“You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:20, 23:19).

This letter will be released to the larger Emerson community on the fifth day of Pesach, or Passover. It will also mark 200 days of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. During this time, many different Zionist organizations nationwide have attempted to speak on behalf of us, Jewish students. However, Emerson’s Jews Against Zionism refuses to be silenced or used as justification for the ongoing atrocities in Gaza and over the last 75 years in the land of Palestine. 

In the story of Passover, we tell the story of bondage, one in which a king enslaved our people and where we fought together and found freedom. This story was once used by the runaway slaves in the Americas as a tool of inspiration for their escape; in honor of this revolutionary history, we once again draw these parallels as we fight for the freedom of Palestine. While we do not wish to center ourselves in the dialogue about Palestine, we know as Jews that we hold a unique power and voice in this conversation. This is why we are writing to stand loudly and proudly with Emerson Students for Justice in Palestine. The following are JAZ’s demands of Emerson College and its community;

1) We ask that Emerson College, the Board of Trustees, and President Bernhardt call for a permanent Ceasefire, and an end to the bombardment in Gaza. 

The current bombardment on Gaza, that began on Oct. 7, has caused the death of over 30,000 Palestinian civilians, a massive portion of whom are women and children. This is a humanitarian crisis, and we refuse to let Israel execute the genocide of innocent people. The United States sent more than $15 billion in military aid to Israel in 2023 alone. As a Massachusetts institution, Emerson College has the voice and the obligation to protest our tax dollars being used to fund these atrocities. 

2) We reject the notion that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. We also assert that Jewish values and religion do not align with the genocidal and racist state of Israel.

We believe in the Jerusalem Accord definition that “Antisemitism is discrimination, prejudice, hostility, or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish).” While antisemitism and anti-Zionism can overlap, anti-Zionism is an ideology that calls for the liberation of oppressed peoples and does not aim to harm Jewish people. 

As the descendants of survivors, and those who carry the intergenerational trauma of the Holocaust, we ask that one historical atrocity not be used as a tool of comparison for another. “Never again” means never again for anyone, not just never again for Jewish people. We understand the historical context that forced many Holocaust survivors to settle in occupied Palestine, however, we also know that the state of Israel has systematically used and abused these survivors in order to justify their war crimes. 

We recognize the intersectionality of Palestinian liberation and the overlap of marginalized identities. We believe that any form of social justice needs to include Palestinian liberation. Anti-racism, disability justice, gender equality, and queer rights cannot exist under Zionism when Israel perpetuates racism, the mass disabling of Palestinians, gendered violence, and pinkwashing.

3) We unequivocally condemn the arrest of 12 Emerson students and one non-Emerson student, and the student suppression surrounding Students for Justice in Palestine and the Emerson College Student Union.

We were deeply disturbed by the arrest of thirteen of our friends and comrades for peacefully protesting outside President Bernhardt’s inauguration. We echo the demands of the Emerson 13 in asking for accountability for the Emerson College Police Department, and ask that Emerson centers the affected students when trying to mend this situation. 

4) We call for Emerson College to publish its financial records and demonstrate financial transparency around any Zionist or Israeli-tied donations and/or donors. 

Often, Zionism wears the face of higher education. In 2011, Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology made a joint bid to develop a new NYC campus on Roosevelt Island, and received $100 million in City Capital for the campus now known as Cornell Tech. The program has received an additional $170 million through private investments, and its website boasts of the 25 tech startups they “incubated,” as if shareholder profit and buyouts that grow tech monopolies are the point of higher education. They call this partnership a “cross-cultural experience,” and host conferences about “the future of mobility,” while both cultures restrict the mobility of the Palestinian people and systematically seek to exterminate them. 

As students of a supposedly progressive art school, we hoped that our host institution would be more conscious of the crimes of colonialism than its STEM contemporaries, but Emerson College has continued to align with the Zionist status quo of higher education. Emerson College does not disclose the identities of individual donors to the school. If there have been Zionist donors affiliated with Emerson, they are not only complicit with genocide, but cooperative with it. We demand that Emerson College fully disclose its sources of private funding as many other higher education institutions do.

5) We ask for the removal of Hillel from Emerson’s campus and a replacement of an Emerson-elected Jewish chaplain. 

Hillel is a fundamentally Zionist organization. On their website, they include “Israel” as one of the main parts of their vision for the foundation. Emerson Hillel spends a great deal of its resources promoting their Birthright trip (in which Jewish teenagers can visit Israel for free), and celebrating events such as “Israel Palooza”. While Emerson has a reportedly large Jewish population (13%), we do not feel comfortable in the only designated Jewish space on campus, and low attendance at Hillel events reflects that. Not only is this frustrating to us, but it’s also unprecedented as both Muslim and Christian students have instituted Chaplains that are Emerson-elected, instead of outwardly sourced through an organization like Hillel. We ask that Emerson create a space for Jewish students to practice that isn’t tied to the state of Israel. The Jewish community is wildly diverse, and our on-campus space should reflect that. 

6) We demand that Emerson College work to address the real causes and manifestations of antisemitism. 

While pro-Palestine activism does not threaten Jewish safety on campus, antisemitism has been a recurring and unresolved issue on campus for almost a decade. Swastikas and other forms of hate graffiti have appeared time and time again, with minimal response or action from the administration. Emerson College does not provide Kosher food options in its dining halls, even with its large Jewish student population. It also does not acknowledge the high holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur on the school calendar. This makes it extremely difficult for Jewish students to keep religious observance without falling behind. Emerson College has the resources and the knowledge to make the campus a better place for Jewish students, but instead chooses to stand behind and fund Zionist organizations that do not represent a large portion of us. 

Conclusion

Emerson’s Jews Against Zionism stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine and all those who have been unfairly martyred. As we watch in horror as this genocide continues, we mourn, pray, and fight for a better world. We refuse to stay silent as Emerson College and Zionist organizations attempt to speak for us. We will no longer be used as pawns to justify your silence, we will no longer stand on the wrong side of history. Not in our name, and not ever. There is a Jewish saying during Passover in which we say “Next year in Jerusalem!” Instead, this year we say “Next year in a free Palestine!” Our fight is just beginning from the river to the sea. 

Signed by: 

Celia Fischer ‘27, Maya Drooker ‘27, Emma Samuels ‘27, Sophie Healy ‘25, Griffin Willner ‘24, Leo Zahn ‘26, Adam Nuñez ‘25, Eli Calderone ‘26, Jordan Freid ‘27, Alex Silver ‘27, Anna Bacal Peterson ‘25, Charlotte Brandman ‘27, Eden Unger ‘24, Rowan Wasserman ‘27, Izzie Claudio ‘26, Leah Chazdon ‘27, Mason Vaughan ‘25, Ella Fields ‘25, Michael Santostefano ‘24, Piper Browne ‘27, Sara Fergang ‘24, Rebecca Horton ‘25, Nate Kahn ‘27, Sadie Swayze ‘25, Robin Jacobson ‘25, Dylan Young ‘25, Ethan Cooney ‘25, Liz Fleischer ‘26, Emma Levy ‘26, Matthias Gat ‘28, Gwen Baily ‘27, Jess Adair ‘24, Amalia Sandine ‘25, Amanda Bloome ‘25, Alexa Poplawsky ‘24, Eli Fresco ‘24, Clarisa Carrillo ‘24, Eliza Lederman ‘24, Maddie Thorpe ‘24, Arlo Winokur ‘25, Emmy Portnoy ‘27, Adrian Manansala ‘25, Sydney Schiller ‘25, Mason Hajj (Graduate Program), Kylie Gifis ‘25, Jaya Pernicone ‘24, Chad Fruscione ‘25, Marina Newman ‘25, Jacob Herzof ‘27, Sydney Schiller ‘25, Ryan Kipnis ‘24, Samantha Kavich ‘25, Emmy Kopstein ‘25.