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Sad, scared, proud, alone: How US Jewish teens are feeling amid the Israel-Hamas war

(JTA) — Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7 was thousands of miles away for Jewish teens in the United States — yet they have found themselves caught in a crossfire of opinions, misinformation and anger about the situation ever since.

JTA Teen Journalism Fellows interviewed their peers about what they have been hearing and feeling over the last three weeks. Our reporters discovered that many high schoolers were afraid to go on the record, saying they feared aggravating tensions or didn’t want to get “canceled” within their community. The ones that did agree to talk, however, say they are doing their best to stay strong and feel united, not divided.

Some of the teens interviewed expressed their concerns about antisemitism while others offered insight into what’s happening in their social media circles. From Jewish day school students in the West to public school kids in the South, here’s what American Jewish teens have to say about the war between Israel and Hamas.

Jacob Abowitz, 17, Parkway Central High School, St. Louis

Abowitz, right, and a friend. (Ami Gelman)

I’m trying my best to show my pride at being Jewish. Just trying to wear my Star of David to school and in public and anywhere I go.

Nathan Arst, 17, Parkway Central High School, St. Louis

(Courtesy)

Being an American teen Jew, if there was one thing I wish adults would know about [us is that] sometimes it can be really hard. For me, I’m fortunate, being surrounded by a strong Jewish community at my school and at my temple, so my community is really supportive. But some of my friends go to schools with small Jewish populations and feel very isolated. People have to keep that in mind. Judaism — you can’t always see it from the outside, unless someone is wearing a form of identification like a necklace or a kippah. You can’t always see it and a lot of Jewish teens are going through a lot of different emotions right now.

Avi Askenazi, 14, Denver Academy of Torah, Denver

(Ami Gelman)

I’m hearing from adults that Israel is trying to do good things to help their citizens and destroy Hamas. [Teens] aren’t taking it as seriously as adults, they think it’s more of a joke than how serious it really is. Some of the jokes are that Hamas isn’t killing innocent people because no Israelis are innocent. It makes me sad that students make jokes about something so serious and sad.

Alissa Barnholtz, 17, Parkway Central High School, St. Louis

(Courtesy)

It’s hard to understand the complexity of the situation on social media. Saying it’s retaliation is kind of like justifying Hamas. Hamas is antisemitic. Their goal is to kill people and Jews. I deleted Instagram because it was a lot to see.

I haven’t personally experienced any antisemitism from this situation but I know people who have. It’s sad and it’s scary because I love being Jewish. I’m so happy to be Jewish, but right now I’m so scared to be Jewish. Right now, I’m lighting Shabbat candles with my family every Friday night which makes me feel better and makes me feel more connected to the community.

Davis Brown, 17, Parkway Central High School, St. Louis

(Courtesy)

For many adults, Zionism is a partisan issue. It falls along the lines of Republican or Democrats; depends whether you are pro-Israel or pro-Palestine and your thoughts on Zionism. With teens I don’t see that as much. That might be because we don’t vote the same way our parents do. Our ties to Zionism aren’t driven by political parties. It comes from a personal belief or friends that are Jewish, our background. It makes the conversation a little bit different.

Elsie Cohen, 17, Latin School of Chicago, Chicago

(Courtesy)

Most people around me are not discussing the war, which feels really lonely. I understand that it is a difficult topic to talk about, but it has to be discussed, and ignoring it makes my Jewish peers and me feel alone.

I have never felt bad about being outwardly Jewish in the past, especially considering I attended a Jewish school up until high school. However, in recent weeks, I have felt uncomfortable displaying my identity, and uncomfortable talking about the situation with those who are openly against my entire religion and people. I feel afraid to walk around wearing my Star of David necklace and I feel awkward being one of few Jewish people in my small school.

Holden Demain, 15, Denver Jewish Day School, Denver

(Liron Amar)

I’m hearing a lot of fear from fellow Jewish teens. I think I’m also kind of feeling a little bit that some people are indifferent to what is going on and just generally don’t care very much. The people that care are scared and the people that don’t care, don’t. A lot of people are scared for family and friends that they might have in the region. There’s also fear of rising antisemitism in America, on college campuses. That definitely also plays a role.

There is this tendency to view [the attacks] as just happening to Israel and not to us, but people need to understand that Israel is just a manifestation of the Jewish people and I believe that an attack on Israel is an attack on the Jewish people. When people are indifferent to Israel, it makes me feel that they’re indifferent about being Jewish.

Nate Friedman, 17, Riverwood International Charter School, Atlanta

(Sandy Friedman)

From my Jewish friends, everyone’s really informed, and they all know about it, and everyone discusses how they’re disgusted by it. The main topic of discussion is just how there’s a lot of propaganda and how [other] people are really misinformed about what’s going on in Israel and the truth. We talk together, support each other and give each other a little pick-me-up to let each other know it’s going to be okay. It really makes me feel comforted, and it gives me hope.

“My non-Jewish friends have made jokes about it; they just don’t understand the significance and seriousness of the situation. When I hear jokes from non-Jewish people, actually, it really upsets me. If you don’t know about it, don’t joke about it, don’t say anything about it. You need to educate yourself before you speak up on a sensitive subject.

Deborah Haspel, 16, Yeshivat Kadimah High School, University City, Missouri

(Courtesy)

When talking about the whole situation in Israel with my peers, there has been a lot of frustration and sadness. Everyone is worried, really worried. We are making sure we are praying and donating to the IDF. It’s a very difficult situation. It puts a strain on everything. Making sure we are contributing and praying — it’s pretty much all we can do.

Rachel Katzke, 18, The Masters School, Ardsley, New York

(Lydia Ettinger)

I refuse to be ashamed of my Judaism. Once again this conflict is so complex and hard and depressing that, yes, there are some things I purely cannot defend, like videos of IDF soldiers putting cement in the water pipes in the West Bank, but there are other cases where people don’t know context and that I can defend.

I feel on social media the words “colonizers” and “open-air prisons” just egg people on. When there is an infographic about how we are ‘colonizers’ then everyone in the comments says “Free Palestine” it just feeds into the perspective that we are colonizers and that we have never lived in this land.

Lauren Elle Lavi, 15, Edmond Memorial High School, Edmond, Oklahoma

(Courtesy)

Even though I live so far from Israel, I still think it’s such a scary situation. Misinformation is being spread quickly through social media, and it spreads easier through teens versus adults. They don’t even realize what they’re saying is antisemitic. I think I was more open about being Jewish, prior to what’s going on in Israel. But now, I have more awareness of what other people think.

Kayla Minsk, 17, Atlanta Jewish Academy, Atlanta

(Leora Frank)

I’ve been hearing from teens the pressure to perform what they’re supposed to be saying, what they’re supposed to be feeling. We get so caught up in what the ‘perfect’ reaction is, we watch the videos on social media, or we repost all of the flyers and the posters because we want others to know that we feel even if we don’t. I think that can take away from the real action that you can do. People aren’t being true about what they feel because of feeling judged, so the reaction is more performative rather than doing something like packing bags or writing letters to actually feel like they’re making an impact.

Celia Pincus, 17, Jones College Prep, Chicago

(Celia Pincus)

Teens are very active on social media concerning the situation in Israel. I would say there is a combination of pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian, and somewhere in between — really something from every viewpoint. The quantity of posts on social media is insane and, personally, I’m not someone who has ever posted anything political on social media. I feel overwhelmed. The news follows me everywhere and it’s not something I can forget about. 

Just because I’m Jewish doesn’t mean I support all actions the Israeli government takes. And that makes me frustrated, it makes me sad, and it makes me angry. I don’t think that I feel less pride in being Jewish, or more afraid to show it. I’ve never been a person who has worn a Jewish star necklace or anything like that so I feel like I don’t have an identifier. I don’t think I’m concealing my identity, but I am definitely not broadcasting it to the world. And since I’ve never done that I don’t really feel any different, but it does feel like slightly more of a conscious choice.

Sam Pressman, 16, Sycamore High School, Cincinnati

(Abigail Rubinstein)

I see a lot of things on Instagram, talking about how many Israelis got killed, and the situation happening. And it’s really making me feel like our world has gone horribly wrong. I was kind of in a crisis with all the events going on. I’ve always showed my Judaism. I’m not afraid to tell anyone and especially now you should have more pride in it being Jewish. Because if you try to hide it now, that gives Hamas what they want.

Ava Sherman, 17, Marquette High School, Chesterfield, Missouri

(Courtesy)

The main source of talk is about the false information and propaganda that is being posted on the internet and social media platforms that teens, who are always on social media, resort to. The best thing you can do is educate people on the correct facts. Be ready for somebody to ask you a question or come at you with an opposing view. The best thing you can do is defend yourself while also being neutral. There are no sides. It’s, “Do you want peace or do you support terrorism?”

Noah Shurz, 17, Denver East High School, Denver

(Norah Krause)

It feels like it’s very divided. Some people on Instagram are pro-free Palestine, but some are pro-Israel. There’s a lot more people in the center. Around me people are very supportive, but don’t talk about it outside of social media most of the time. I never truly knew what side people were on until this. Someone that I had a lot of respect for, that I thought was very smart, I lost a little bit of respect for them because it was very blanket pro-Palestine, out of nowhere.

Ayalah Spratt, 15, The Masters School, Hastings, New York

(Lydia Ettinger)

I’ve been hearing people in America diluting this down to such basic opinions when, in reality, this is such a complicated issue, especially from people who have no idea of what they are talking about. I’ve heard people make this into a pro-Israel versus pro-Palestine issue which at its core I don’t think it is — it’s not a political war, it’s terrorism, which is completely different. People are dying, people are being murdered and there is not a world in which that is OK.

I’ve been trying to stay off social media with all the things people are slapping onto their Instagram stories just like taglines, because it’s not really helpful. Even things that are promoting the things that I believe in, I think the whole process of just mindlessly posting on your story and feeling that you’ve done something like “Help Israel” I don’t think that does anything.

Andrew Wittenbaum, 17, Sycamore High School, Cincinnati

(Abigail Rubinstein)

There have been multiple incidents at school. I believe someone drew a swastika on the stall in the bathroom. They haven’t found out who it is, but they’re trying their best so everybody can be safe in the school. I do feel like my school supports me as a Jewish person. Because I know that there have been many announcements with our principal and our dean of students, and our counselors that are offering so much help that we can go to if we ever need that. And I know that they’re trying their best.


The post Sad, scared, proud, alone: How US Jewish teens are feeling amid the Israel-Hamas war appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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As Gaza War Continues, Hamas Calls for Global Protests While Israel Marks Breakthroughs in Medical Innovation

A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect

As the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas calls for global protests amid stalled Gaza ceasefire talks, Israel has broken new ground despite the ongoing conflict, achieving a major medical breakthrough in synthetic human kidney development.

The contrast illustrates a stark contrast between the priorities of Hamas, an international designated terrorist group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, and Israel, the lone democracy in the Middle East that has long been a leader in tech and medical innovation.

On Wednesday, Hamas urged worldwide protests in support of Palestinians, calling on the international community “to denounce Israel’s genocidal war and starvation policy in Gaza.”

“We call for continuing and escalating the popular pressure in all cities and squares on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday … through rallies, demonstrations and sit-ins outside the embassies of the Israeli regime and its allies, particularly in the US,” the statement read.

The Palestinian terrorist group also called to expose what it described as “the terrorism of the Zio-Nazi occupation against defenseless civilians.”

Hamas’s latest move against Israel comes amid stalled indirect negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal, which collapsed last month after the group vowed it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established — rejecting a key Israeli demand to end the war in Gaza.

In its statement, Hamas demanded the opening of all border crossings to allow immediate aid into the war-torn enclave and urged a global condemnation of “the international community’s inaction on the Israeli crimes.”

Amid mounting international pressure to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel announced new measures to facilitate the delivery of aid, including temporary pauses in fighting in certain areas and the creation of protected routes for aid convoys.

Israeli officials have previously accused Hamas of diverting aid for terrorist activities and selling supplies at inflated prices to civilians, while also blaming the United Nations and other foreign organizations for enabling this diversion.

Hamas’s statement also emphasized that the “global resistance movement must continue until Israeli aggression on Gaza ends and the siege on the coastal strip is lifted.”

Meanwhile, as Israel faces escalating hostilities and the heavy toll of war, the Jewish state continues to push the boundaries of innovation and resilience, achieving new medical breakthroughs while confronting ongoing challenges.

In a major medical breakthrough, scientists at Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University have successfully grown a synthetic 3D miniature human kidney in a lab using specialized stem cells derived from kidney tissue — one of the most promising advances in regenerative medicine.

Dr. Dror Harats, chairman of Sheba’s Research Authority, described this achievement as a reflection of Israel’s leading role in global medical innovation.

“Despite growing efforts to isolate Israel from international science, breakthroughs like this prove our impact is both lasting and essential,” he said.

In a landmark study, a team from Sheba’s Safra Children’s Hospital and Tel Aviv University’s Sagol Center for Regenerative Medicine created synthetic kidney organs that matured and remained stable for 34 weeks — the longest-lasting and most refined kidney organoids developed to date.

Nearly a decade ago, the research team became the first to successfully isolate human kidney tissue stem cells — the cells responsible for the organ’s development and growth.

Previous attempts to grow kidneys in a lab using general-purpose stem cells were short-lived, typically lasting only a few weeks and often producing unwanted cell types that compromised research accuracy.

However, this Israeli research team used stem cells taken directly from kidney tissue — cells that naturally develop into kidney parts — allowing them to create a much purer and more stable model with key features found in real kidneys.

This medical breakthrough could have far-reaching implications, redefining the current understanding of kidney diseases and advancing the development of innovative treatments.

Researchers believe the model could help assess how medications impact fetal kidneys during pregnancy and move science closer to repairing or replacing damaged kidney tissue with lab-grown cells.

The discovery came days after researchers from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and international partners discovered a way to boost the immune system’s cancer-fighting ability by reprogramming how T cells, which are white blood cells critical to the immune system, produce energy.

The researchers explained in a study published in the peer-reviewed Nature Communications that disabling a protein known as Ant2 in T cells greatly enhances their effectiveness against tumors.

“By disabling Ant2, we triggered a complete shift in how T cells produce and use energy,” Prof. Michael Berger of Hebrew University’s Faculty of Medicine, who co-led the study with doctorate student Omri Yosef, told the Tazpit Press Service. “This reprogramming made them significantly better at recognizing and killing cancer cells.”

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Netherlands to Push EU to Suspend Israel Trade Deal but Won’t Recognize Palestinian State ‘At This Time’

Netherlands Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp addresses a press conference, in New Delhi on April 1, 2025. Photo: ANI Photo/Sanjay Sharma via Reuters Connect

The Netherlands is spearheading efforts to suspend the European Union-Israel trade agreement amid rising EU criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, while simultaneously refusing to recognize a Palestinian state, contrasting with other member states as international pressure mounts.

On Thursday, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp announced that the Netherlands will push the EU to suspend the trade component of the EU-Israel Association Agreement — a pact governing the EU’s political and economic ties with the Jewish state.

This latest anti-Israel initiative follows a recent EU-commissioned report accusing Israel of committing “indiscriminate attacks … starvation … torture … [and] apartheid” against Palestinians in Gaza during its military campaign against Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist group.

Following calls from a majority of EU member states for a formal investigation, this report built on Belgium’s recent decision to review Israel’s compliance with the trade agreement, a process initiated by the Netherlands and led by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.

According to the report, “there are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations” under the 25-year-old EU-Israel Association Agreement.

While the document acknowledges the reality of violence by Hamas, it states that this issue lies outside its scope — failing to address the Palestinian terrorist group’s role in sparking the current war with its bloody rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israeli officials have slammed the report as factually incorrect and morally flawed, noting that Hamas embeds its military infrastructure within civilian targets and Israel’s army takes extensive precautions to try and avoid civilian casualties.

In a Dutch parliamentary debate on Gaza on Thursday, Veldkamp also announced that the government would not recognize a Palestinian state for now — a position that stands in sharp contrast to the recent moves by several other EU member states to extend recognition.

“The Netherlands is not planning to recognize a Palestinian state at this time,” the Dutch diplomat said.

“This war has ceased to be a just war and is now leading to the erosion of Israel’s own security and identity,” he continued.

This latest decision goes against the position of several EU member states, including France, which has committed to recognizing Palestinian statehood in September.

The United Kingdom has likewise indicated it will do so unless Israel acts to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and agrees to a ceasefire.

For its part, Germany said it was not planning to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term, and Italy argued that recognition must occur simultaneously with the recognition of Israel by the new entity.

Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Slovenia all recognized a Palestinian state last year.

Israel has been facing growing pressure from several EU member states seeking to undermine its defensive campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

On Thursday, European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera strongly condemned Israel’s actions in the war-torn enclave, describing the situation as a “grave violation of human dignity.”

“What we are seeing is a concrete population being targeted, killed and condemned to starve to death,” Ribera told Politico. “If it is not genocide, it looks very much like the definition used to express its meaning.”

Until now, the European Commission has refrained from accusing Israel of genocide, but Ribera’s comments mark one of the strongest European condemnations since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.

She also called on the EU to take decisive action by considering the suspension of its trade agreement with Israel and the implementation of sanctions, while emphasizing that such measures would require unanimous approval from all member states.

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Graduate Student Unions Promoting Antisemitism, Reform Group Says

Students listen to a speech at a protest encampment at Stanford University in Stanford, California US, on April 26, 2024. Photo: Carlos Barria via Reuters Connect.

Higher-education-based unions controlled by United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) are rife with antisemitism and anti-Zionist discrimination, according to a new letter imploring the US Congress’s House Committee on Education and the Workforce to address the matter.

“Tracing its roots to communism in the 1930s, the UE is a radical, pro-Hamas labor union that has a long history of antisemitism,” the National Right to Work Foundation (NRTW), one of the US’s leading labor reform groups, wrote on July 30 in a message obtained by The Algemeiner. “The UE openly supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which is designed to cripple and destroy Israel economically. Today, the UE furthers its antisemitic agenda by unionizing graduate students on college campuses and using its exclusive representation powers to create a hostile environment for Jewish students. The hostile environment includes demanding compulsory dues to fund the UE’s abhorrent activities.”

NRTW went on to describe a litany of alleged injustices to which UE members subject Jewish student-employees in the US’s most prestigious institutions of higher education, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to Cornell University. At MIT, the letter said, “union officers” aided a riotous group which illegally occupied a section of campus with a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” participating in the demonstration and even denying access to campus buildings. UE members at Stanford University, meanwhile, allegedly denied religious accommodations to Jewish students who requested exemption from union dues over that branch’s supporting the BDS movement. And Cornell University UE was accused of denying religious exemptions in several cases as well and followed up the rejection with an intrusive “questionnaire” which probed Jewish students for “legally-irrelevant information.”

The situation requires federal oversight and intervention, NRTW said, including Congress’s possibly clarifying that student-employees are not traditional employees and are therefore afforded protections under sections of the Civil Rights Act which apply to the campus.

“These continuing patterns of antisemitism are illegal, immoral, and must be stopped,” the letter continued. “We encourage you to do all that is in your power to investigate and help bring an end to the UE and its affiliates’ nonstop harassment and intimidation of Jewish students … The Trump administration can also use tools available to it under Title VI and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act against colleges who work with unions to create a hostile environment for Jewish students.”

July’s letter is not the first time NRTW has publicized alleged antisemitic abuse in unions representing higher education employees.

In 2024, it represented a group of six City University of New York (CUNY) professors, five of whom are Jewish, who sued to be “freed” from CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress (PSC-CUNY) over its passing a resolution during Israel’s May 2021 war with Hamas which declared solidarity with Palestinians and accused the Jewish state of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and crimes against humanity. The group contested New York State’s “Taylor Law,” which it said chained the professors to the union’s “bargaining unit” and denied their right to freedom of speech and association by forcing them to be represented in negotiations by an organization they claim holds antisemitic views.

That same year, NRTW prevailed in a discrimination suit filed to exempt another cohort of Jewish MIT students from paying dues to the Graduate Student Union (GSU). The students had attempted to resist financially supporting GSU’s anti-Zionism, but the union bosses attempted to coerce their compliance, telling them that “no principles, teachings, or tenets of Judaism prohibit membership in or the payment of dues or fees” to the union.

“All Americans should have a right to protect their money from going to union bosses they don’t support, whether those objections are based on religion, politics, or any other reason,” NRTW said at the time.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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