The Media Line: Israel Learning Lab Preps Students To Counter Antisemitism on Campus 

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Israel Learning Lab Preps Students To Counter Antisemitism on Campus 

The 10-day Hasbara Fellowships program with IsraelAmbassadors.com brought student leaders to Israel for site visits, briefings, and communications training, with more than 150 participants since October 7 

By Felice Friedson and Addie J. Davis/The Media Line 

“At our school, artists painted murals of politicians’ heads on stakes,” Molly Marcowitz, a rising junior at Kent State University, told The Media Line. She said she has faced verbal attacks from Students for Justice in Palestine and described a Hispanic student group posting statements that they would not work with Jewish organizations. 

Across the United States, Jewish students say antisemitism is shaping campus life. To push back, student leaders joined a 10-day trip to Israel with Hasbara Fellowships, in partnership with IsraelAmbassadors.com, where they visited October 7 sites, met with briefers, and trained in message discipline to take those skills home. Organizers say that since October 7, more than 150 students have participated in the program. 

“These missions began immediately after October 7, with the goal of bringing the very best pro-Israel student leaders from North American and Canadian campuses to Israel. The purpose was twofold: to bear witness firsthand to the atrocities committed by Hamas, and to equip them with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to return to campus as powerful advocates for Israel, able to stand up effectively to the lies and misinformation being spread,” Michael Eglash, co-founder of the missions, told The Media Line. 

For many, the problem isn’t just open hostility but a climate of fear that keeps Jewish students silent. “A lot of Jewish students are not coming to Hillel, they’re not coming to SSI [Students Supporting Israel]. They’re hiding in the masses and they’re afraid to speak maybe what they truly think,” Marcowitz said. She added that at Kent State, only a small fraction of nearly 40,000 students are Jewish and many keep a low profile out of fear of social backlash. 

“For Jewish students, I do think it’s fear. I think Jewish students at my school are afraid to speak up and are afraid to talk about it, which is a problem,” Aliyah Cohen, a senior at Bucknell University, told The Media Line. “There really hasn’t been a space created that we’re allowed to talk about these things freely, because you know, the administration, they don’t really see it as an issue that needs to be talked about.” She said there were no encampments on her campus, but “the complete silence is complicity … which I think is more dangerous.” 

The Media Line interviewed eight students, from seven universities, who participated in the mission. They described varied experiences. 

Phoebe Zucker, a junior at Florida State University and a veteran of the Israeli military, told The Media Line, “The antisemitism that we have seen on our campus has been very quiet but still ever present.” She added, “We’re seeing a lot of this pro-Palestinian, very anti-Israel covering antisemitism, speech on our campus. Just this summer, we had a student who got attacked in the Tully Gymnasium.” Zucker said administrators responded quickly. 

On other campuses, antisemitism shows up more directly—through harassment and intimidation.  

Naomi Strupinsky, a rising sophomore, told The Media Line that at her school, Rutgers University—home to about 50,000 undergraduates and a large Jewish community—she has seen several incidents. These included a failed attempt to pass the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Strupinsky said it was “forcefully voted down” by “a very large anti-Zionist crowd.”  

“If we’re having pro-Israel events, there’s a few stragglers that will come out, they’ll shout some horrendous things at us, but it’s often pretty well taken care of,” she said. She recalled a sign reading “Sinwar was right” and a pro-Israel student whose rally images were posted around her dorm: “She didn’t stay there the next year.” Strupinsky said Students for Justice in Palestine was barred from university property, but sidewalks are city property, and outside voices, including Neturei Karta, still appeared. 

“We have a growing Orthodox community that didn’t exist a few years ago and now even the university we feel is investing in it, which is really nice to see,” Adi Beniluz, an incoming sophomore at Brown University, told The Media Line. She described a campus “cold war” in which pro- and anti-Zionist students often avoid one another. “It returns me to like the basic things that I know to be true when like there’s a lot of noise outside of Israel that says otherwise,” she said of the trip. 

Students say today’s media environment often fuels confusion—especially when social media replaces fact-based reporting. With nearly all participants Jewish, Alex Ogden, an incoming senior at Indiana University with a Christian background, told The Media Line, “I kind of started noticing antisemitism in high school. I specifically remember swastikas being drawn on our bathrooms on the mirrors.” He criticized protest rhetoric and security tactics on his campus: “Our university president actually put snipers on top of our student union, which I actually do not agree with at all. From what I’ve heard, the encampments were nonviolent.” 

Samantha Weiss of Florida State University told The Media Line, “We’ve met a few Christians, we have people who aren’t Jewish on our trip, and they’ve just taught us that, yeah, people are on our side, and it’s really nice to see.” 

“I would say a big issue with our generation is consuming a lot of information from TikTok,” Ogden said.  

Joseph Moskovitz, a rising senior at Georgia Tech studying aerospace engineering, told The Media Line, “I’ve definitely moved away from major news outlets and found myself more attracted to individual thinkers who I trust and respect.” Beniluz and Strupinsky both described word of mouth as a key source; “The chatter … feels just as important as the headlines,” Strupinsky said. 

As the war has evolved, so too has the curriculum. “What began with a focus on the Hamas atrocities on October 7 has grown to include broader Hasbara-Israel advocacy training and, more recently, a pivot toward addressing the Iranian threat as well as the other fronts Israel is combating,” Eglash said. “Each iteration of the trip has been designed to respond to the most urgent challenges facing Israel at that moment, ensuring that student leaders return ready to engage effectively in the global conversation.” 

The trip offered perspective and practice—students say they’re returning with tools to reframe arguments and decide when not to engage. “I’ve learned a lot about rhetoric and how important it is, and framing narratives, and when to rebuke information, and when to not engage and dispute the question itself,” Moskovitz said. He added, “Unfortunately, we’ve really tried reaching out to leadership and have been, frankly, just insulted and shot down.” On campus culture, he said, “When you have a bunch of engineering and tech and natural sciences students, frankly, ain’t nobody got time for that.” 

For Ogden, the goal of the trip was to learn how to combat antisemitism on his campus. “I feel like a lot of young people in our generation want to be activists, and I promote that, but they also should be able to understand when what they are saying is wrong.”  

Marcowitz added personal motivation: “I am a convert, and I personally feel like I owe a huge debt. The Jewish people have only ever helped me. They’ve given me a home; they’ve given me food.” She said she gained “fresh eyes” on the trip: “I’m not just seeing what’s coming on the news—I am witnessing it in person. I have retained information; I can share it.” 

Addie J. Davis is a recent graduate of the University of North Texas and an intern in The Media Line’s Press and Policy Student Program. 

PHOTO- IsraelAmbassadors.com co-founder Michael Eglash speaks to the students.jpeg – IsraelAmbassadors.com co-founder Michael Eglash speaks to the students. (Courtesy IsraelAmbassadors.com)