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I Had to Transfer Colleges, You Shouldn’t Have To: My Advice to Jewish Students and Applicants
Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo Credit: John Phelan/Wikimedia Commons.
I pressed my forehead against the cold window of my hotel room, staring at the Emerson College campus just a few blocks away. The chants of “Long live the Intifada!” and “We don’t want no two-states, we want 1948!” echoed throughout the campus, reaching me even in the hotel room the administration had placed me in after practically admitting they couldn’t guarantee my safety on campus.
That night, as I scrolled through my phone, I saw videos of the very same protestors, blocking entrances to our residential buildings and defacing our campus with chalk using phrases such as, “F*ck Zionists” and “From the river to the sea.” I had never felt so displaced in my own city.
Being on my campus felt like residing in enemy territory. I wasn’t abroad. I wasn’t in a war zone. I was in Boston, at an American college, where my tuition dollars had paid for a school that ultimately betrayed me and my Jewish peers.
I was the only person in our student-run newspaper covering pro-Israel rallies and events, and one of the few open Zionists on our campus.
It felt isolating, knowing that I was standing up for Israel when so few were willing to do the same. I found myself constantly defending my beliefs against insidious misinformation in the classroom, and engaging in fierce debates with both professors and students daily.
Unfortunately, the hostility didn’t stop when classes ended for the day. Every time I opened my phone, I was met with hate messages on Instagram from fellow students — for posting something in memory of Oct. 7 or even for sharing a picture from a past visit to Israel. The pressure was relentless, suffocating even, and it felt as though the weight of defending the thing I cared about most — Israel — fell solely on my shoulders.
When I decided to transfer schools shortly before the encampments took our campus by storm, I had a new set of criteria for my next school. I ultimately chose The George Washington University (GWU) — a place many consider just as, if not more, hostile toward Jews. But this time, I wasn’t looking for an oasis. Instead, I was looking for something more: a community where I wouldn’t have to fight for Israel alone.
Looking back, the most impactful lesson I learned is one that Jewish college applicants today need to understand: you can no longer afford to settle for a campus where your presence is tolerated, but your voice is silenced.
It’s no longer enough to just pick a “less antisemitic” school. You need to find a place where you can stand up, speak out, and fight back — where you can be part of a Jewish community that refuses to be passive, one that will stand shoulder to shoulder with you when things get difficult.
Jewish College Applicants: Don’t Overlook What I Did
Since Oct. 7, the climate on campuses has only grown more hostile, and Jewish applicants must now ask themselves a new set of questions:
Administrative Response to Antisemitism: How has the school handled past incidents of antisemitism? If an encampment were to arise tomorrow, where would the school’s leadership stand?
Jewish Student Life: Does the campus have an active Hillel, Chabad, and other Jewish organizations? Are there Jewish faculty members advocating for students?
Classroom Climate: Are professors known for pushing anti-Israel rhetoric? Are Jewish students comfortable voicing their opinions in class?
Campus Security: Are anti-Israel protests commonplace? Does the campus apply adequate security measures to protect Jewish events?
Media Bias on Campus: How did the student newspaper cover the encampments and anti-Israel protests on campus?
Jewish students have a choice: spend four years hoping to be quietly tolerated, or spend four years surrounded by a community that will stand up, push back, and make their presence known. Don’t just look for a place where you can be Jewish in silence. Look for a place where you can be Jewish — loudly.
Margaux Jubin is a student at The George Washington University with a passion for national security, foreign policy, and education. She aspires to work for a pro-Israel nonprofit or lobbying group, using her writing and political communication skills to strengthen the US-Israel relationship, combat antisemitism, and expose misinformation.
The post I Had to Transfer Colleges, You Shouldn’t Have To: My Advice to Jewish Students and Applicants first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
The post Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
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