motivated to march, dance, sing and stand solemnly while holding pictures of the remaining hostages and being unafraid to wave Israeli flags.

Can he mobilize his troops to show the same level of enthusiasm and commitment to honoring the memory of the 1,200 victims of the Hamas massacre as they did consuming a meal?

Hillel can inspire battalions of tens of thousands. Besides UMD, other schools with large Jewish student populations include colleges in Florida and New York, Rutgers, the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the University of Michigan. Many have also been hotbeds of antisemitism, but instead of cowering as too many Jews did last year, it is time to fight, if only metaphorically.

Have students been building alliances over the summer, or will they face hostile student organizations alone again? Have they highlighted the cruelty to animals of Hamas with PETA supporters through videos shot by terrorists killing pets? Have they reached out to Muslim students who are appalled by Hamas’s brutality towards Muslims? Have they addressed the plight of Christians under Hamas and taught them the Islamist slogan: First, the Saturday people and then the Sunday people? Have they informed environmentalists of the devastation of forests, agricultural lands and animal habitats resulting from Hamas and Hezbollah rockets?

Have they made LGBTQ groups aware that Israel is a haven for queer Palestinians and recognize that Hamas would execute everyone involved with Queers for Palestine? Have students sought out anyone sympathetic to the hostages, who cried with the mother of 23-year-old American-born Hersh Goldberg-Polin after he was murdered last week and mourned with the families of other victims?

Some Jews might be uncomfortable with the war metaphor, but the reality is that Israel is fighting for its survival, and students can’t sit on the sidelines. They must choose a side. Whether they call themselves Zionists or not, do they believe that Israel has a right to exist, or do they support the protesters who wish to extinguish the Jewish state?

Look at the ages of some of the Israeli soldiers who have fallen. Just last month: Sgt. Elkana Navon, 20; Staff Sgt. Amit Friedman; Maor Yehuda, 19; 1st Sgt. David Moshe Ben Shitrit, 21; 1st Sgt. Amit Tsadikov, 20; Sgt. Ori Ashkenazi Nechemya, 19; Lt. Shahar Ben Nun, 21; and Sgt. Omer Ginzburg, 19.

Students, these are your peers. While you’re enjoying campus life, others your age are battling not just for their fellow Israelis, but for you and Jews everywhere. They fight day and night to rescue the hostages, some of whom are your age, before Hamas can kill any more of them.

You don’t have to like Benjamin Netanyahu or agree with every policy of his government. You can feel sympathy towards the Palestinians. Is it too much to ask that you dedicate some time on Oct. 7 to honor the memory of those massacred and demand that Hamas release the hostages?

The horror is unimaginable, but you must face it and make it known to your classmates. Educate them about the atrocities—the rapes, the mutilation of bodies, the parents and children shot in front of each other, the people burned alive. Show the videos filmed by the terrorists as they slaughtered Jews and Palestinian civilians happily participated and celebrated the massacre. Let them try to deny reality, then. UMD already took a positive step by screening “We Will Dance Again,” which portrays the events at the Nova Music Festival and tells the personal stories of individuals who experienced that horrific day. 

Remind those who believe that peace will come through Israeli concessions that some victims were dedicated peaceniks—people who lobbied the government to allow Gazans to work on their kibbutzim, who drove Gazans to the hospital, who advocated for a Palestinian state.

By all means, gather together in fellowship for barbecues and merriment during the year, but Oct. 7 must be a day to show strength, resolve, empathy, resilience and respect for the dead. Commit to doing what you can to support Israel, whether going on Birthright, donating money, writing articles for the school paper, fighting divestment resolutions in student government, demonstrating or studying Hebrew.

Just do something!