Two Jewish DePaul University students — including a Stevenson High School graduate — who were targets of a vicious antisemitic attack on campus Nov. 6 spoke out Thursday on the spot where they were assaulted.
Before a gathering of supporters holding signs with the message “unmask the hate,” Buffalo Grove native Michael Kaminsky and Max Long, an Israeli Defense Forces reservist who was in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, called on the university to stand up to campus antisemitism.
They were supported by Brooke Goldstein, the executive director of the Lawfare Project, a Jewish legal organization that is providing pro bono representation for the two students.
Kaminsky fractured his wrist, while Long suffered a brain injury in the assault by two masked attackers.
Long said he has been the target of cyber harassment, with Pro-Hamas supporters putting up “wanted” posters online calling him an “IDF butcher” and saying he got what he deserved.
No one is in custody, although the assault was captured on video.
Kaminsky, leader of a Jewish student group on campus, was beaten while trying to come to Long’s aid.
“Max and I were attacked because of the university’s failure to protect its Jewish students,” he said.
He said on Oct. 7, Students for Justice in Palestine at DePaul held a rally honoring the “martyrs” who had died while carrying out Hamas’ attack.
When Kaminsky and Long were ambushed at 3:20 p.m., they were at the location outside the DePaul Student Center advocating for Israel.
While Kaminsky came to Long’s defense, Kaminsky said a university public safety officer at the scene took no action.
“We will recover from these injuries, but we will never forget the way DePaul’s public safety failed to act,” he said.
In a letter to faculty and staff the day of the attack, DePaul President Robert Manuel said he was “outraged” and called the violence an “unacceptable … violation of DePaul’s values.”
Long said he knows all too well the terror inflicted by Hamas.
“But it wasn’t until I was released from reserves and found myself on DePaul University’s campus that I understood how anti-Jewish the situation had become on U.S. soil,” he said.
Goldstein contends the problem extends to other collegiate campuses as well.
“Jew hatred has become systemic in higher education, and we are now seeing the consequences of that playing out on campuses across the country, including here at DePaul University,” Goldstein said.