Abstract: This autoethnographic study explores manifestations of antisemitism on a European university campus, focusing on personal experiences as an Israeli Jewish student at the University of Coimbra. Drawing from firsthand observations, documented incidents, and interactions with protesters, administrative officials, and peers, the research highlights how hate-laden stickers, verbal threats, and institutional inaction shape a hostile academic climate. By weaving together personal narrative and scholarly frameworks on hate speech, higher education policies, and antisemitism, the study reveals a troubling dissonance between the university’s stated commitment to inclusivity and its inadequate responses to overt acts of discrimination. Through detailed descriptions of unfolding events—from the initial appearance of incendiary slogans to meetings with administrators—the analysis illuminates how deeply entrenched biases can circumvent legal and procedural safeguards. In reflecting on emotional responses and the complexities of positionality, the autoethnographic lens underscores the human impact of hostile environments and the gaps in institutional support. The findings urge higher education stakeholders to reevaluate their protocols for handling hate speech and discrimination, calling for comprehensive measures that protect vulnerable groups and encourage critical engagement with contentious geopolitical issues. This work ultimately argues that acknowledging and actively combating antisemitism in academic settings is crucial for fostering genuine inclusivity and upholding the values of open, respectful scholarship.
Abstract: In the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 attacks, reports of anti-Israel expressions at German universities have raised questions about the prevalence and nature of such sentiments in academic environments. Traditional survey-based research on antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment is often limited by response biases and social desirability bias. This study introduces a novel field-experimental approach to measuring anti-Israel sentiment in a real-world university setting. Using event history analysis, it examines the removal probability of stickers of the Israeli flag compared to German, US, Palestinian, and rainbow flags at a German university. Over a 24-week period, 600 stickers were placed on 50 public notice boards and were monitored for 14-day cycles. The results provide strong evidence of anti-Israel sentiment. The Israeli flag had the highest removal rate, with only 47.5% of the flags remaining at the end of the observation period—significantly lower than the survival rates of the other flags (which range from 68% to 80%). Cox regression analysis confirms that Israeli flags faced the highest removal hazard, being 3.3 to 3.7-times more likely to be removed than the rainbow flag and nearly twice as likely as the German flag. Politically motivated removals, though less frequent, disproportionately targeted Israeli flags as well. Removal rates were highest in hallways of the humanities, shared humanities/social sciences as well as in central facilities hallways. Hallways in the natural sciences, the human- and social sciences and economics had lower removal rates. Areas with higher student traffic exhibited fewer removals. Overall, the findings indicate a pronounced anti-Israel bias on campus, distinct from attitudes toward other nationalities or symbols.
Topics: Antisemitism: Attitude Surveys, Antisemitism: Israel-Related, Gender, Universities / Higher Education, University Students, Experiments, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: In Education Systems, Attitudes to Israel, Attitudes to Jews, Jewish Teachers
Abstract: This study examines the extent of antisemitic bias in German higher education through a survey experiment conducted among students (N=1,416) at an average-sized German university in the fall of 2024/2025. Using a between-subjects design, participants were randomly assigned to evaluate English academic writing courses taught by fictitious instructors whose profiles varied by gender and ethnic/religious background—categorized as German, Israeli, and Jewish. Instructors were rated on sympathy and competence using a 7-point scale. While no significant differences emerged for competence ratings, results reveal notable bias in sympathy ratings: instructors identified as Jewish, particularly male Jewish instructors, received significantly lower ratings compared to their German counterparts. Instructors from Israel without a visible Jewish symbol were not rated significantly differently. There was also a gender bias, as female instructors with a German profile were rated less favorably than male instructors. Interestingly, the anti-Jewish bias was predominantly driven by female student raters, whereas male students primarily exhibited gender bias without significant antisemitic tendencies. These findings suggest that antisemitic motives, rather than anti-Israel sentiment, underlie the negative evaluations observed in this academic setting, and highlight the complex interplay between ethnic/religious prejudice and gender bias.
Abstract: In Germany, pro-Palestine protests in the form of camps and institute occupations have occurred and continue to take place at universities. Antisemitic incidents have been reported at many of these protests. Following the initial data collection in December 2023, this report provides a new, focused, up-to-date assessment of the opinion climate in the context of the Middle East conflict and antisemitic attitudes at German universities. Exactly one year after the first report, the results of two recent surveys by the Higher Education Research Unit (AG Hochschulforschung) are summarized here. First, based on a large online survey conducted in December 2024 with over 1,800 students, we report on these students’ assessments of the conflict and antisemitic tendencies among them. This follows
on directly from the previous study mentioned earlier (Hinz et al., 2024), enabling us to describe possible changes compared to last year. In some places, we also examine the assessments and attitudes of students compared to a sample from the general population. Second, we present the results of a simultaneous survey of university rectorates on antisemitic incidents and the universities' reactions to these incidents. At the invitation of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK), a total of 94 university management teams took part in this separate online survey.
The results indicate that universities have been strongly affected by antisemitic incidents and that antisemitic resentment remains at a constant level. A high level of vigilance is still required, particularly
with regards to Israel-related antisemitism
Abstract: French students in the third and final year from the Humanities and Social Sciences license degree course traveled to Ukraine and Belorussia between 2017 and 2020, in order to carry out surveys of eyewitnesses to the so-called “Holocaust by Bullets.” The subject-matter stands out in the French scholarly scene, as the Holocaust usually attracts little attention at this level of studies. Students registered in the course hail from license degrees in History, Social Sciences or Geography, and have chosen to attend the course labeled “European Historical Heritage and Citizens’ Thoughts” as a complement to a more classical curriculum, and as a way of enhancing their own university curriculum. The research professors involved have also volunteered to participate as authors of the aforementioned multidisciplinary program, with the aim to raise awareness to research practices on the Holocaust. University professors and teams from the Yahad-in-Unum NGO take turns leading the two-hour weekly sessions. The professors help establish theoretical focus and provide methodological tools, develop lines of investigation on various areas of interest (e.g., mode of operation used in the shootings, collaboration and rescue operations, and neighbors of the crime scene), as well as the context (anti-Semitism, racism, local geopolitics, regional history, culture and society, etc.), while Yahad-in-Unum participants describe actual cases based on records, maps and filmed testimonies. They had the task to provide documents from Soviet and Nazi archives translated from Russian, or from German, and act as translators during fieldwork. Students are encouraged to participate as often as possible and have to prepare analytical reports and presentations following each session, while adopting the position of a researcher.
Abstract: This is an ethnographic study of student politics relating to Palestine-Israel within British universities. Palestine-Israel has been a focal issue within British campuses for over four decades, manifesting in intense, high profile conflicts, which have been subject to competing political and media framings. In this thesis, I identify this as a case of what Nancy Fraser (2008) describes as 'abnormal justice', a situation of incommensurable, spiralling conflicts over the 'what', 'how' and 'who' of political community. I show how students' engagement with Palestine-Israel raises spectres of entangled histories of the Holocaust and colonialism, and tensions over the national versus global boundaries of the polity. Moving beyond abstract portrayals of this as a conflict between discrete ethno-religious groups or autonomous moral actors, I attend to students' complex personal experiences of these political dynamics. My central argument is that PalestineIsrael exerts discomforting, at times irreconcilable, claims over participating students, arising out of violent histories, ongoing racisms, complex transnational attachments and " the rationalism of post-imperial British universities. I trace how unsettling ambiguities and a desire for moral coher.,e nce are enacted within this campus politics, analysing how institutional practices of containment and shaming lead to 'tragic' moments of passionate aggression, which then circulate in the media. Contributing to a cross-disciplinary turn towards affect, aesthetics and ethics in the study of public spheres, I stake a claim for responsive ethnography with ethical ambitions. I do so by drawing our attention beyond spectacular political conflicts, showing how students cultivate reflexive practices and express uncertainty, care and commitment within overlooked, 'ordinary' spaces of the campus. In these ways, I show how attending to intersubjective political experience provides vital insights into the motivations and desires at stake in justice conflicts, and operis up expansive possibilities for reflexivity and creativity within the public institutions of democratic societies
Abstract: Where did Jews come from to Poland? How could it be that Poles let the Germans build concentration camps in their neighborhoods? Why has the Israeli army shelled districts where Palestinian civilians live? The answers to those and other questions can be found in the book, Difficult Questions in Polish-Jewish Dialogue.
The book, Difficult Questions in Polish-Jewish Dialogue (www.difficultquestions.org), is a joint effort of the Forum for Dialogue and the American Jewish Committee. It is the first publication available in Poland that tries to bridge the gulf between Polish and Jewish perceptions of the world. The history taught to American or Israeli students differs from that offered in Polish schools. Difficult Questions aims at showing both perspectives.
Work on the book started with a survey carried out among a thousand students from Poland, the USA, Israel, Canada, and Australia. Young Poles and Jews listed questions that seemed the most sensitive to them. They concerned the past, present and future. The book's editors chose 50 of the most representative issues. The answers were provided by experts in Polish-Jewish relations.
Among the authors are Władysław Bartoszewski, Israel Gutman, Leszek Kołakowski, Shlomo Avineri and Antony Polonsky.
