'We are jews': Natan Sharansky urges US students to defend their identity

Tel Aviv [Israel], December 30 (ANI/TPS): In an effort to counter the alarming rise of antisemitism on North American campuses, a delegation of 40 Jewish student leaders from over 30 universities gathered in Jerusalem. Their goal: to equip themselves with tools and strategies to challenge the antisemitism they have personally experienced.
"Sometimes, it's confusing, that you live in a free country and you cannot really imagine that there can be such a deep connection between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism," Natan Sharansky, a prominent advocate for Jewish rights and former Soviet dissident told The Press Service of Israel after meeting with the students.
"You can win only if you fight openly," Sharansky told the students. "If you are proud Jews, if you are not afraid to undermine your career by saying that we are Jews, we are Zionists. Zionism is part of our identity and we insist that American institutions defend us and our identity - we see that when they say it loudly and strongly, America has no choice but to defend them and I hope we will see it more and more."
The students, from Stanford University, Brandeis University, the University of Michigan and other institutions, came together as part of the "Pro-Israel Student Leadership Mission," organized by Hasbara Fellowships and IsraelAmbassadors.com, which both train students to advocate for Israel on their campuses.
"This critical endeavor has brought these students to not only bear witness to the terrible atrocities committed on October 7th but to acquire the skills and strategies to refute the lies and distortion when they return to their campuses," said Michael Eglash, founder of IsraelAmbassadors.com.
Listening to the students' stories from campuses suggests it might be a tricky mission.
Hannah Levin and Julia Segal told TPS-IL they faced a polarized and often hostile climate at Stanford University. Levin shared with TPS-IL a chilling experience with a teaching assistant openly supporting Hamas and calling for an Islamic caliphate in the States. When Levin reported the incident to university administrators, she was met with indifference.
"I've just been met with a lack of care," she said. "There's so much talk, but no action."
Despite the hostility, Levin and Segal have spearheaded creative initiatives to foster dialogue and understanding. They organized trips to the Nova Exhibition in Los Angeles, which educated students--most of them non-Jewish--about the massacre at the Nova Music Festival on October 7.
"One participant, initially hostile, left the trip expressing empathy for Israelis and is now planning to visit Israel," Segal said. "It was heartwarming to see perspectives shift once students were exposed to the human side of the story."
Even traditionally Jewish campuses do not provide full protection from hateful attacks. Brandeis University freshman Bella Shatzkes described to TPS-IL the challenges of her campus.
"Last year, Brandeis banned pro-Palestinian student groups, but this stoked anger that's now surfacing," she explained. A friend who led a pro-Israel group found the word "colonizer" scrawled on his resume. Meanwhile, a group calling itself the "Jewish Bund" has been actively organizing protests against Israel, exploiting Jewish identity to bypass restrictions.
"We need to educate the many students in the middle who simply don't understand the conflict," Shatzkes said.
"We're here to learn how to better communicate Israel's story and to build networks of support back on campus," Isaac Babus from Lewis & Clark College added. "It's one thing to read about Israel; it's another to experience it firsthand," he said.
Babus, who is the vice president of his college's Hillel shared with TPS-IL his own encounters with antisemitism, including break-ins, anonymous slurs, and alarming comments from campus officials.
"The head of my school's DEI [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] said that calling for a Final Solution isn't hate speech," Babus said. "It was really alarming to me to see that was OK."
All the students agreed they were inspired by Sharansky's message to continue taking action.
"It's incredible to see the variety of perspectives that I haven't previously had," said Babus. "I do so much reading and now I'm actually getting to see it and understand the experiences of why people have chosen to live here and are still choosing to. That's a narrative that you don't always understand." (ANI/TPS)