A Jewish Princeton University freshman spoke out this week about the vicious anti-Semitism he witnessed at an encampment of anti-Israel protesters on the Ivy League campus.
New York’s Maximilian Meyer told FOX News Digital that the wave of anti-Israel activity that continues to sweep through some of the nation’s top institutions has hit Princeton, leaving Jewish students afraid to attend classes. , said the demonstrators carried Hezbollah flags and chanted pro-Hamas chants. And I will lead a regular student life.
“The craziest thing to me is the fact that I saw the Hezbollah flag so many times and it didn’t even shock me,” Meyer said in an interview. “And I thought that symbolized more than anything the moral corruption that is entrenched on our university campuses, so-called elite university campuses. Not only do we have Hezbollah flags; , the fact that there is a Hezbollah flag, some in support of the Houthis, some in support of Hamas, it is not surprising to us that it is spread everywhere. ”
The US State Department has officially designated Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization.
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The Hezbollah flag was discovered at an encampment in Princeton on Thursday at about 5:16 p.m., according to the Daily Princetonian. Organizers then requested that it be removed immediately.
The photo of the flag was initially shared by the X account of Miles McKnight, a 2023 graduate who also served as president of an undergraduate student organization dedicated to promoting free speech, the paper said. This article was reposted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
Meyer, who is currently studying political science at Princeton University, said he has been fighting against anti-Israel groups since the Gaza war broke out after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. He said the number of counter-protesters participating varied and sometimes totaled 100 to 150 students and faculty calling for Princeton University to divest from Israel and denounce the Jewish state’s campaign to eradicate Hamas. He said it could reach as many as six or seven students. , a terrorist group.
Maximilian Meyer, a freshman politics student at Princeton University, has been speaking out against an anti-Israel camp since it was established on campus on Thursday. Meyer told Fox News Digital that he saw Hezbollah flags at the encampment and that he was afraid to cross campus for classes because of anti-Semitism from his classmates and faculty. He also said he knows some students. (Maximilian Meyer)
But Meyer said many Jewish students do not want to stay and speak out because of fear and intimidation by pro-Hamas groups.
“They are horrified by the fact that professors are joining their calls for genocide,” Meyer told Fox News Digital.
Meyer said he always flies the American flag alongside the Israeli flag when he protests to show his support for Israel as a Jewish American.
“So when I raise the American flag and the Israeli flag, I understand that I am not only protesting for my people as a Jew, but as an American I am protesting for my people. ” he explained. “And that’s the fundamental point that people need to understand. People need to understand that standing against pro-Hamas insurgents is exactly the same as standing with the United States.”
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Aerial photo of protesters at Princeton University in New Jersey on Thursday. (WTXF)
Meyer said his fellow Jewish students are no longer able to attend school normally and students are distracted during class “because they hear chants.”
“While they are trying to be careful and educated, they are calling for genocide,” he said. “Not only are these disturbing and hateful, they are clearly anti-Semitic. We want the government to condemn these calls.”
Professor Meyer called out faculty members who supported the protests, and mentioned in particular Professor Max Weiss, who recently spoke at a tent encampment on Princeton’s campus and read a poem written by a Palestinian writer. According to the poem, Jews “evolved in the opposite direction” from “victims to victims.” new york post reporterA person who witnessed the speech. Weiss is currently an associate professor of history at Princeton University.
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Members of Hezbollah salute and raise the group’s yellow flag during the funeral of a fighter killed in an Israeli vehicle attack in Shehabiya, Lebanon, April 17. (AFP via Getty Images)
“In that poem [he] Jews, he says, “evolved in the opposite direction.” On the contrary, it evolved. And even if it’s not anti-Semitism, even if it’s not a violation of discrimination policies, I don’t know what is,” Meyer said.
Princeton University did not respond to a request for comment.
Just last week, university police entered a tent encampment on Princeton’s campus and ended up arresting two people. Princeton University Public Safety, an Ivy League police force, gave the protesters several warnings before acting, the university said.
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Professor Meyer said that while he believed the arrest of the protesters was a step in the right direction for the university, “it is not enough.”
“It’s abhorrent to espouse blatant anti-Semitism. It’s abhorrent, and the university does nothing but talk about free speech and not allow tents to be built. But tents are not the scope of the problem.” Professor Meyer told Fox News Digital. “It’s not all about the tents. It’s all about what has to stop. The tents certainly have to stop. But the Hezbollah flag has to stop.”
Fox News Digital’s Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.
