Both Muslim and Jewish students around the country have become increasingly concerned for their sense of safety as geopolitical tensions rise over the Israel-Hamas war. Some students admit that it has impacted their ability to focus on academics.
“It’s hard to study in school knowing that our leaders are funding the genocide of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza,” said Tara Shamieh, an engineering major at Skyline. “My friends who wear hijab are more scared for their safety since they are more easily identifiable.”
Social media has dramatically expanded the visibility of war to everyone online. Seeing graphic photos and videos of the death and destruction has only further enraged people on both sides of the conflict.
“I think that seeing video after video of dead children being pulled out of the rubble makes people see the reality of how one-sided this is,” said Shamieh. “Now more and more people are starting to see through Israel’s Zionist propaganda.”
The tensions are being reflected across college campuses as both antisemitic and Islamophobic acts have drastically increased since the Oct. 7 attack.
“I am more afraid to just walk down the street,” said Ali Hassan, a young Muslim resident of San Mateo County.
This comes after an increase in targeted racial attacks against Muslim and Arab students across the country. Three Palestinian-American college students were injured after being shot while walking down a street in Vermont. At Stanford University, a hit-and-run is being investigated as a potential hate crime after an Arab-Muslim student was struck and injured by a car whose driver allegedly yelled Islamophobic insults.
“I think it’s really important to inform others of the Palestinian cause because a lot of Western mainstream media tends to gloss over the history of Jewish occupation in the region,” said Hassan. “I am worried that mainstream media could decrease its coverage of Gaza as the genocide rages on and becomes old news.”
Racist threats against Jewish people have also ramped up.
The testimony of the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania at a congressional hearing on Dec. 5 demonstrated hesitancy to sufficiently protect Jewish students on their campuses from antisemitism. It revealed the underlying struggle schools have to juggle to support free expression while condemning hate speech.
Sarah Selman, a 23-year-old Jewish woman from San Mateo County, shared her fears in an interview regarding the rise of hate speech and harassment.
“I work full time at a preschool in a synagogue and the increased security concern has affected my day-to-day life. It is very upsetting seeing armed guards standing outside of my preschool everyday,” said Selman.
It’s important to distinguish between Zionism and Judaism. Judaism is a religious faith while Zionism is a movement to establish the Jewish homeland. Many Jews are against Zionism for ethical reasons, since the manifestation of it has resulted in the displacement of millions of Palestinians.
“People I know have shared posts that are subtly or not so subtly antisemitic. But I also see a lot of Jewish and non-Jewish people posting things that I think are dehumanizing to Palestinians and Arabs,” said Selman.
