{"id":6547,"date":"2023-10-20T12:00:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T12:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=6547"},"modified":"2023-10-20T12:59:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T12:59:53","slug":"uw-madison-fails-its-jewish-students-in-wake-of-hamas-terrorist-attack-against-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=6547","title":{"rendered":"UW-Madison Fails Its Jewish Students in Wake of Hamas Terrorist Attack Against Israel\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/hamas-terrorist-attack-against-israel\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Hamas<\/p>\n

By Samantha (last name withheld)<\/em><\/strong>
\nUW-Madison student<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Following the recent barbaric terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas on Israeli civilians, UW-Madison\u2019s response has been dismal at best.<\/p>\n

On October 7, Israelis and Jews across the world were horrified by what has been one of the deadliest attacks against Jews in modern times. Yet, the university seemed to hesitate when it came to extending its support to the nearly 5,000 Jewish students<\/a> on its campus.<\/p>\n

The university broke its silence on October 10, with an Instagram story stating, \u201cTo our students affected by recent acts of violence in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, we are here to support you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel had already declared war, and many students, including myself, were left scared about family and friends overseas and wondered if the university would offer a more substantive response.<\/p>\n

The meager attempt was followed by a compelling Open letter to the Administration written by Chabad Rabbi, Mendel Matusof. In the letter, Rabbi Mendel articulated the shock and trauma the Jewish community on campus was experiencing as a result of the events in Israel and how UW had inadvertently exacerbated the situation.<\/p>\n

He wrote, \u201cUnfortunately, the UW has made it worse. By acknowledging the acts of terror under the guise of \u2018violence in Israel and the Palestinian Territories\u2019, the administration itself seems to lessen the abhorrence of the terrorism by giving it the guise of a political dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabbi Mendel ended the letter by saying he was hopeful the UW administration would understand what the Jewish community on campus was experiencing, and \u201cprovide the appropriate response and empathy.\u201d<\/p>\n

On October 11, Chancellor Mnookin did issue a more substantive statement<\/span><\/a><\/span>, with a response still titled, \u201cA message from Chancellor Mnookin on the tragic events in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.\u201d<\/p>\n

In one part of the chancellor\u2019s statement she wrote, \u201cAs a general matter, I am skeptical that those in roles like mine should frequently comment on global or world events.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is perplexing given the university\u2019s recent past.<\/p>\n

In May 2021, the Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) wrote a reflection<\/span><\/a> on the anniversary of George Floyd\u2019s Death.<\/p>\n

In the spring of 2023, when a video of a UW student making a racist comment plagued the internet, both the Chancellor and the office of DEI offered multiple messages. On May 1, UW gave an initial response<\/span><\/a> to the video which was then followed by messages from the Deputy Vice Chancellor for DEI<\/span><\/a>, and Chancellor Mnookin\u2019s direct response<\/span><\/a> to the Blk Pwr Coalition.<\/p>\n

On June 29, 2023, the Chancellor shared her thoughts<\/a> <\/span>on the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.<\/p>\n

So why the hesitation now?<\/p>\n

Just over a week ago, I walked back from class only to come across a protest in the center of campus, with students chanting and cheering on the slaughter of over 1,000 Jews with slogans such as \u201cGlory to the martyrs\u201d and \u201cWe will liberate the land by any means necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

On October 17, the Students for Justice in Palestine group on campus held a \u201cFree Gaza\u201d event which prompted Hillel, a national Jewish organization on campus, to send an email stating,\u00a0\u201cWe have been made aware of a \u2018Free Palestine\u2019 demonstration scheduled for this evening. In the interest of your safety and the well-being of our community, we, in consultation with our communal leaders and experts, encourage you to consider that the most effective response is to refrain from attending and engaging with the demonstration.\u201d<\/p>\n

This begs the question of why are outside organizations being left to bear the responsibility of asking the university to take action or to look out for the safety of Jewish students while the university sits idly by.<\/p>\n

While I do not condone the chilling of free speech, the school\u2019s inaction with ongoing protests that are glorifying the deaths of over 1,000 Jews, leaves me with two primary questions.<\/p>\n

First, how sincere is the university\u2019s commitment to \u201cDiversity, Equity and Inclusion\u201d when it cannot give Jewish students the same treatment it offers others?<\/p>\n

And second, where is the university\u2019s overall concern for the safety of Jewish students on campus?<\/p>\n

We have withheld Samantha\u2019s last name at her request because of the tensions on campus.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/hamas-terrorist-attack-against-israel\/ By Samantha (last name withheld) UW-Madison student Following the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":6549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-right-now"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6547"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6550,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6547\/revisions\/6550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}