Amy Rosenthal, who lived in Israel as a child, is co-founder of the North Carolina Coalition for Israel.
(Oct. 16, 2026 / JNS)
While the Jewish community was privately mourning on the anniversary of the barbaric Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, anti-Israel groups used the date to distract from Jewish suffering while playing the victim.
Duke University and the University of North Carolina saw very public demonstrations determined to put the spotlight on Gazan suffering. They could have chosen any other date to do this, but they chose Oct. 7.
This is no coincidence. It is part of the ongoing psychological war against Israel and the Jews.
At Duke, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the Muslim Student Association (MSA), and Duke Academics and Staff for Justice in Palestine (DASJP) held a “Glory to our Martyrs” event in front of the iconic Duke Chapel. This use of a Christian landmark was surely no accident. About 35 people attended. There was talk of genocide and occupation, and the Israel Defense Forces were called murderers.
DASJP describes itself as a “group of academics and staff broadly defined” that organizes “efforts within and outside the university.” The group openly calls for a boycott of Israel and promotes anti-Israel propaganda. While based at Duke, its target goes far beyond the campus community.
The “Vigil for Palestinian Martyrs” at UNC was worse. Sponsored by UNC SJP and MSA groups with support from Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), it was held at the Bell Tower park area on campus. It included a “One Voice for Gaza” session from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. and claimed to include fasting, although food was served. It was billed as an effort to “honor the lives lost in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
While the UNC event claimed to be about mourning victims, it called for violence. A sign on the stage read “Death, Death to the IOF” (the IDF renamed by MSA/SJP as “Israel Occupation Force”) with images of blood dripping from the last letters. This is a call to kill IDF soldiers that often transforms into targeting Israelis (Jews) anywhere they are. For example, in Amsterdam in November 2024, people yelled “Jewish, Jewish, IDF” and attacked visiting Israeli sports fans. Other signs onstage said, “From the river to the sea” and “Jews for Palestinian liberation.”
Anyone who didn’t look like a student was targeted for surveillance. Visitors were monitored and followed by people wearing keffiyehs. Many wore N-95 masks, which is against the law in North Carolina. They used umbrellas to obstruct access and block views of the event. As soon as a visitor got near the site, staff would get in front and open an umbrella. When pro-Israel Jewish students showed up, they were blocked in the same way. There was no evident UNC security presence. If present, they took no action.
Eventually, a few event staff members engaged in conversation. When asked why their program was on Oct. 7, they answered, “because that’s when the genocide started.” A visitor quoted Nazi official Josef Goebbels statement, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” When asked about this, the students holding umbrellas looked baffled, asking: “Who is Goebbels?” In addition, they claimed a place called “Palestine” exists, but couldn’t say where it was.
This is not a free-speech issue. Anyone should feel free to expose themselves as an antisemite or a person with terrorist sympathies. But universities should ask themselves why students and faculty with such views have become so common on campus.
In the case of UNC, the incitement to violence and obstruction of public spaces warrants a formal investigation. Groups like UNC’s SJP and MSA must be suspended pending further investigation. Otherwise, these organizations will be empowered to incite more violence, hijack more public spaces on campus and continue to promote their anti-Israel agenda.