by By Koral Ann Baruch
The Free University of Berlin has seen its fair share of protests, encampments, and scandals conducted by pro-Palestinian students following the Israel-Hamas war, which started after the Hamas massacre and kidnapping of Israeli civilians on October 7th, 2023. This has led to discrimination against Jewish students and an unsafe environment on the FU campus.
On October 6th of this year, a day before the second anniversary of the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, the university’s first-year students got a trendy tote bag with the slogans “free Palestine,” “free this university,” and “the students united will never be defeated,” alongside an illustration of people whose faces were covered, as is usually seen at pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The “free Palestine” slogan is problematic by itself, as it is unclear whether it calls for the destruction of Israel or establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, but what stands behind the other two slogans? What is the intent behind having students wear these Tote bags? It is as if to say that the University is occupied with the same force that occupies Palestine, suggesting that Israel occupies both the University and the Palestinian territories, which sounds very similar to antisemitic conspiracy theories that claim Jews/ Israel are controlling the world.
It seems like the students behind this believe that a decades-long complex conflict with vast history and different cultures can be resolved with slogans, illustrations, and protests whose aim is to shut down the voices actually involved and affected by this conflict.
The content of the first year’s goodie bags are purchased and distributed to the FSIs (student representatives of the different faculties) at the university by ASTA, a student-led committee that operates within the university. This is not the first time that ASTA FU has decided to use its funding, which comes from the students’ semester fee ( about 10 euros goes to ASTA out of the semester fee for each student every semester), to promote a political agenda that creates a hostile environment for the Jewish students, which is a misuse of students‘ funds. An example of that would be an event they created, “Detach Judaism from Zionism,” from July of this year.
Inside the tote bags were also KOrFU (Kritische Orientierungswochen FU) leaflets showcasing the university’s events, from organisations such as BDS FU, which promotes BDS – an organisation whose ultimate goal is to dismantle the State of Israel. Why is it that in a program meant to be inclusive to all students, there is only one event giving Jews a voice, held by a non-representative Jewish group promoting anti-Zionism?
On the calendar provided by ASTA, anti-Israel organisations within the university are also promoted, along with reminders of events that happened on certain dates, such as the university encampments. By the way, the Reichspogromnacht on November 9th is mentioned in this calendar as merely a pogrom, without mentioning that the violence was targeted at Jews that night.
From the events and student groups which were promoted by ASTA, an organisation made to help students and give them a voice, it is evident that they only mean to promote one agenda, and do not allow a variety of opinions.
These events are usually organised by student initiatives, with ASTA being one of the main ones. Among those organisations are also “Studis gegen Rechts,” which started as a front against far-right ideology, but later joined efforts with more far-left organisations such as Waffen der Kritik, Klasse gegen Klasse, and Students for Palestine FU. The same goes for “Student coalition Berlin,” who are defined in the new FU calendar as “an anti-colonial coalition of 10+ student collectives, upholding the liberation of Palestine as a political compass […]”.
Their so-called support of Palestinians typically includes encouraging students to protest, disrupt, vandalise, and hang posters around campus, which usually contain slogans such as “free Palestine” and “globalize the intifada,” “abolish Zionism,” etc. These organisations do not have space for debates and discussions. If you disagree with them, you are labeled as an oppressor.
This behaviour doesn’t accomplish much other than creating a hostile environment for Jewish students, as most Jews worldwide have an emotional, cultural, and religious connection to Israel. As we saw last year, it starts with catchy slogans and ends up with a student getting hospitalized by another fellow student who shouted “filthy Zionist” at him while beating him almost to death. What do these students actually contribute to the discussion around the war when they actively exclude and harass the students affected by it? Their obsession with framing Israelis and Zionist Jews here in Berlin as evil colonisers and blood thirsty settlers does not help anyone hurt by the war in Israel and Gaza.
“A free university for all” is what we hear student unions on the FU campuses chanting, following police being called in to break up protests and encampments. We constantly heard those students‘ claims that their freedom of speech is being limited and disrespected, and that the free university is “not so free”. The same students who condone BDS, Intifada, and go out of their way to make sure no one dares to share an opinion that does not fall in line with theirs.
What about freedom for the Jewish students? Why don’t we get to speak our minds without being concerned for our safety? or to be free to focus on our studies? To mourn the people who were massacred, raped, and held captive, people who were targeted for being Jewish? For us, it’s not a poster or a tote bag; it’s our reality. Furthermore, we must ask why they wish to erase Jewish voices from the university, only giving a place for opinions that are aligned with their own?
As a female Jewish student, if I have an issue with anything related to the University, I wouldn’t feel safe to seek help from ASTA because of their bias and hatred. Why do I have to pay for ASTA FU as part of the semester fee, when they use that money for propaganda to create an environment that makes me feel unsafe? To promote the BDS organisation that wishes to erase my opinion, voice, and visibility, and when they are done with me, to destroy and dismantle my country, which is, by the way, meant to be a safe place for Jews after being persecuted and murdered in other parts of the world, such as Berlin, Germany. ASTA FU and others can be assured that the Jewish students of Berlin will not be silenced and will continue to speak up against their discrimination, erasure, and violence.