University of Pennsylvania. Photo: Billy Wilson/Flickr

While some students on the University of Pennsylvania campus mourn the lives lost at the hands of Hamas terrorists, others do not. In fact, one UPenn club, as well as many professors, continue to espouse hate and antisemitism. That is why Penn Against the Occupation should be removed as a Penn-affiliated club, and why professors should be held accountable.

My name is Eyal Yakoby. I am a senior at the University of Pennsylvania. As a proud Jewish student, I feel unsafe on campus. I love Penn, and watching donors pull money, trustees speak out against the university, and so many of my fellow peers terrified breaks my heart.

I have come to recognize, however, that this is necessary due to inaction of the university and the promulgation of moral relativism, along with preferential types of speech.

On Saturday, October 7, the same day the Hamas massacre occurred, Penn Against the Occupation promoted a rally in Rittenhouse Square to “Free Palestine.” This was directly after news broke. Not a single “move” had been made by the Israeli government other than cleaning up the blood-soaked streets.

Who in their right mind thought this was the right time to promote this event?

At the event on October 8, one of the speakers stated: “I think we should all give an applause right now, to Hamas, for a job well done. When they woke up in the morning, and they found the field hands in the house, with a knife, ready to cut their f***ing throats. I was late to the news, but when I heard it, I smiled. I don’t want to hear that bullshit, 250, 250, innocent Israelis are dead. F*** ‘em. Again, I want to salute them, a job well done.”

While most clubs would immediately repeal their endorsement of such an event, Penn Against the Occupation continued to repost clips from the event. Who would ever smile at the death of innocent civilians?

Penn Against the Occupation continued their hate when they released their statement, signed by 10 other Penn organizations, stating that the mass killing was “dignified violence.”

They also turned off their comments from the post, when Penn students started to voice concern for the statement. The most ironic part is that during the Palestine Literature Festival, supporters of this festival accused Hillel, along with other Jewish institutions, of “silencing” them and trying to suppress free speech — yet they turned off comments.

Most egregiously, the club reposted an Instagram post on their story saying that the 40 babies who were murdered by Hamas were “fake.” Those are people’s children, innocent babies, who were massacred by terrorists.

The images will haunt humanity for decades to come, yet this Penn club is claiming they are fake. The reports of dead babies have been confirmed by multiple governments, and images of child body bags, as well as cribs plastered with blood. To publicly and without shame post this should never be allowed.

This rhetoric has led to an unsafe environment for Jews, which the school has protected and continues to turn a blind eye to. A man is in custody after assaulting a Jewish student on campus as well. It is this rise of violence that has been making Jewish students not leave their rooms out of fear of harassment and violence — or hiding their visible Jewish identity.

One speaker at the rally even said that “all settlers are legitimate military targets and they will be targeted.” He later said that Israelis can go back to “Moscow and Brooklyn and Gstaad and f***king Berlin where you came from.” The crowd erupted in applause including someone who appears to be professor Huda Fakhreddine.

Many members of the rally that Penn Against the Occupation hosted tore down flyers calling for the release of Israeli child hostages. I honestly, at this moment, do not care what your thoughts are on the current conflict — but leave dead children out of this.

What has truly been concerning are the professors who use their classrooms as spaces to forward their political agenda. They have been vocal in criticizing the Israeli government, using their privilege as educators to demonize Israel through the use of Holocaust rhetoric, rather than look after the well-being of their Jewish students.

A professor’s job it is to teach facts and history. Instead, many choose to dominate the conversation with propaganda espoused and created by a known terrorist organization. One Penn professor even went so far as to say what is happening in Gaza is the same that happened in Auschwitz and Treblinka. Another, Ms. Fakhreddine, stated on camera that Israel “is the epitome of antisemitism,” and that the State of Israel “desecrates the memory of the Holocaust victims.” As a descendant of a Holocaust survivor, I can confidently tell her that Israel is not the epitome of antisemitism.

The Penn administration needs to take action against these people.

The pure evil exhibited by the Penn club is vile. It is not representative of our community whatsoever. This is beyond hate speech, it is disgusting, and as a Penn student, I am ashamed to attend a university with these students who have no regard for human life. They hide behind their social media accounts expressing hate and making uncorroborated claims that have a profound impact not just on Jews, but on all decent people.

I, along with 1,400 signatories of a petition denouncing their hate, do not feel safe on campus with them in our community. These students should be ashamed of themselves and truly reflect on their moral integrity.

If the UPenn administration will not act, they should be forced to by political, donor, and other pressure.

This kind of hate speech would never be tolerated against Asian groups, Black groups, or any other minority.

Yet once again, it’s open season for Jews on the UPenn campus. But we’re not going to be silent anymore.

The author is a student at the University of Pennsylvania.