UT Dallas Jewish students struck by fear, hundreds of protesters flood downtown streets
If passion was a two-sided coin, both were displayed in Dallas Tuesday.
At the University of Texas at Dallas, Jewish students with a zeal for Israel said since the attacks on Israel last October, hostility on campus has risen. Recent pro-Palestinian protests, they said, have increased antisemitism.
"It's just really hard to, you know, to go on campus when those protests are happening, when there's a constant threat to anyone that looks like minorly Jewish," Ofer Turjeman said.
Turjeman is a graduate student who takes inventory of the personal loss on October 7.
"On October 7, when Hamas broke the seven layers of the wall into Israel from Gaza, I had a couple of family members that were at the Nova Festival, a couple friends of friends that were at the Nova Festival that unfortunately didn't make it, or were kidnapped," she said. "Then their bodies were found in Gaza."
Jade Steinberg, a freshman at UT Dallas, said he's received death threats since the attacks and connected to recent pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
"I've gotten a threat that's like, if you aren't killed by Hamas, then we will kill you," Steinberg said. "That was the breaking point for me."
The two said Jewish students are working with the school's administration to report as many instances as possible to bring the incidents to an end.
Students for Justice in Palestine has held a recent sit-in inside the university's administration building and set up an encampment in the middle of a plaza demolished by law enforcement.
The students could not confirm the hurtful occurrences to the group, nor did they accuse them. However, the college students did notice the verbal lashings would turn up during or after those times.
CBS News Texas listened as a woman yelled loudly at the students near the student union. They took a cell phone picture that briefly silenced the woman, and we left.
Turjeman and Steinberg said while they support the right for Israel to exist, that doesn't mean they agree with everything the Israeli government does. Pain, they noted, exists on both sides.
The depth of pain, according to pro-Palestinian protesters, exists in Gaza. They describe Israel's actions as genocide. Their passion for ending the conflict brought hundreds to Dallas' Civic Garden before flooding downtown streets.
The Dallas chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement organized the peaceful protest, which rolled through the street with colored smoke and blaring bullhorns. According to the social media page, more protests are scheduled.
In the meantime, the Jewish students are planning a news conference to discuss their concerns and keep all students safe.
Turjeman shared screengrabs of two text messages. One is too profane to publish, but they called her a hamburger in portions of the transmission. The other wishes death on Jewish people.