Big screen documents campus anti-Semitism

In the opening moments of the new documentary film, “Crossing The Line 2: The New Face of Anti-Semitism On Campus,” the audience experiences campus rallies that portray Israel and Jews as Nazis and equate Palestinians with Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

“I would never have said a year ago that this would happen on my campus,” laments Binghamton University alum Justin Hayet. “Thirty-something percent Jews, proud Jews, Zionists, such a strong Jewish and pro-Israel community—this would never happen, [but] it happened. People were being verbally and maliciously attacked for saying they believe in the right of a State of Israel.” 

The half-hour film, which opened Sunday at a Chicago-area AMC, looks at when criticism of Israel “crosses the line” into anti-Semitism on North American college campuses. 

Campus activities organized by Students for Justice in Palestine to promote the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and “Israeli Apartheid Week,” as well as the anti-Israel camp’s infiltration of student governments, are clearly exposed in the documentary. Incidents of Nazi imagery spray-painted on Jewish fraternities, buildings, and dorm room doors exemplify the blatant anti-Semitism showed in the film.

Most appalling may be the acts of intimidation and threats of violence against Jewish students on numerous college campuses.

Early on, the documentary shows video footage of a Cornell University student cursing toward the camera “f**k you Zionist scum” and then spitting at the camera. The film then cuts to an anti-Israel rally in Oakland, Calif., and an angry woman assaulting and screaming at a pro-Israel activist, “Go you stupid whore, get the f**k out of here.”

“There are some campuses where students actually feel intimidated simply for wearing a Magen David (Star of David) or a kippah on campus,” says Aviva Slomich, international campus director for Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.