On April 29, 2024, Tess Segal, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Florida, joined fellow activists at a central campus plaza advocating for the university to divest from arms manufacturers and boycott Israeli academic institutions. Some protesters studied or played cards, later reading obituaries of Palestinians killed in Gaza.
Law enforcement intervened, and although Ms. Segal maintains she did not resist arrest, she was handcuffed and detained overnight in jail.
Charged with resisting arrest without violence, Ms. Segal’s case was eventually dismissed. However, the University of Florida had already barred her from campus. Officials warned protesters about strict new protest regulations and said officers had ordered demonstrators to disperse, though Ms. Segal said the crowd was too loud to hear the command.
Ms. Segal reported being prevented from taking her final exam and from participating in a school-sponsored summer program. While a disciplinary committee found she had not been disruptive, it held her responsible for violating university policy and recommended a one-year suspension. The dean of students later extended this suspension to three years, citing significant disruption and interference with law enforcement duties. The university declined to comment, citing privacy protections.
Since the university requires reapplication after three semesters of absence, Ms. Segal, who had a full scholarship, now works in food service and is uncertain about when she will return to school.
While the consequences may appear less severe than those faced by noncitizen students targeted by federal agents, Ms. Segal’s case carries notable irony: she is Jewish.
Following the events of October 7, 2023, numerous Jewish organizations and political allies have called for universities to protect Jewish students by enforcing strict penalties against protest violations, including suspensions or expulsions. Ms. Segal, a granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor and alumna of a Jewish summer camp, has found little support from these groups. This reflects a recent, significant shift in defining Jewish identity—equating support for Israel with Jewishness to silence criticism of the state.
This redefinition has been made explicit by political figures and Jewish leaders alike. For instance, former President Trump declared that a senator was "not Jewish anymore" due to perceived insufficient support for Israel. Similarly, prominent Jewish leaders have asserted that Zionism is fundamental to Judaism and labeled Jews opposing Zionism as "un-Jews."
This narrowing of Jewish identity coincides with one of the harshest crackdowns on American Jewish activism in recent history. Surveys indicate a significant portion of young American Jews hold critical views of Israel, with many describing it as an apartheid state or agreeing with accusations of genocide in Gaza.
Unsurprisingly, Jewish students have played leading roles in protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza. Eleven days after October 7, 2023, progressive Jewish groups organized hundreds of protesters occupying a congressional building. Later, Jewish activists led demonstrations in New York’s Grand Central Terminal and at Brown University, where a sit-in calling for divestment from Israel-affiliated companies was comprised solely of Jewish students.
Jewish students often assume they are less vulnerable than Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, Black, or noncitizen counterparts, which may encourage their participation in protests. Many have faced disciplinary measures, though exact numbers are unclear due to the confidential nature of university proceedings. Nonetheless, anecdotal evidence suggests Jewish students represent a significant portion of those punished for pro-Palestinian activism.
Since October 7, at least four universities have suspended or placed on probation chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace. At Brown University, 20 members of Jews for Ceasefire Now were arrested during protests, with charges later dropped. At Rockland Community College, a Jewish student was suspended for the academic year after briefly chanting pro-Palestinian slogans. In May 2024, a Jewish tenured anthropology professor was dismissed after sharing a controversial social media post critical of Zionists. In Michigan, felony and misdemeanor charges were filed against three Jewish activists and others for their participation in a Gaza solidarity encampment; all pleaded not guilty.
Even protests framed as Jewish religious observances have faced suppression. Last fall, several universities dismantled or prohibited Gaza solidarity sukkahs—temporary booths used during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot—built by Jewish students opposing the war.
Despite this, mainstream Jewish pro-Israel organizations have praised universities for cracking down on pro-Palestinian protests. When Columbia University suspended Jewish Voice for Peace alongside Students for Justice in Palestine, one organization commended the university for fulfilling its legal and moral duties to protect Jewish students. After police dispersed a Gaza solidarity encampment at Dartmouth College, the same group thanked the college president for safeguarding a safe learning environment, even as protesters reported harsh treatment by law enforcement. Similarly, an official praised the attorney general’s decision to press charges against University of Michigan demonstrators. While the organization has since distanced itself from earlier support for detention of pro-Palestinian activists, it continues to advocate for strict campus protest policies, emphasizing the importance of fighting antisemitism while calling for due process.
Nonetheless, Jewish activism persists. In early April, a group of Jewish students chained themselves to Columbia University gates protesting the detention of a former graduate student held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for his campus activism. Just before Passover, over 130 Jewish students, faculty, and alumni at Georgetown University signed a letter condemning the detention of a postdoctoral fellow accused of spreading Hamas propaganda and antisemitism.
The American Jewish establishment’s skepticism towards these young dissenters’ Jewish identity is deeply ironic. What distinguishes today’s Jewish student activists from previous generations is their integration of Jewish ritual into their protests. In New York alone, at least ten non-Zionist or anti-Zionist Jewish prayer groups have emerged in recent years, primarily composed of young Jews like Tess Segal.
Last fall, Brown University’s Jews for Ceasefire Now erected a Gaza solidarity sukkah. One Jewish undergraduate, concerned it might be vandalized or dismantled, guarded it overnight and joined others sleeping in the fragile structure symbolizing human vulnerability and divine protection, despite the administration’s ban. She avoided disciplinary action and later embraced her Judaism by becoming a bat mitzvah in a ceremony conducted entirely by members of the group, now known as Brown Jews for Palestinian Liberation.
Though some political and Jewish leaders may question their Jewish identity, many young activists continue to assert it boldly and passionately.
