Students Gather to Mourn and Condemn Violence in Israel and Gaza
‘There are people in this room whose families have been attacked,’ said professor Daniel Kurtzer at one event
Editor’s note: This article was last updated on Oct. 18.
In the week since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel, the Princeton University community has responded with vigils, fundraisers, rallies, listening circles, and academic presentations, and by writing letters, including one by President Christopher Eisgruber ’83.
More than 400 people attended a Tigers for Israel vigil on the Frist South Lawn Oct. 12, with support from the Center for Jewish Life (CJL), the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice, Public Safety, Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS), Chabad of Princeton, and other departments.
Two students sang a song in Hebrew as mourners gathered — several wearing or holding Israeli flags — in front of an array of photos of those who have been murdered, kidnapped, or are missing after the attack by Hamas, a political and militant organization that governs the Gaza Strip, on Israel on Oct. 7. Israeli officials report more than 1,300 people were killed in the assault. Israel has since declared war on Hamas, killing more than 1,500 people in Gaza as of Oct. 13, according to authorities on both sides.
More songs, prayers, candle lighting, and remarks followed from speakers including Rabbi Eitan Webb and Gitty Webb, co-directors of the Scharf Family Chabad House, and Rabbi Gil Steinlauf ’91, director of the CJL at Princeton.
“A barbaric attack on innocent civilians shakes us to our core, but at that core, we are filled with purpose. We stand up for what is right. We condemn unspeakable cruelty, and we comfort those around us. We repair brokenness through deeds of goodness and kindness,” Eitan Webb said.
Leona Teten ’27, a Jewish Israeli citizen, attended the vigil because “I have family in Israel, and in my high school I was very involved with Israeli activism … . So, I wanted to come out and show support for my community.”
Aiden Sandler ’27 said he was there because “seeing it on the news, it really hit me hard, and I want to show my support for Israel and kind of stand up against all the atrocities going on there.”
On Oct. 13, a vigil organized by Princeton Students for Justice in Palestine drew a crowd of around 300 people to the front lawn of Nassau Hall. The vigil, open to the public, brought together people from the campus community and the neighboring areas. Faculty members, alumni, students from other colleges, and families with young children came together to mourn and grieve.
Nine people lined up near the Nassau Hall steps and alternated between holding signs and going up to speak.
The speakers led a repeat-after-me, chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” They highlighted human rights abuses that are occurring in the area and the feelings of despair and hopelessness that many were experiencing. They encouraged the attendees to keep the sufferings of the Palestinian people in mind.
One student, Jim Wells ’26, spoke about attending the Oct. 12 vigil hosted by Tigers for Israel, where the audience was asked to pray for all innocent lives lost. He then turned to his audience and echoed the same message: “I ask everyone to keep in mind and pray for all innocent people in the region, both Palestinian and non-Palestinian.”
Organizers encouraged the participants to focus on humanity and create a space to express grief and build hope. After the speakers concluded, most of the attendees stayed, embracing friends and taking time to check in with one another.
Princeton Students for Justice in Palestine released a lengthy statement reacting to the unrest in Israel and Gaza.
“We, the Princeton Students for Justice in Palestine, hold the Israeli apartheid state ultimately responsible for the tremendous loss of life in occupied Palestine, Gaza, and the West Bank,” the statement reads. “Coming from a wide range of faith backgrounds, ethnicities, and origins, we are in mourning. We hold the Jewish and Palestinian communities in our hearts, including many of our own family and friends, who are living through this trauma. We pray for those who are grieving their dead or searching for loved ones.”
The group also outlined next steps it would like to see in the Middle East and at Princeton, saying, “We call on the Princeton community to support its Palestinian members unequivocally, as we have unequivocally with Israeli students, and demand free speech protections for all who publicly support the Palestinian cause. We once again send our deepest condolences to the Palestinian and Jewish communities. We hope for peace; peace is only possible if the occupation ends. Peace is a free Palestine.”
In an Oct. 10 open letter, Eisgruber acknowledged the hurt and grief felt around the world, including at Princeton, after Hamas’ “cruel and inhumane attack.”
“The nightmare underway in Israel and in the Palestinian territories is being deeply felt on this campus. That pain will inevitably continue in the months ahead. My heart goes out to everyone personally affected,” Eisgruber wrote.
According to Steinlauf, additional security has been implemented at the CJL. The center said that Princeton students have been raising funds to support those who were impacted, hanging posters of missing Israelis on campus, and making and selling bracelets with the names of missing Israelis.
Steinlauf also spoke before an Oct. 9 lecture by Daniel Kurtzer, formerly the U.S. ambassador to Israel and currently a professor of Middle East policy studies at the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA).
Kurtzer started by reminding the audience this was “not just an academic discussion. This is personal. There are people in this room whose families, families, have been attacked and terrorized, raped and kidnapped, and some brutally murdered.”
Calling this attack “probably the worst event in the history of Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Kurtzer said victory for Israel will be complicated by the fact that Hamas is a movement, not just an organization, but he also doesn’t see Israel pursuing “a diplomatic alternative” to a ground invasion.
“Anybody in this room who has relatives or friends in Israel, if you’ve called them, everybody knows somebody who has either been killed, wounded, mobilized, or worse, taken hostage in Gaza. Everybody.”
On Oct. 12, Kurtzer was back at the podium, this time as part of a SPIA panel discussion that also included Salam Fayyad, a visiting senior scholar and former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority; Mona Yacoubian, vice president of the Middle East and North Africa Center at the United States Institute of Peace; and Razia Iqbal, also a visiting scholar.
SPIA Dean Amaney Jamal, who was born in the United States but spent some of her teenage years in the West Bank, introduced the event. “I recognize and acknowledge the deep pain and suffering of Israelis today. And it is my sincere hope that my empathy and care for Israeli civilians should not be misperceived as negating my simultaneous empathy and care for the Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. Equally true, nor should my concern and care for Palestinian civilians negate my simultaneous empathy and care for Israeli civilians. Empathy and care are not zero sum.”
Several students and student groups have written open letters to the community addressing the war. An open letter by Windsor Nguyen ’25, which had nearly 150 Princetonian signatures as of Oct. 13, condemned Hamas’ attack and called on academic institutions to provide “a balanced condemnation of violence, devoid of moral relativism.”
In an Oct. 10 email, Tigers for Israel wrote in part that “On campus, all Israeli students/faculty and the majority of Jewish community members are facing the reality that our family and friends have been murdered, kidnapped, or are still unaccounted for.”
The email continued: “To say the majority of Jews at Princeton, along with all Israelis, are facing the reality we described is an understatement. Please check in with your friends.”
Yavneh of Princeton, an Orthodox Jewish student group, told PAW via email that “Yavneh of Princeton is devastated by Hamas’ barbaric attacks on innocent Israeli civilians. We have taken steps to help our community respond to the massacres and to support the State of Israel as it responds to these horrific events.”
The Alliance of Jewish Progressives wrote in an email to PAW that “We condemn this horrific violence, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to a more just reality, which necessitates ending the occupation and lifting the siege on Gaza.”
The campus community has also responded with small group gatherings and listening circles, including one hosted by CPS on Oct. 10. That same day, the CJL provided transportation from campus to a rally in support of Israel at the United Nations’ New York City headquarters.
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11 Responses
Anthony J. Vine ’85
10 Months AgoWe must rebuke the inadequacy of appropriate responses by our alma mater to condemn terrorism and murder, hostage taking, and antisemitism.
The first two sentences of President Eisgruber’s Oct. 10 statement were relatively strong: “Even in a world wearied and torn by violence and hatred, Hamas’s murder and kidnapping of hundreds of Israelis over the past weekend is among the most atrocious of terrorist acts. This cruel and inhumane attack has provoked a bloody war that has already claimed the lives of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis and will tragically take many more as it continues.” He should have stopped right there. Like most other college leaders, he pulled out the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) card, invoking the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli struggles and referring Princetonians to read the “thoughtful compilations” on such issues provided by Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. Like so many of our educational leaders, he failed to take a stance against antisemitism.
Responding to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ speech condemning Israel, the Yad Vashem Chairman, Dani Dayan asserted without equivocation, hesitancy, or indecision:
“The slaughter of Jews by Hamas on October 7th was genocidal in its intents and immeasurably brutal in its form … . However, it puts to test the sincerity of world leaders, intellectuals and influencers that come to Yad Vashem and pledge ‘Never Again’. Those who seek to ‘understand’, look for a justifying context, do not categorically condemn the perpetrators, and do not call for the unconditional and immediate release of the abducted – fail the test. …”
The situation on campus and in the Middle East is incendiary and may seem a tricky line for educational administrators to walk, given the importance our First Amendment rights. Recently, an open letter written by Princeton alumni and circulated online responded to the so-called “free speech” of Princeton students on the eve of Kristallnacht remembrance chanting for Intifada from “Princeton to Gaza.” These words are genocidal: They call for the murder of Jews both on campus and globally. There was harassment of Jewish students who attempted to document the event on video. Deciding what represents free speech is up to the courts, but unprotected speech includes defamation, true threats, and fighting words.
The linguistic roots of the word “antisemitism” suggest a dual animosity toward “semites” — both Arabs and Jews, the biblical descendants of Noah’s third son, Shem (“sem-“). Yet, the actual term “antisemite” did not originate until the 1870s in Germany, where it was used to describe an ideological antagonism toward the Jews of Central Europe, who, according to Wilhelm Marr’s 1879 treatise, “Bund der Antisemitism,” were designing to destroy German society from within.
Whether we dub it “antisemitism” or “Jew hatred,” it is thriving on Princeton’s campus and ascending exponentially in the world. In the name of humanism and humanity, we must oppose it. This antisocial and philistine behavior defiles and violates the principles embedded within our alma mater’s motto and edict, “Dei sub numine viget” and “Princeton in the nation’s service” (given, admittedly, the controversial nature of the man who promoted both, Woodrow Wilson).
Stanley Goldfarb ’65
10 Months AgoThe authors of “Students Gather to Mourn After Violence in Israel, Gaza” (On the Campus, November issue) should be congratulated on finding a new way to describe a terrorist attack on peaceful women, children, and the elderly in Israel Oct. 7. To call it a “surprise attack” turns a barbarous act into a military action like Pearl Harbor or Operation Barbarossa.
Calling what Hamas committed by any other name than terrorism is absurd. But then, this sort of journalism puts PAW in the mainstream of Orwellian speech that is found in our leading newspapers and magazines. Even the quote from President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 does not mention the word “terrorism,” although he did call it a terrorist attack in his full statement.
You can be sympathetic to Palestinians caught in the horrors of war without engaging in ludicrous denial about how that war started. Then again, you might recall the fate of those who launch “surprise attacks” against determined opponents.
Daniel I.A. Cohen ’67
10 Months AgoThe current installment of the Israeli-Arab war provides a clear litmus test to detect antisemitism in American universities in general. There are many trying to sniff out Arab suffering at Israeli hands and scream “Geneva Conventions, Geneva Conventions.” The instances they choose to decry betray their total ignorance of the content of these conventions. Just as all cries for humanitarian aid seem to ignore the plight of those held hostage. Don’t they merit release as humanitarian aid?
How many bullet holes can one put into a baby without violating the Geneva Conventions? How many unarmed concert goers can one massacre before provoking the displeasure of the antisemite?
To the idea that in a conflict both sides must be at fault, let us consider this example: On one side is Booth on the other Lincoln; it takes two to make an assassination therefore they must both be at fault.
Those who still hold noncombatant hostages and use human shields (both in contravention of the Geneva Conventions) do not have the high road, nor do their enthusiastic supporters.
What did Israel do to provoke this conflict? They were about to make peace with Saudi Arabia. All but antisemites would applaud that.
Michael P. Goldstein ’69
10 Months AgoThough the piece on campus reaction to the fighting in Israel/Palestine seeks to report without taking sides, the pro-Israeli-policy bias that pervades most U.S. reporting leaks through here, too. (I find the longer online version less problematic.)
The print article repeats real content from the pro-Israel rally and refers to people “murdered, kidnapped, or [who] are missing” after Hamas’ attack and includes President Eisgruber’s reference to Hamas’ “cruel and inhumane attack.” The only references to a Palestinian perspective were quoting 1.) a slogan widely misinterpreted as promoting driving out Jewish Israelis and 2.) Eisgruber’s equivalence-invoking reference to “[t]he nightmare underway in Israel and Palestine.” Hamas takes terrible actions; but is the Israeli government carrying out massive and indiscriminate bombing? No, Palestinians just happen to be enduring a nightmare.
Even at press time, it had to be clear that Israel was killing thousands of innocents in a campaign aimed at an entire people whom it has been oppressing, and periodically massacring, for decades. Its campus opponents could have been quoted pointing this out.
The subtlety of this kind of bias makes it all the more insidious.
Michael Goldstein ’78
10 Months AgoThe Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, killing and kidnapping more than 1,400 Israelis, and the subsequent Israeli response have exacerbated already existing problems of antisemitism on Ivy League campuses. Assailed by alumni and students for their lack of response to numerous antisemitic incidents, Harvard, Penn, and Columbia have announced steps to address antisemitism on campus. Princeton needs to formally address antisemitism on its own campus as well. Princeton has hired antisemitic speakers, included an antisemitic text in a University course, and sent an Israeli graduate student, Elizabeth Tsurkov, to Iraq for her research, where she has now been held captive for eight months. The enrollment of Jewish students at Princeton has declined from 18% in the 1980s, according to The New York Times, to 9.6% today, according to Hillel International. Anecdotally, when I visited in May when school was in session, there were many empty tables for dinner at the Center for Jewish Life. Princeton, like its peers, must examine its treatment of Jews on campus.
Howard Levy ’85
10 Months AgoI write in reference to the mistitled article “Students Gather to Mourn After Violence in Israel, Gaza.” In describing the vigil held by the Princeton Students for Justice in Palestine, it was mentioned without comment that the “mourners” where chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” That is not a statement of mourning, but rather a barely coded statement advocating the destruction of Israel and elimination of its Jewish residents. (For clarity, Israel is the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.) A more apt title might be “Students Gather to Mourn and Call for the Destruction of the Jewish State after Violence in Israel, Gaza.”
Stephen Duncan Moffat ’69
11 Months AgoIn the wake of the Hamas invasion into Israel and the subsequent slaughter of many innocent civilians, I am distressed to hear about the protests and support of the Hamas regime on numerous college campuses. In particular, what is going on at Harvard is despicable.
I have not heard of any similar activity at Old Nassau and I sincerely hope it does not occur. I do not believe this is a matter of free speech, but rather a misguided and very disturbing display of support for a terrorist organization. If it occurs, it should be squashed immediately by school officials. Furthermore, if any professor is active in promoting this kind of support for a terrorist regime, or any type of antisemitic sentiment, they should be dismissed. It comes dangerously close to treason in my opinion.
Protesting war in general is certainly acceptable under the rights of free speech. Protesting and actively supporting a terrorist organization that has slaughtered many men, women, and children is out of bounds.
Edward Diener ’61
11 Months AgoJust about all of this hate and killing could be ended if the people committed to living peacefully with each other. Currently, Hamas is dedicated to wiping Israel off the map; it is an existential threat. With millions of Jews living there, that is unlikely to succeed and just draws out this terrible situation. “From the river to the sea” also seeks to end Israel’s existence as the homeland for the Jewish people. Again, unlikely to succeed and just draws out the misery. With the current environment of hate and a corrupt Palestinian Authority government, ending the occupation by Israel in the West Bank would likely lead to Hamas ruling in the West Bank. Consider Israel left Lebanon and ended up with Hezbollah, left Gaza and disastrously for the Gazans and Israelis ended up with Hamas there. A very bleak picture and all the sympathy for victims will not change anything. We need mindset change, a drive for living together in peace with respect. And there are several organizations in Israel pushing for this.
Along with this, Israel needs to end its push to take over the entire West Bank and end its efforts to either drive out the Palestinians or make them second class citizens.
Israel has shown that living together is not only possible but can be enormously better than the current situation; about 20% of Israel’s population has been and continues to be Arab, and this has held for about 75 years!
Let us focus on preventing this misery from going on, because unless fundamental mindset changes are made it will. Get rid of the instigators, work for living together in peace and with respect. Stop the slogans, the accusations. Get together to know each other and the desire to raise families in peace.
Jerel Zoltick ’72
11 Months AgoAs a Jew I am a first generation American. Much of my family died in the Holocaust. My father was one of the first Zionists in America, meeting Eleanor Roosevelt during the first years that Israel became a Jewish state.
I am ashamed of the students at Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown, etc. who demonstrate support of the Hamas terrorists. They reside in an alternate universe. I am sad. What is happening on university campuses?
I support the Jews and others at Princeton who support Israel at this time of crisis.
Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence
11 Months AgoAmong the statements issued by Princeton campus organizations in the wake of the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, was the following declaration by Fr. Zachary Swantek on behalf of the University’s Catholic community:
“The Aquinas Institute, Princeton University’s center for Catholic life, stands in prayerful solidarity with the Jewish people — our ‘elder brothers in faith,‘ to quote Pope Saint John Paul II — at this time of loss and grieving. The Catholic community was shocked and appalled by the barbaric terrorist attacks on innocent Jews, including defenseless children and elderly people, in Israel. These attacks — including murders, rapes, and kidnappings — were timed to occur on the Sabbath and on the holiday of Simchat Torah when the Jewish people, whom we Catholics recognize in our Easter liturgy as ‘first to hear the Word of God,’ remember the giving of the Torah to their ancestors. We offer our deepest condolences to the victims and their families and we wish particularly to assure our local Jewish community here in Princeton of our fervent prayers and support.”
Michael Goldstein ’78
11 Months AgoThe murderous mass terrorist attack on Israel last weekend is the direct result of years of antisemitic incitement. Sadly, Princeton condones and supports such incitement under the guise of “free speech” and “academic freedom.”
In February 2023, Princeton invited a speaker, Mohammed El-Kurd, who the University was aware would deliver antisemitic incitement on campus. I have repeatedly contacted the chairman of the English department to ask what they paid El-Kurd for his hateful speech. The University has refused to disclose the amount.
This followed a 2019 Princeton panel including author Norman Finkelstein *87, who called a student (a grandson of Holocaust survivors who served in the IDF) a “concentration camp guard,” according to The Princeton Tory. Finkelstein also said that Israelis “are biped bloodhounds drinking the blood of one million [Palestinian] children,” according to The Daily Princetonian.
This fall, a Princeton class included on its syllabus a book featuring a similar blood libel, claiming Israel deliberately maims Palestinians.
U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., spoke out, saying, “Princeton University recently announced it will include antisemitic and anti-Israel literature, The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability, by Jasbir Puar, among reading materials for a humanities course called ‘The Healing Humanities: Decolonizing Trauma Studies from the Global South.’”
“The book veers into offensive, antisemitic blood libel and argues that the Israel Defense Forces, in efforts to oppress and control Palestinians, deliberately creates injury, keeping Palestinian populations debilitated,” Gottheimer added. “This claim of Israeli control over Palestinians to maintain dominance is egregiously false.”
Ex-Human Rights Watch executive director Ken Roth was hired to teach at Princeton this year. Roth repeatedly refers to Israel as an “apartheid state.” He continues to attack Israel for its response to the horrific Hamas massacre of more than 1,300 Israelis.
Also this fall, Princeton hired special envoy for Iran and former nuclear negotiator Robert Malley to teach at the School of Public and International Affairs, despite his suspension from the State Department and loss of security clearance due to possible unauthorized links to the Iranian regime, which constantly threatens to kill millions of Jews. Iran celebrated the Hamas attack on Israel but has so far denied responsibility.
“Pitiful. Look who my alma mater just made a prof,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Princeton ’92, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Rob Malley was such a pro-Iran radical that he was FIRED from Biden admin & had his security clearance stripped for ‘mishandling classified docs’ (the details are still hidden).”
Rep. Michael McCaul, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that if Malley “transferred intelligence and secrets to our foreign nation adversary … that would be treason in my view.” McCaul told the Algemeiner, “I would urge Princeton to reconsider allowing Mr. Malley to teach US college students until the underlying reason for the suspension is made clear and the issue is resolved.”
Malley is now also being investigated by the House Oversight & Accountability Committee regarding “communications surround potential intelligence compromise of Iran Envoy Robert Malley and members of his negotiating team.”
In March 2023, a Jewish graduate student, Elizabeth Tsurkov, went to Iraq for her Princeton graduate work. Islamist militants kidnapped her. After 7 months, it is unknown whether she is dead or alive. Princeton has said little about her situation or why someone with an Israeli passport was permitted to do her research in a place so dangerous.
I believe Princeton has become a hostile place for Jews, due to the University’s own actions and inactions. As an alumnus, I cannot support this.