UCF’s Palestinian Student Association will hold a protest on UCF’s campus this coming Wednesday. While planned for 11:30 AM on Memory Mall, UCF Jews should assume a heightened presence of pro-Hamas individuals and organizations throughout the entire day across the entire campus.
This protest, planned to coincide with Central Florida Hillel’s Spread Cream Cheese Not Hate campaign, is likely to feature antisemitic and genocidal rhetoric. Not only has UCF PSA used this rhetoric online, they have also featured it prominently in physical demonstrations. The protest is also being promoted online by the explicitly pro-Hamas organizations UCF Muslim Student Assocation and YDSA.
If you want to go to campus to support the Spread Cream Cheese Not Hate campaign, regardless of the physical danger, UCF Jewish Monitor supports you and hopes you remain safe. We want you to know that it takes incredible bravery to be anywhere near the people who want you dead. You have a community to support you and we hope that you lean on it in these desperate times. Police will also be present.
If you are confronted by a pro-Hamas individual or group, you should attempt to quickly move to a populated area and de-escalate the situation by refusing to discuss it. Place as much physical distance between yourself and the individual/group as possible. Do not, under any circumstances, engage with or confront pro-Hamas individuals or groups. The best case scenario is that you will be filmed and your words used as agitprop, increasing the risk of violence against Jews at UCF and potentially around the world. The worst case scenario is too grim to discuss. Call 9-1-1 immediately if you believe the situation is escalating dangerously, or if you believe your life is in danger.