By now I am sure you are aware of the disturbing Anti-Semitic incident that occurred in Jacksonville, Florida following Saturday’s Georgia-Florida football game, with the hateful words “Kanye is right about the jews” projected both outside the stadium and on buildings in Jacksonville, Florida. While this has been an extremely challenging week for the Hillels of Georgia staff, we are encouraged by the outpouring of support we have received. Here is what you should know:
Administration officials at UGA and UF came together quickly with the help of our Hillels of Georgia staff to publicly condemn this act of Anti-Semitism, issuing a joint statement to “denounce these and all acts of anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred and intolerance. We are proud to be home to strong and thriving Jewish communities at UGA and UF, and we stand together against hate.”
Our strong relationships with the UGA administration, its respective departments, Student Governments, fraternities, sororities, and community organizations have allowed us to quickly organize against these Anti-Semitic acts.
David Hoffman, Associate Regional Director at ADL and Eytan Davidson, Regional Director ADL Southeast have been instrumental in offering support, guidance and assisting our Hillel staff.
Anat Sultan-Dadon, our Israel Consul General, and her office have offered their support and assistance in any way we need.
Ye, previously known as Kanye West, has given us a gift in some ways. He unmasked the lie that somehow this is about Israel or Zionism. It isn’t. This is simply about Jews and Anti-Semitism.
Since the beginning of this semester, there have been an unprecedented number of Anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses throughout the country, including the following disturbing incidents here on our Georgia campuses:
A professor calling Judaism a “brutal and gruesome” religion in his history class.
A graduate assistant making Holocaust jokes during the class he was teaching.
A student publicly shamed and asked to resign her post in student government simply because she went on Birthright.
Hillels of Georgia is rising to the challenge that this dangerous rhetoric poses.
As always, please feel free to reach out to any of our Campus Directors or Hillels of Georgia directly with your concerns. We will continue to work diligently to ensure the safety of our Jewish students on all of our campuses!
B'Shalom,
Wayne Keil
Interim CEO, Hillels of Georgia