ATLANTA — The Jewish community of Georgia is coming together on college campuses Wednesday to show solidarity in protecting Jewish students.
College students across the country say they have experienced antisemitism and have not felt safe since the start of the Israel-Hamas war back in early October.
The walks began at 12:30 p.m. at the following schools:
- Emory University, Atlanta
- Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
- Georgia Southern University, Statesboro
- Georgia State University, Atlanta
- Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw
- Savannah College of Art & Design, Savannah
- University of Georgia, Athens
The event at Emory was planned by students Sophi Kalmin and Maya Rezak along with other members of the Hillel chapter on Emory's campus.
Kalmin said she and other students struggled in the weeks following the initial attack on Israeli citizens in October.
"I deleted social media because it's degrading and you got to, you know, pick your battles," she said.
Rezak said had family in Israel and was simultaneously dealing with the stress of worrying over them and explaining her identity to her schoolmates.
"The past few weeks have been really hard to want to go to class and have to have these conversations where I have to defend my identity," Rezak added.
The CEO of Hillels of Georgia, Rabbi Larry Sernovitz, said he wanted people to understand the serious nature of students' safety concerns.
"It's not just about increased patrols, but it's about paying attention to campus climate and doing more right now to ensure the safety of our students," Sernovitz said.
Recently, the FBI director shared a warning about the rise in violent threats against a number of groups, including Jews, Arab-Americans, and Muslims, since the start of the war.
Meanwhile, Atlanta's Carter Center is also urging countries to do more to help those caught in the Middle East conflict.
Where the Israel-Hamas war stands now
Over 1,400 Israeli citizens have died, mainly civilians killed during Hamas’ initial attack, also an unprecedented figure. Palestinian militants also abducted around 240 people during their incursion and have continued firing rockets into Israel.
More than 8,500 Palestinians have also been killed in the war, mostly women and minors, the Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday, without providing a breakdown between civilians and fighters. The figure is without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their homes, with hundreds of thousands sheltering in packed U.N.-run schools turned into shelters or hospitals.
The war has also threatened to ignite fighting on other fronts. Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group have traded fire daily along the border, and Israel and the U.S. have struck targets in Syria linked to Iran, which supports Hamas, Hezbollah and other armed groups in the region.
Some 200,000 people have been evacuated from Israeli towns near Gaza and the northern border with Lebanon.
Violence has also surged in the occupied West Bank.
There has been no central electricity in Gaza for weeks, and Israel has barred the entry of fuel needed to power generators for hospitals and homes, saying it wants to prevent it from falling into Hamas’ hands.
It has allowed a limited amount of food, water, medicine and other supplies to enter from Egypt, though far less than what is needed, relief groups said. A convoy of 59 aid trucks entered through the Rafah Crossing with Egypt on Tuesday — the largest yet — bringing the total that has entered since Oct. 22 to 216, according to Wael Abu Omar, Hamas’ spokesperson for the crossing.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, says 64 of its staff have been killed since the start of the war.
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