In the past year alone, the percentage of Jewish students nationwide who said they feel comfortable with others on campus knowing they are Jewish dropped by almost half. A plurality of Jewish students no longer feel physically safe on their college campuses. Talk to Jewish students at WashU, however, and you will find a community strengthened, not weakened, engaged, not discouraged. Brazenly proud. As this year’s High Holidays have come and gone, WashU students reflect on celebrating the year’s holiest days in a troubling national environment.

To be “pro-Palestine,” one does not have to justify the horrific acts of terror that were committed on Oct. 7. To be “pro-Palestine,” one need not be anti-Israel. And being anti-Israel doesn’t make one effectively pro-Palestine.

Washington University received a “B” grade, or “Better than Most” colleges in the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) first-ever Campus Antisemitism Report Card, released on April 10. 

Let’s not forget why Israel exists. It’s not a mere luxury. It is a necessity. It is necessary for the survival of the Jewish people. Our people have long been subjected to pogroms and persecutions, so it is clear that the Jewish state is the only safe haven for Jewish people when the world inevitably turns on us.

The only substantive effect this resolution might have is intimidating and alienating Jewish students on our campus, and it is this effect that we can and must resist.

In a meeting attended by nearly 200 total students, Student Union (SU) Senate passed a resolution 15 to 5 with one abstention, via an unprecedented anonymous vote, calling on Washington University to divest from and cut professional ties with Boeing, March 19. 

Twelve freshmen and sophomore students enrolled at Washington University as mid-year transfer students this semester, the first time in recent history that students were accepted in between semesters. Several of these students are Jewish and said they came to the University after feeling unsafe on their previous campuses due to antisemitism. 

If we want to see this campus be a place of productive, compassionate dialogue on this issue, all students, and especially those who belong to affected communities cannot be made to feel afraid to share their feelings and their story. By cheering on antisemitic harassment, Professor Gustafson is sabotaging those efforts.

In the weeks following the start of the Israel-Hamas war, students at Washington University have reported increased instances of Islamophobia and antisemitism.

I expect WashU students to condemn when dangerous rhetoric is spread, regardless of who it’s from.