Glory Reitz
Amid a widespread increase in antisemitism, the University of Florida has the highest population of Jewish undergraduate students in the country. According to Hillel International, 6,500, or 19% of undergraduate students, are Jewish. Another 2,900, making up 14% of graduate enrollment, identify as Jewish.
Last Friday, an unknown vandal tagged Chabad UF, the Jewish student center, with slurs and antisemitic graffiti. Rabbi Berl Goldman said the perpetrator methodically vandalized the center’s brick wall, some banners and the concrete in front of the center.
“This issue is not necessarily about UF or Gainesville,” Goldman said in a phone interview. “The fact that there is anti-Israel propaganda, antisemitic acts happening here, and everywhere, is the unfortunate reality of the times that we’re living in. We have to call out hate for what it is… These are extremely dangerous times and concerning times. This is acts that try to instill fear.”
Goldman said for some students, the acts have succeeded in instilling fear, but he is also confident that the Gainesville Police Department has leads and will catch the vandal. He said it is integral that the perpetrator be caught, or others may be encouraged to follow Friday’s example, or worse.
On Oct. 24, the Anti-Defamation League reported a 388% increase in antisemitic incidents across the United States after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Over a hundred of those incidents were anti-Israel rallies with “explicit or strong implicit support for Hamas and/or violence against Jews in Israel.”
Rabbi Jonah Zinn is the executive director of UF Hillel, a Jewish student group. He said students remain deeply concerned about the war between Israel and Hamas, but also the global uptick in antisemitism.
Zinn said that trend has been noticeable at UF as well, both in higher-profile incidents like the vandalism of Chabad UF or of a Jewish fraternity’s pro-Israel sign, and in everyday, interpersonal interactions. Zinn said this environment leaves Jewish students feeling alienated and anxious, which Hillel tries to help with by providing community, pointing them to appropriate resources and reaching out to educate the rest of the campus about the issue.
“From what I’ve observed, when people understand the Jewish student experience, so many really have a desire to be more supportive of Jewish students,” Zinn said in a phone interview. “Because they don’t always understand the tremendous sense of isolation that so many are experiencing, and they want to be there for their fellow students.”
Debbie Kinman-Ford, president of the Jewish Council of North Central Florida, said her organization has partnered with UF Hillel and Chabad UF, the university’s Jewish student center, on rallies and vigils. She said the college campus is a major playing field for the issue because the generation that is now in college has a sense of activism which has led to vocal clashes in opinion about the Israel-Hamas war.
Kinman-Ford said she does not think there is any current, physical danger to the Jewish community in North Central Florida, but she does not think that possibility is not too far off. She said Jewish groups on and off campus have increased vigilance because they know there is potential for hot-topic opinions to become physical.
UF President Ben Sasse has repeatedly stated his support for students’ rights to free speech, drawing a line between speech and violence or vandalism.
On Oct. 26, the chancellor of the State University System of Florida ordered the deactivation of organizations under the headship of National Students for Justice in Palestine, based on a Florida statute prohibiting the material support of foreign terrorist organizations. Sasse told members of the press after his inauguration on Nov. 2 that all student organizations previously active were still in place. He said while students cannot be involved in material support for terrorism, they are entitled to have any position on Israel.
“There shouldn’t be any trade off, any need to have a choice between protecting all of our students’ physical safety, and protecting our speech rights,” Sasse said.
Two weeks later, UF’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine filed suit against a slew of defendants, including Chancellor Ray Rodriguez, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sasse, in his official capacity as university president, with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) representing them. The student group says in its complaint that it has no formal association with the National Students for Justice in Palestine other than a shared name.
UFSJP’s claim further states that its access to funding and resources has been placed “in limbo,” and current and prospective members feel deterred from participating because they do not want to get involved with a university-sanctioned group.
“Instead of securely advancing its mission to advocate for the rights of Palestinians, UFSJP now finds its very existence in jeopardy,” the complaint states.
UF Students for Justice in Palestine did not respond to a request for an interview.
On Nov. 4, about 40 people with UFSJP were in Washington, D.C., to join the National March on Washington: Free Palestine, according to a social media post. Ten days later, UF Hillel sent 45 students, parents and alumni to the March for Israel in Washington.
Though the UF SJP and UF Hillel express opposing viewpoints on the war in Israel, Rabbi Zinn said part of what he wants the community to understand is that his group’s position is that Israel’s enemy is Hamas, not Palestinians.
“Ultimately, it’s my hope that the Palestinian people and the Israeli people can live side by side in peace and security,” Zinn said. “And I think I view, as I think much of the world understands, that Hamas is the biggest barrier towards that vision.”
Goldman said while Chabad UF has increased its security measures for the safety of staff and visitors, Gainesville and UF at large have always been a welcoming and supportive community. He encourages community members to keep watch and call out hatred when they see it, online or in person.
“If good people, which is the majority of our community and around the world, would unite and call out hatred and evil the way it is—and this shouldn’t be a moral equivalent to people in a democracy defending its citizens to acts of terrorism—the world will be a brighter and better place,” Goldman said.