Protests cast shadow on Jewish holiday of Passover
NORTH TEXAS — Monday night begins the Jewish holiday of Passover.
But, for members of the Jewish community, it comes with a sense of grief and fear after anti-Israeli protests have escalated in recent days - including at college campuses.
Protests at college campuses across the country are casting a shadow on a Jewish holiday that's supposed to be a time for reflection and remembrance.
At Columbia University, classes were virtual today due to the charged climate. Columbia graduate Marc Schulman, who lives in Tel Aviv, says he's distraught about what's happening.
"It's clearly antisemitism at this point, and to identify every Jew on campus as a Zionist and a supporter of Israel, and as someone doing genocide and then telling Jews to go back to Poland is beyond," said Schulman. "It's straight, outright antisemitism."
Jeffrey Cohen is a North Texas resident and was one of four people taken hostage inside his Colleyville synagogue in 2022. He says he's seen a disturbing rise in antisemitism since the war between Israel and Hamas began last October.
"The American Jewish community is under threat and under threat in a way that I mean, we were under threat before October 7th. But things have gotten way worse," Cohen said.
He says, at Monday night's seder, for a holiday about celebrating freedom and survival, he'll be thinking about the Israeli hostages and praying for peace.
"My hope is that this war ends soon, that we can come to a peaceful resolution that is equitable for all, and that we all recognize each other's similarities so that we cannot just see the differences," said Cohen.
President Biden issued a statement about the protests Sunday. It said, in part, "This blatant antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous - And it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country."