Students for Justice in Palestine organized a demonstration Wednesday — their second at the Rutgers New Brunswick campus — to demand the university dump its Israeli investments. The protest was part of walkouts at an estimated 100 campuses nationwide, all focused on the same goal: BDS — boycott, divestment, sanctions.
“Over 8,000 people have been killed, 40 percent of homes have been demolished,” one protester said, “and when the U.S. is funding that, when Rutgers is contributing to that, it’s a shame.”
Students at the demonstration refused to show their faces, saying they’ve encountered Islamophobic reprisals even as they grieve for family in Gaza. Chaplain Kaiser Aslam with the Center for Islamic Life said, “It sometimes feels like … you can’t say to stop the bombing, because that’s seen as antisemitic.”
These protests are “displays of anger,” Kaiser said. “They feel their humanity and their families’ humanity are being stripped away from them.”
Tensions over the Israel-Hamas war keep rising at New Jersey’s largest university. Outside the Chabad House, ripped-up posters of Israelis taken hostage during the Hamas Oct. 7 terror attack, mark campus confrontations, said Rabbi Yosef Carlebach. “And when some of our students were filming these people tearing down the signs, they were verbally yelled at and abused,” he said.
“Some of the students are physically afraid to leave the building and don’t want to go out or only go out with friends and they feel the street or certain elements of the street can cause them harm,” Carlebach said.
The Anti-Defamation League reports an over 388% spike in antisemitic incidents across the U.S. since the Oct. 7 attack, compared to last year.
Rutgers reports that its police department has increased security and patrol units especially around religious properties and that it is closely monitoring social media, along with the FBI and other state and federal agencies. Even amid increased federal surveillance, some Muslims at Rutgers complain that authorities aren’t addressing rising Islamophobia.
A Rutgers spokeswoman said its investment policy “encourages members of the university community to submit divestment requests” and “manages its endowment pursuant to the university’s investment policy.” Students didn’t say whether they’ve submitted a formal divestment motion with the school.
