Jewish students and community members convened on Cox Bridge on Wednesday afternoon to protest an alleged antisemitic incident against an Emory University student on campus. About 60 members of the Emory community attended the demonstration and sang songs in Hebrew for approximately 20 minutes.
The gathering was meant as a show of solidarity for the Jewish community on campus, according to Emory Meor Rabbi Yaakov Fleshel, who was the main organizer of Wednesday's event.
“We’ve got to do a lot more because students are not feeling safe,” Fleshel said. “They're getting frustrated.”
Fleshel put the event together in under 24 hours after a Jewish student was allegedly harassed by an unidentified female individual yelling profanities at him on Tuesday. The student was passing by an Emory Palestine Relief (EPR) bake sale table when the alleged incident occured. EPR is a non-chartered fundraising organization on campus aiming to raise money for humanitarian relief in the Gaza Strip.
The Jewish student, who requested to remain anonymous out of fear for his safety, said that he was crossing Cox Bridge in the direction of the Dobbs Common Table (DCT) and decided to pass by the EPR table, which was located across from Cox Hall, to “see what was happening” at roughly 12:50 p.m. The Jewish student was wearing his Kippah at the time. The Kippah is traditionally worn by Jewish males to comply with Jewish religious law requiring the covering of one’s head.
The student said he heard the unidentified female individual loudly reciting the controversial “From the river, to the sea” slogan while standing near the EPR table.
The American Jewish Committee characterizes the slogan as antisemitic due to the idea that the chant calls for a Palestinian takeover of Israel’s land between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea. The Jewish student called the statement “blatantly antisemitic.”
“[The slogan is] calling for the eradication of the only Jewish state in the world,” the student said. “So that obviously made me feel uncomfortable being there.”
The student said he walked past the table without interacting before the unidentified female individual began to follow him.
The Jewish student said the female individual yelled “Free Palestine, b****!” after noticing him. He said he turned to see who was yelling at him before quickly walking away. The student alleged that the individual momentarily followed him, further yelling “Turn around again, b****!” before she stopped following him.
“I felt horribly unsafe and I felt it was motivated by nothing else other than just ignorant antisemitism,” the student said. “There is obviously a correlation between Orthodox Jews and support of the Israeli state. Yet I was not expressing that openly. She had just assumed because I was wearing a Kippah this automatically means that she has the right to harass me, which of course she does not.”
The student said he told one of his friends what had happened a few minutes later in the DCT. The friend corroborated the story in a statement to The Emory Wheel on Wednesday evening.
The Jewish student then contacted EPD and filed a police report. EPD’s public Crime Log, which lists all cases filed with the department since 2015, listed an incident at 12:50 p.m. on Nov. 14 on Cox Bridge for simple assault and disorderly conduct. The Wheel was unable to verify as of press time that this incident report is the same one filed by the Jewish student.
Assistant Vice President of University Communications Laura Diamond confirmed that EPD is investigating the incident, but said that the University cannot comment further on the matter as it is an open investigation.
“Emory condemns antisemitism and all forms of hate,” Diamond wrote. “We expect our students, faculty and staff to treat one another with kindness and respect. We will not tolerate actions that make our community feel unsafe, uncomfortable or less valued.”
EPR members present at the Tuesday tabling event denied any knowledge of the incident in a statement to the Wheel. A club member, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of retribution, alleged that students tabling on Tuesday had been subject to Islamophobic rhetoric.
“None of the individuals who manned the EPR table on Tuesday witnessed the alleged harassment incident,” the EPR member wrote in a statement to the Wheel. “Students and parents repeatedly interrupted the event and verbally assaulted organizers. Individuals leading the fundraising efforts were harassed by passers-by, who accused the organizers of supporting Hamas.”
The Wednesday gathering and alleged harassment come at a fraught time on college campuses nationwide. Antisemitism and Islamophobia have skyrocketed across the United States following Hamas’ incursions into Israel and the subsequent war.
An Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip has intensified hostilities and civilian deaths in recent days. Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that the United States and other countries have designated as a terrorist organization, currently governs the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave that United Nations Secretary General António Guterres has characterized as an “open-air prison.”
Sophie Kalmin (26C), president of Emory-Israel Public Affairs Committee, attended Wednesday's event. Kalmin said it was “unbelievable” to see Emory community members come together in support of Jewish students, noting that the attendees “knew every song.”
“It was just amazing that everyone was able to take that time out of their day and be there for the student, even if they didn't know the student,” Kalmin said. “It was really moving.”
Correction (11/16/2023, 2 p.m.): A previous version of this article omitted the ending of a statement from Emory Palestine Relief in error. The story has been updated to include the full quote.
