Around 30 students rallied outside Penn Hillel on Nov. 10, calling for more media attention towards antisemitic attacks happening in the United States and abroad.
Penn Israel Public Affairs Committee and Hillel co-organized the rally to advocate for Israelis who have been held hostage in Gaza since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. They also rallied for the victims of recent attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam.
The event featured three speakers — Wharton and Engineering senior Noah Rubin, Drexel University student Sammy Shiff, and a third speaker who did not identify themself.
During the rally, Rubin spoke on the ongoing captivity of Israelis by Hamas, calling the holding of hostages “completely unacceptable.” He said that since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, there has been a significant increase in antisemitism globally "to the point where antisemitism has been normalized."
Rubin also discussed the Nov. 7 attacks on Israeli's at a soccer match in Amsterdam. After the match — which took place between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club and the Netherlands' AFC Ajax — attackers assaulted Israeli spectators, kicking and beating them, according to Dutch officials. The assaults were condemned as antisemitic by authorities in Amsterdam, Israel, and across Europe.
“We have to come to our own rescue here in the United States, and we have to continue to stand up,” Rubin said. “We have to continue to speak out about these things, because as we know, no one is going to come save us but ourselves.”
In an interview with the DP, Rubin discussed attacks on Philadelphia's Jewish community, emphasizing the importance of media coverage and discussions on antisemitism and its prevalence in the world.
He highlighted recent events at the Congregation Mikveh Israel, a historic Jewish synagogue in Philadelphia that was attacked three times in October. Vandals scrawled profanities on a religious statue outside the synagogue, an arsonist set a dumpster near the building on fire, and two men tried to break into the synagogue.
“It’s become normalized to the point where it does not get media coverage, and if it was any other group, it would be the front of the newspaper, which I totally support,” Rubin told the DP. “I think that any minority group or cultural group that is attacked should have people rally around it, and should have people that stand up and say, 'this hatred is not OK.'”
Following Rubin’s speech, Shiff shared a story about his cousin, who was in Amsterdam to support the soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. and AFC Ajax when the attacks on Israeli fans occurred. Shiff said that at night, his cousin decided to take the taxi home, which stopped a few blocks from his hotel. Shiff alleges that his cousin got “beat up by thugs,” including the taxi driver, who “joined the thugs.”
“Jewish people need Israel, a place where we can feel safe and be our Jewish selves, without fear of being persecuted, killed, or attacked,” Shiff said.
The third speaker, who did not identify themself, spoke abour Kristallnacht — a riot in Germany led by the Nazi Party on Nov. 9, 1938 that caused the mass destruction of Jewish synagogues, businesses, and homes. The speaker acknowledged the anniversary of Kristallnacht and drew connections to the attacks in Amsterdam.
“What was supposed to be a civil match of football became scenes of violence against Jews simply for being Jews,” they said. “This flagrant display of violence and hatred cannot be ignored, because if it is, we risk, once again, ignoring the signs that the world is showing us and finding ourselves in a violent reality at which that point it will be too late to change.”
The event ended with the singing of “Oseh Shalom" — a prayer for peace.
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