Israel needs to do more to help the Jewish students that have become today's leaders in the fight against antisemitism, Harvard Alum and activist Shabbos Kestenbaum told The Jerusalem Post ahead of his attendance at Thursday's International Conference on Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem, also detailing how the Democrat Party had abandoned the needs of Jewish Americans because they took their support for granted
Kestenbaum said that the conference was an opportunity to urge Israeli leaders to commit more support to the students who were standing their ground against antisemitism on campus.
Students were "wearing these Star of David necklaces in hostile environments and are waving Israeli flags at campuses where they've been burned — literally burned –set on fire before, and we need to support those students," he explained.
"They are not tomorrow's leaders they are today's leaders," said the Harvard graduate.
Kestenbaum said that many young American Jews had woken up to the reality facing them in the post-October 7 environment, and had sought to engage more with the Jewish community, the Jewish establishment had not been prepared to meet their needs.
The young American has been at the forefront of addressing antisemitism and radical anti-Israel animus at Harvard, where he asserted that students who had physically assaulted their Jewish peers had or professors who had participated in the protest encampments had not been disciplined. To the contrary, Kestenbaum said that such professors were "rewarded" with a new class called "Palestine a 1,000 year history."
Campus antisemitism
Kestenbaum had filed a civil rights lawsuit against Harvard last January along with other students, many who had since settled with the institution, but he had continued because he was hoping to implement far more sweeping structural change on the campus.
The task forces created by Harvard to review and address antisemitism on campus were useless, according to Kestenbaum, not designed to implement change but to provide cover for the institution. Two leaders of the board had resigned recognizing the true nature of the body. It was now reportedly led by someone who claimed that antisemitism at Harvard had been exaggerated.
"The Jewish experience, not just at Harvard, but across so many college campuses in the United States" according to Kestenbaum was one "of a double standard."
"Jews are not asking for special treatment under the law — we are asking for equal treatment under the law," said Kestenbaum.
Voting for Trump
Kestenbaum had been working with the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, and said that President Donald Trump's administration had made significant inroads against campus antisemitism. Kestenbaum had spoken about the issue at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
"I supported President Trump so strongly was he was the only candidate who told us who told me to my face that we are going to enforce the law once again that if you're on a foreign visa as a student and you are arrested or support terrorist organizations like Hamas or you are following Jews on their way to class we will send you back to your host countries," shared Kestenbaum.
Kestenbaum had not always been a supporter of Republican politicians — he is a registered Democrat and had campaigned on behalf of their politicians — and had attempted to engage the Democrat party about rising antisemitism.
In one example, Kestenbaum and others had attempted to invite then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris to join Trump at an October 7 anniversary visit the Ohel gravesite of Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson alongside hostage families, but she had declined. Her camp reportedly declined a second invitation on a different day.
Kestenbaum had encouraged the party to have speakers at the Democrat National Convention who were progressive Jewish students victims of antisemitism, but his proposal was reportedly rejected.
"At a certain point there needs to be some recognition in the American Jewish community that politics are exclusively transactional and if a certain party does not want to support us that is their prerogative but we are not going to support you," said Kestenbaum. "I believe one of the reasons the Democratic Party was increasingly hostile to the state of Israel is because they kind of figured well we have 75 to 85% of the American Jewish vote locked up anyways so why do we have to start making concessions to a group that's going to support us regardless of what we do."
Kestenbaum hoped that voices like congressman Ritchie Torres and Senator John Fetterman would be elevated and amplified, but was not optimistic that the Democrat party would shift course in the near future.
