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College leaders must act to protect students
Imagine being a Jewish college student on campus today. You wake up on Saturday, October 7, and learn of the most violent and murderous attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. In those first few hours during which the extent of Hamas’s atrocities are still becoming known, you log on to social media and see fellow students posting a laudatory graphic of a Hamas terrorist on a paraglider — the same paragliders that were used in an attack to gun down Jews your age at a music festival.
In the days that follow, you leave your dorm to attend a vigil for the 1,400 Jews who were slaughtered, but your mourning and grief are interrupted by pro-Hamas protestors. You arrive at class for a required course where the professor asks all the Jewish students to remove their backpacks and belongings and huddle together in a corner so they can feel what it’s like to be a Palestinian in Gaza. You see that a Hamas leader has called for “a global day of jihad” against Jews around the world. And this is all within 72 hours of seeing graphic images of thousands of Israeli civilians – people to whom you feel connected or may even know – being slaughtered, raped, taken hostage or maimed.
And through all of this, you hear silence from many you would expect to speak up and express outrage at what is happening, including faculty who lead your classes and administrators who lead your institutions.
These are just a few of the very real and horrifying examples of what has been happening on campuses nationwide. And when you hear it, it’s easy to understand why Jewish students are scared. In fact, based on our survey of Jewish college students last week, more than half (56%) report being scared, isolated, angry and sad.
Worse yet, a quarter of Jewish students surveyed said there has been violence or acts of hate committed on their campus since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. That’s one in four students subjected to violence on campus in the span of three weeks in what should be a safe space. That should be alarming to everyone. We can’t allow it to go unnoticed or unaddressed.
College and university leaders need to do more. Even with the efforts of those administrations that have spoken up about the initial Hamas atrocities and the subsequent spike in antisemitism, only 41% of the Jewish students we surveyed reported feeling satisfied with support from their university leaders.
Hillels around the world are doing all they can to provide additional security, community space, programming, wellness support and advocacy on behalf of Jewish students. However, Hillel professionals and student leaders can’t solve this problem alone. They need — and Jewish students deserve — campus administrators to continue speaking up, showing up, and standing up for their Jewish student communities, which does not in any way preclude them from doing the same for Palestinian-Americans or other students being impacted by the war.
Students from Ohio State University Hillel gather to express support and solidarity with Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel. (Courtesy of Hillel International)
In particular, university administrations must address faculty and staff who use their platforms and resources to traffic in biased and discriminatory agitation that alienates, silences and marginalizes significant minority communities on their campuses. I understand the needs and protections for academic freedom and free speech, but those freedoms are not a license to create an environment of harassment, bullying and threats for Jewish students, or for any students.
Even amid this degrading campus climate for Jewish students, there is a basis for hope. We’ve seen Jewish students and Hillel communities show up with courage and resilience in mourning for the victims of the Simchat Torah massacre, and in showing compassion toward the continuing civilian victims of the war — both Israeli and Palestinian — even as they understand that it is Hamas who has put all of those victims in harm’s way.
Jewish learning and tradition teaches us to bring light even, and especially, into these darkest moments, and our students exemplify that tradition. While students have a role to play in repairing what’s broken in their campus communities and in the broader world, that does not absolve the university administrators, faculty and staff from doing everything within their powers to ensure the well-being, safety and support for all of their students, including their Jewish students.
Adam Lehman is the President and CEO of Hillel International, the largest Jewish campus organization in the world.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.