at the University of Strasbourg, tensions, difficult dialogue but “no war between students”

Jewish students face anti-Semitism

Natacha confides for her part that she has been avoiding campus since October 7. Installed in a brasserie away from the university, the president of the local section of the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) believes that her name “circulated”. If she does not take courses at the University of Strasbourg, the young woman represents those who, of Jewish faith, follow training there. She assures, on the basis of feedback from other students, that certain “no longer dare to go to tutorials”, of fear “that their Jewish last name be pronounced during the call.” Absences of which the university presidency declares to franceinfo that it is not aware of.

Since the intensification of the conflict in the Middle East, Jewish students have sometimes been confronted with openly anti-Semitic tags on campus, such as “A good Jew is a dead Jew”. Registrations each time deleted by the university. The presidency confirms that other slogans, “under the cover of denouncing the war waged by Israel and its dramatic consequences for the Palestinian population, they sometimes attack the Jewish population in general.” The campus was also the site of the violent attack on three young Jews, treated as “Zionist fascists”on the night of January 28 to 29.

Louis*, one of the victims of this attack, joins the table where Natacha is. The young man says they were sticking portraits of Hamas hostages on a wall, when they were thrown to the ground and beaten by a group of six people. “It took me a week or two before I came to my senses. (…) I had this stress of coming back to campus at the beginning”he explains, a yellow ribbon hanging from his sweatshirt, in support of those captured by the Islamist movement on October 7. He tries to “streamline” his anxieties and to reassure himself by telling himself that his attackers did not clearly see his face.

Louis says he is not opposed to “stands or towing” on the situation of Palestine at university. “Everything depends on the axis and the discourse that is given”he emphasizes.

A possible dialogue, but absent

Because the university is a place of debate, the presidency wants to be “brave enough” to allow this flammable subject to exist on campus, affirms Michel Deneken. However, no exchange took place ebetween the UEJF and the Palestine-Unistras committee. Both sides assure us that the doors are not closed, but no one takes the first step.

By discussing with the two organizations, a different reading of what is happening in the Middle East, but also of the consequences in France, is revealed. Thus, Sarah, member of the Palestine-Unistras committee, refutes the term “war”which is equivalent to “taking the Israeli story literally, even though it is a genocide against the Gazans”. In January, the International Court of Justice called on Israel to do everything possible to prevent any act of genocide in the Gaza Strip. But she has not yet ruled on the question of whether Israel is committing genocide.

The definition of Zionism is also debated between the two groups. “This is not supporting Netanyahu’s policies, but the right to defend a presence on the territory”defends Natacha.

On the stands run by pro-Palestinian activists, Rayaân still tries to dialogue with everyone, “even with those who have a different opinion.” “Once again, we point out a government, it is against it that we oppose. We don’t want students to feel bad on campus.”affirms the young man.

In the opinion of those interviewed, it is not uncommon for tensions in the country and even international issues to find an echo within the university. However, Louis notices that, this time, “the tension is almost identity”. A professor, who wishes to remain anonymous, says she feels it in the classrooms. “One day in class, I had a large number of students who claimed that Hamas [classé comme organisation terroriste par plusieurs pays occidentaux] was a resistance organization. I tried to reframe the conversation. At the end of the course, a student came to me, telling me that it was intolerable but that she was afraid to give her opinion. testifies the teacher.

The fact remains that this news and its repercussions do not interest all young people with as much involvement as the collectives. “The reality on the ground is that there is an increase in tensions, but we are not in a war between students either”assures Michel Deneken.

This weak mobilization is confirmed in the Sébastien-Brant amphitheater, reserved by the Palestine-Unistras committee. Only around twenty students attend a screening-debate around the documentary Five Broken Camerasin which a farmer from a West Bank village recounts the residents’ struggle against the construction of a separation wall by the Israelis, between 2005 and 2010.

On the campus lawn, a few clusters of students are enjoying the first rays of spring sunshine. When questioned, some of them illustrate this very relative interest in current debates. “Um, I was just handed out leaflets.”coward a young woman with red hair, taken aback by the subject. Another student, an English-speaking student, brushes aside the question: “I don’t like politics.” Neither knew that young Jewish people had been attacked on campus.