Hi, my name is Nicole. I’m currently getting my masters in Public Policy at Georgetown University and two years ago I did a Masa program called Career Israel, where I lived in Tel Aviv for five months and had an internship. My mom is Israeli, so I’m an Israeli citizen and I’ve spent a lot of time in Israel. I love Israel. It’s not a genocidal, apartheid, oppressive state; people are using those terms wrong.
Being on a college campus right now is really scary. I’m 23, and I’m seeing how all these people who are 19 or 20 years old have so much hate for me. They don’t know me though. They know nothing about me. All they know is I’m Jewish and because of that they would attack me – that’s really frightening.
I go to the my campus administration, I e-mail, I talk to them, but nothing happens. All that happens is people tear down photos of baby hostages. So, I feel frustrated, I feel scared, and I feel sad because the world that I knew before October 7th is not the world I’m in right now.
The rise of antisemitism makes me feel like there is no place for me anymore; that this world does not value me. That is really scary, and it breaks my heart. My heart goes out to all my Israeli friends and to all the IDF soldiers who bravely fight for me every single day.
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