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My University Looks the Other Way as Pro-Palestinian Group Chat Praises Hitler, Encourages Violence Against Jewish Students
Illustrative: A student puts on their anti-Israel graduation cap reading “From the river to the sea” at the People’s Graduation, hosted for Mahmoud Khalil and other students from New York University. Photo: Angelina Katsanis via Reuters Connect
“I want a jew to approach us tomorrow,” one Western University student said in a covert student group chat. “Violence was never the answer (but) with them maybe.”
University and college campuses across North America have increasingly become battlegrounds where Biblical values, freedom of thought, and open dialogue are under siege. In many cases, the rejection of these foundational principles has given rise to a deeply rooted hostility toward Israel and the Jewish people, often masked in “political activism” and pro-Palestinian advocacy.
Western University, where I have been a student and Jewish ally for the past two years, has recently come under scrutiny due to the discovery of explicit antisemitic hate uncovered by several Jewish students who originally infiltrated the open group chat of the university-sanctioned Palestinian Cultural Club.
On October 7, 2023, as Jews and Israelis in southern Israel were being brutally murdered and taken hostage, the group chat turned from merely cultural (Ramadan celebrations and club elections) to celebratory. According to the National Post, one of the first references to the attack in the group chat explained: “Everyone this is a time where we all stand united.” The comment was not followed by horror or rebuke, but rather by a wave of heart emojis and Palestinian flags.
The conversations that followed, and have been maintained for almost two years, are shocking to read. Referencing the Israeli hostages shortly after October 7th, one student explained: “They’re probably being treated better than how they were treated in their own homes.”
On October 17, 2023, another student wrote: “They don’t know that h4mas is literally OUR military. and they just defend but somehow they are the problem??”
Throughout the chat, Jews were often called “yahood” and were referenced in context to antisemitic conspiracy theories. “The yahood (Jews) own everything,” a student wrote on Oct. 15. “That’s how they control everyone. Money.”
“The government are slaves to these jews,” another one wrote.
Western University’s president, Alan Shepard, was called a “zionist pig.” Later, another student asked about Shepard, “Just out of curiosity, does anyone know Alan (Shepard’s) house location. I heard it’s public information.”
The discussion came up later in the group chat about how to get the Jewish people out of “Palestine.” Sending them “back into the diaspora” was brought up as a logical conclusion. One student recommended sending the Jews to Jupiter, to which another student responded, “Mars is suitable for them, let them burn a little.” Another voice concluded, “But speaking of burning, the sun’s a pretty good spot. We gotta make them hate their life, not let them burn.”
The chat contained several antisemitic memes, and references to Hitler were also abundant. According to the National Post, a cartoon of Hitler with a banner displaying “#1 Victory Royale!” was posted by a student.
The number 6 million was displayed beneath a depiction of a skull in an unashamed reference to the Holocaust. An altered photo of Hitler, shaping his hands into a heart, was then posted by that same student.
The discussions did not stop at the glorification of the Holocaust or the “Jews to Mars” solution. Instead, students went on to discuss “being careful of Zionists,” and some even mentioned carrying weapons. “I got a knife, but it doesn’t sound like a good idea to carry it around,” one wrote. Another responded, “(J)ust be careful if you guys want to carry that stuff. lol have oranges in your bag so your excuse for the knife is to cut oranges.”
The threats became more focused when a member of the group offered to “fix the brains” of a Zionist business student on campus. According to the National Post, “One student threatened, ‘I’m a geology major, I got some pretty rocks that I can use to ‘fix’ her brains. Just gotta work on my aim.’ A computer science major agreed, ‘Get me a bow and an arrow-shaped rock. I gotchu.’”
Jokingly or seriously, shipments of rifles, shotguns, and rocks were discussed after one student expressed his desire to “pop some Israelis.” The students went on to discuss taking over different buildings on campus.
If these beliefs are simmering beneath the surface, what’s keeping them from rising to the forefront? It’s not the horror of saying “Jews should burn” that holds them back; it’s the fear of what might happen if someone hears them say it. Though sadly today, many people agree with them — and voices like these aren’t needing to stay very hidden. That should be the most alarming part of all — and a wake-up call for every university that claims an atmosphere meant to foster constructive dialogue and open-minded education.
Since October 7th, the Palestinian Club on campus has organized multiple protests, where students marched through campus waving Palestinian flags, wearing keffiyehs, and chanting slogans like “Free Palestine,” “Stop the genocide,” and even “Save our Martyrs” following the Israeli strike on Hezbollah officials in September 2024.
But in light of the exposed messages from many of the same students involved in these demonstrations, the true intent and disturbing motivations behind these slogans, at least for some participants, becomes clear; and it is frightening. Beneath the banner of “Free Palestine” and these protests often lies a deep-seated antisemitism.
As a Christian ally of the Jewish people, what I’ve witnessed on campus deeply concerns me — but it does not surprise me. The persistent, unexplainable hatred toward the Jewish people throughout history is not merely political or cultural; it is, without question, a spiritual battle.
In Genesis 12, God chose Abraham and set the Jewish people apart for a divine purpose in His plan. He declared that, “whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, and whoever curses Israel will be cursed (Gen 12:2-3).” God promised to preserve His people, even as the world reviles that promise and repeatedly seeks to destroy them (Zech 2:8; Jer 31:35-36).
While individuals who identify themselves as “pro-Palestinian” may not share the violent intentions expressed by these students at Western, any movement that supports a terrorist organization and seeks to blame the Jewish people for their self-defense is a movement that harbors deeply rooted antisemitic hatred — something people should not want to be aligned with.
As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks succinctly put it, “In the Middle Ages, Jews were hated because of their religion. In the 19th and 20th centuries, they were hated because of their race. Today, they are hated because of their nation-state, Israel. Anti-Zionism is the new antisemitism.”
The recent assassination of conservative commentator and devout Christian, Charlie Kirk, underscores the deeply alarming state of college campuses across North America.
Antisemitic hatred — often disguised as “activism” — has become a widespread and growing issue in these institutions. Many Jewish students now understandably feel unsafe, as leftist ideologies continue to distort moral clarity and silence dissent. Charlie Kirk was a man who took a stand for what he believed in, and recognized that real ideological change must begin on college campuses if it is ever to transform a nation.
Tiauna Lodewyk is a Business student at Western University, Canada, and an Evangelical Christian actively involved in pro-Israel advocacy on campus and in the Christian community.
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Charlie Kirk’s Producer Debunks Anti-Israel Conspiracy Theories Pushed by Lawmaker, Podcasters, Pro-Iran Propagandist
US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) talks with reporters after a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the Capitol Hill Club, Washington, DC, Sept. 9, 2025. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Sipa USA) via Reuters Connect
Last week’s assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has animated a wave of anti-Israel conspiracy theories, inspiring voices on both the far right and far left to join together in promoting an assortment of unsubstantiated claims inflected with conventional antisemitic tropes.
On Monday, Kirk’s producer and a billionaire supporter of Israel both rejected the allegations fueled by Max Blumenthal, a fiercely anti-Israel journalist promoted by Iranian state media who carries a long record of smearing the Jewish state.
Blumenthal, editor of the Grayzone website, published claims from anonymous sources that Kirk had been pressured at a Hamptons gathering hosted by billionaire Bill Ackman weeks before his death. Kirk was reportedly “hammered” over his views on Israel by Ackman and other pro-Israel advocates, leaving him to feel blackmailed.
The report named Natasha Hausdorff of UK Lawyers for Israel as among those who berated Kirk. Hausdorff confirmed to the New York Post that she attended the meeting but called the accusation “categorically untrue” and added that whoever said it “is absolutely lying.” Ackman also denied the charge, calling the claim “totally false.”
Blumenthal has long written articles sympathetic to Hezbollah, the former Assad regime in Syria, and Hamas. In 2013, he notably published Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, which Eric Alterman, media columnist for the leftist flagship magazine The Nation, described as “a propaganda tract” that could “have been published by the Hamas Book-of-the-Month Club (if it existed).”
The Grayzone report has since influenced Candace Owens, the podcaster who has been widely accused of antisemitism, and US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), among others, demonstrating a convergence between far-left and far-right figures in promoting antisemitic narratives and anti-Israel conspiracies.
Owens — who previously worked with Kirk before her shift to open, unapologetic opposition to Israel and promotion of antisemitic conspiracy theories, which resulted in her termination from her job as podcaster at The Daily Wire in March 2024 — claimed during a Monday monologue that pro-Israel forces staged an “intervention” with Kirk involving Ackman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She alleged Kirk, an outspoken supporter of Israel who often called out the dangers of antisemitism, was changing his views and offered “a ton of money” to remain pro-Israel, comparing the meeting to a “re-education camp.” Owens said Kirk refused the offers, warning her followers to be “very wary and suspicious of the people who are already telling us to stop asking questions about the Charlie Kirk assassination.”
The podcaster later clarified that she was not directly accusing Israel of orchestrating the murder but argued Kirk had faced “extreme pressure” over his views. Owens also shared social media posts criticizing Netanyahu, captioning one with “All will be revealed.”
Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, responded on X, saying Owens had “slandered” him by accusing him of staging an intervention and suggesting that he blackmailed Kirk. He denied ever offering Kirk or Turning Point USA, the political advocacy organization he started, any money, pressuring him on Israel, or threatening him. “In short, this was not an ‘intervention’ to ‘blackmail’ Charlie Kirk into adopting certain views on Israel,” Ackman wrote in his statement. He described his interactions with Kirk as cordial and said he admired him.
Ackman said he and Kirk first connected on Zoom in June, then worked together to organize a conference of conservative influencers in Bridgehampton in August. He said about 35 influencers attended, collectively reaching more than 100 million followers, and that discussions included a range of issues such as economics, dating, immigration, and Israel. He added that participants expressed varied views on Israel and US support for the country.
Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” corroborated Ackman’s account. In a statement, Kolvet said he had spoken with three Turning Point staffers who were present at the gathering in question and that “Bill never yelled at Charlie, never pressed him on Bibi [Netanyahu], never gave him a list of Charlie’s offenses against Israel.” Kolvet added that Kirk himself had told him he had a “cordial relationship” with Ackman and that the event was “productive.”
Despite those denials, the conspiracy theories gained further traction on the far right. Greene wrote on X that supporters should “believe Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson” over “Bibi Netanyahu (a foreign country’s leader),” before warning: “Do not allow a foreign country, foreign agents, and another religion tell you about Charlie Kirk. And I hope a foreign country and foreign agents and another religion does not take over Christian Patriotic Turning Point USA.” She described Kirk as a “Christian martyr” and suggested Jewish influence threatened his movement.
On July 28, Greene accused Israel of engaging in a genocide in Gaza.
The New York Post reported that Owens’ comments relied in part on Blumenthal’s Grayzone article. In addition, Owens suggested law enforcement had intentionally allowed Kirk’s killer to evade capture, though police have charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah with the shooting.
Authorities have not presented any evidence linking Israel or pro-Israel figures to the crime. Rather, the alleged shooter’s animosity toward Kirk’s positions on LGBTQ issues appears to have inspired the attack, according to prosecutors.
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Rising Antisemitism on European Campuses: Italian Professor Assaulted, French Students Excluded From Online Groups
Youths take part in the occupation of a street in front of the building of the Sciences Po University in support of Palestinians in Gaza, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Paris, France, April 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
Violence and intimidation against Jewish and Israeli students as well as faculty are on the rise across European campuses, as an Italian professor was assaulted at the University of Pisa and students in France were excluded from online groups over their Jewish identities.
On Tuesday, pro-Palestinian protesters stormed a classroom at the University of Pisa in Tuscany, Italy, and assaulted an Italian professor who has opposed cutting ties with Israeli universities.
According to local reports, protesters burst into the classroom waving Palestinian flags and shouting antisemitic slurs, targeting the professor over his opposition to the university’s recent decision to sever ties with two Israeli universities.
A student who tried to intervene was attacked by protesters. When the professor stepped in to protect him, he too was assaulted and later hospitalized with injuries to his head and arms.
A questi soggetti, non frega nulla dei bambini di Gaza: è soltanto una scusa per diffondere la solita violenza rossa.
Università di Pisa, un professore è stato aggredito e preso a calci da un gruppo di studenti dei collettivi universitari di sinistra. pic.twitter.com/jvqh2uWB9C
— Francesca Totolo (@fratotolo2) September 16, 2025
On the same day, anti-Israel protesters disrupted a lecture by a visiting Israeli speaker at the Polytechnic University of Turin in northern Italy, shouting antisemitic slogans as they stormed the classroom.
Shortly after the incident, the university announced it was cutting ties with the speaker because he had defended the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the confrontation with the protesters.
Un gruppo di studenti di Cambiare Rotta ha interrotto una lezione al Politecnico di Torino tenuta da Pini Zorea, docente dell’università israeliana di Braude, per protestare contro l’uso delle tecnologie di riconoscimento facciale a fini di sorveglianza. “Non metteremo le nostre… pic.twitter.com/AhXmBsguzY
— Repubblica (@repubblica) September 16, 2025
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, anti-Israel activity on campuses has intensified, with Jewish and Israeli students facing frequent targeting and isolation in an increasingly hostile environment.
On Monday, a group of first-year economics students at Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris created a group chat on Instagram that excluded several students, accusing them of being Zionists based on their Jewish-sounding names or surnames, French media reported.
“If there are any other Zionists in this group besides those I’ve already kicked out, leave now — we don’t want you here,” wrote one of the students who created the group, placing a Palestinian flag in the middle.
This latest antisemitic incident follows a similar episode last month, when a student created a poll in a WhatsApp group chat titled, “For or Against Jews?”
Yossef Murciano, president of the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF), denounced the rising wave of anti-Jewish incidents, noting that the group had posted notices across multiple campuses to highlight the latest antisemitic episodes.
“We reported the incident to the university, but so far nothing has been done. We were told that measures would be taken, but we don’t know when or how,” Murciano said.
In a press release, the university strongly condemned such “unacceptable behavior,” expressing its full support for those students affected by the recent antisemitic incidents.
The university also announced that it had submitted “all available evidence to the public prosecutor” regarding these two incidents and plans to initiate “disciplinary proceedings” against each of the perpetrators.
“These two acts, whose antisemitic nature seems clear, deserve a punishment commensurate with their severity,” the statement read.
French Minister of Higher Education and Research Philippe Baptiste strongly condemned the latest incidents, demanding a zero-tolerance approach.
“I stand with these young people, victims of antisemitism that must be opposed everywhere, including, sadly, in our universities. There is only one possible response: zero tolerance!” Baptiste wrote in a post on X.
A l’université Paris 1, des étudiants juifs exclus d’un groupe Whatsapp d’élèves sur la base de leurs noms ! J’apporte tout mon soutien à ces jeunes, victimes de l’antisémitisme que nous devons combattre partout, y compris, malheureusement, dans nos universités. Une seule ligne…
— Philippe Baptiste (@PhBaptiste) September 15, 2025
Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF), also spoke out against the incident, calling it a disturbing example of rising antisemitism on campuses.
“This is not a pro-Palestinian campaign, it is a campaign of antisemitic intimidation,” Arfi said in a post on X.
“Si d’autres sionistes comme ceux que j’ai déjà retirés sont présents, vous pouvez quitter. On ne veut pas de vous ici
”
A Paris 1 les noms juifs ont été exclus de groupes WhatsApp d’étudiants…
Ce n’est pas être propalestinien, c’est une campagne d’intimidation antisémite. https://t.co/dZz5LqPz2n
— Yonathan Arfi (@Yonathan_Arfi) September 15, 2025
The incidents occurred weeks after two international Jewish groups and a German watchdog published a report showing that antisemitism on European university campuses following Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion of Israel has fostered a “climate of fear” for Jewish students.
Then earlier this week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) released their own report which found that the vast majority of Jewish students around the world resort to hiding their Jewishness and support for Israel on campuses to avoid becoming victims of antisemitism.
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Radio-Canada Suspends Journalist After Antisemitic Comments Spark Outrage
Radio-Canada reporter Élisa Serret. Photo: Screenshot
A journalist at Canada’s national public broadcaster, Radio-Canada, has been suspended after using antisemitic language during a Monday television broadcast, prompting an official apology from the network.
On the news program “Sur le terrain,” correspondent Élisa Serret, reporting from Washington on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Israel, was asked why the US continues to support Jerusalem despite its recent military offensive in Gaza.
Serret responded, saying in French, “The Israelis, in fact the Jews, finance a lot of American politics” and control a “big machine.”
The journalist then went on to claim that the largest US cities and Hollywood are “run by Jews,” echoing long-standing antisemitic stereotypes and hateful rhetoric about supposedly outsized and nefarious Jewish power.
After Serret’s comments went viral, sparking outrage from political leaders and the local Jewish community, Radio-Canada issued an apology, describing her remarks as “”stereotypical, antisemitic, erroneous, and prejudicial allegations against Jewish communities.”
“These unacceptable comments violate Radio-Canada’s Journalistic Standards and Practices and do not reflect the views of the public broadcaster,” the statement read.
“As a result, the news department has decided to relieve the journalist of her duties until further notice,” it continued. “We are aware that these comments have offended many viewers. We sincerely apologize and regret this.”
The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), a Canadian Jewish advocacy group, strongly condemned Serret’s comments, accusing Radio-Canada of spreading “antisemitic lies.”
Eta Yudin, CIJA’s vice-president for Quebec, called on the public broadcaster to take concrete measures to keep antisemitic content out of Canadian homes.
“This incident cannot be allowed to pass without serious internal reflection on the damage such hateful rhetoric inflicts on our democratic values,” Yudin said in a statement. “Antisemitism is corroding the fabric of our society.”
Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault, who is responsible for overseeing the public broadcaster, also condemned the incident, saying that “antisemitism has no place in Canada” and describing Serret’s remarks as “pernicious antisemitic tropes.”
“When antisemitic language is used by journalists, or anyone in a position of trust, it risks normalizing hatred in deeply dangerous ways,” Guilbeault said.
Anthony Housefather, the government’s special adviser on Jewish community relations and antisemitism, denounced the incident, saying Serret’s remarks echoed “textbook tropes that are antisemitic under the IHRA definition,” referring to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which was adopted by the government in 2020.
Melissa Lantsman, a member of the opposition Conservative Party, criticized the public broadcaster for failing to “uphold the values of this country” by airing what she described as an “antisemitic rant.”
“Overt antisemitism on TV is part of the deep systemic rot corroding our society, and it flourishes when tax-funded institutions provide it with a platform,” Lantsman said in a statement.
“Canadians deserve better than excuses and carefully worded apologies,” she continued.