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‘Mentally Unsafe’: Jewish Tulane University Students Issue Open Letter Recounting Harassment by Far-Left Group
Tulane University students Yasmeen Ohebsion and Bali Lavine participating in a demonstration to raise awareness of the plight of Israelis still held captive in Gaza by Hamas after being taken hostage during the terrorist group’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7. Photo: Movement to Address Antisemitism at Tulane University
Nearly 100 Jewish students at Tulane University in New Orleans have issued an open letter calling on administrators to levy disciplinary sanctions against the group Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) following numerous alleged provocations, including starting fights, antisemitic bullying of those who support Zionism and Israel, and harassing a professor.
“This organization does not support democratic societies; it vehemently opposes them,” said the letter, which was first published last month. “We understand that Tulane’s administration is trying to walk a fine line of not regulating free speech while still protecting students, and we respect that. But Tulane SDS has crossed the line again and again.”
The letter continued: “The chapter at Tulane is made up of agitators looking to cause conflict and draw as much attention as possible, with many of its members not even being Tulane students. These students use the SDS organization as a cover for their hate-filled vitriol. Tulane SDS has repeatedly hailed Hamas terrorist as ‘martyrs,’ called for Zionist Jewish students to be forcibly removed from campus, and publicly doxxed and released the information of Jewish students on Instagram.”
The Jewish students, three of whom spoke with The Algemeiner on Tuesday, are most upset about what they described as SDS’s repeated utterances of antisemitic hate speech and denigration of Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza by the terrorist group Hamas. Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, they said, SDS has operated as a “proxy group” for Students for Justice in Palestine, which is not recognized by the university, cheering Hamas and acts of terrorism and including in their activities an older adult non-student who was recently arrested on campus.
Numerous complaints to the university have gone unheeded despite the extremes to which SDS has gone to shame Jewish students about their identity and support for Israel, students told The Algemeiner. They added that professors have been affected as well, explaining that a prominent Jewish professor, Walter Isaacson, has been accused of improper conduct for removing an SDS heckler from an event in which they screamed anti-Zionist slogans. The student alleged that the acclaimed historian brutalized them, charges which cannot be substantiated based on footage of the incident that was shared online.
Yasmeen Ohebsion, a senior who earlier this year shared with the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce harrowing testimony about antisemitism at Tulane University, told The Algemeiner that school officials must stop their “lip service” regarding antisemitism and take concrete steps to punish students who violate the school’s anti-discrimination policies and harm Jewish students.
“On a larger scale, there’s no effort being made on the university’s part at all to address any of these issues. The university has and likely will continue to resort to useless lip service to students who have complained again, and again, and again, about feeling physically and psychologically unsafe on campus due to the threat of SDS and of antisemitism as a whole,” Ohebsion said. “And it’s really frustrating that nothing concrete is done when, for example, Jewish medical statements talk about not being able to function in class because their lab partners won’t talk to them because they identify as Zionists or when there’s a swastika carved in the medical school and various other incidents that are never even responded to by the DEI [equity, diversity, and inclusion] office.”
Ohebsion added, “At this point, I feel physically and mentally unsafe on this campus,” and expressed concerned about future Jewish students who will have to endure similar indignities long after she graduates in May.
Sophomore Nathan Miller, author of the open letter, said that SDS’s glorification of terrorists disqualifies them from university recognition.
“All these students are showing their susceptibility to Iranian propaganda, honestly, which supports terrorist groups,” Miller told The Algemeiner.
The Iranian regime is the chief international sponsor of Hamas, providing the Palestinian terrorist group with arms, funding, and training.
“In a larger sense,” Miller continued, “SDS has broken several rules governing student organizations, and it’s only a matter of time before the school steps in. Disrupting the educational process, fostering hate speech, operating with non-Tulane students — all of it merits a revocation of their recognized status.”
Miller added that SDS has invited an individual who is 30-40 years of age to their events. This person, known around campus as “Tony,” promotes antisemitic tropes on their Instagram page and shares content created by Hamas.
Antisemitism at Tulane University has affected Jewish students both psychologically and intellectually, causing many to question their place in a progressive political movement that in their view has become explicitly anti-Zionist. In October, a Jewish student’s nose was broken during a vicious assault by pro-Hamas demonstrators, and throughout campus openly supporting Israel risks being alienated from and mistreated by one’s peers. While Tulane has committed to creating a task force on antisemitism and holding educational programs about antisemitism during pre-orientation for incoming students, their actions so far, according to the students, are lacking in rigor and the task force has never convened for a meeting despite being formed months ago.
“As students of this university, we deserve an update if not an answer about the task force,” junior Bali Levine told The Algemeiner. “Jewish students need to know when we will be able to feel safe on this campus. We deserve answers, and it’s on Tulane to keep it’s promise to us. Maybe they’re afraid about upsetting students on both sides, but in trying to play the middle man, they’re hurting all students. We’re waiting for them to make a move, to make a change, which is the bare minimum.”
Ohebsion added, “In my mind, it’s so simple. If you make a commitment, follow it through. There’s no effort to even do what they say they will do when all we want is for them simply to enforce the rules. We want to be included in DEI. We are not reinventing the wheel.”
Tulane did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Mentally Unsafe’: Jewish Tulane University Students Issue Open Letter Recounting Harassment by Far-Left Group first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.