Campus Politics – the Price of Pro-Israel Advocacy

As an Israeli Jewish student attending Florida State University, I was fortunate to have felt safe on my college campus until recently. On September 24, 2025, I was openly discriminated against by members of the student government. Thankfully, all is well since the school stepped in, and my time in office has been an overall positive experience. However, what happened to me is happening more and more often, so we need to discuss it. That will be the only way for our student body to truly grow.

SGA’s session to discuss my application to be a SGA Senator fell right before the High Holidays, and I had been tasked with giving a speech. Although I am relatively new to the world of politics and the Student Government Association (SGA), I have a strong passion for fighting for justice and serving as a campus leader. This passion led me to apply for an SGA senator position representing the College of Business at FSU.

My primary goal was to ensure equal opportunity for all students and to assist both Business students and students from other colleges with their campus involvement and future careers. 

After careful consideration by SGA entities, I was invited to the FSU senate meeting in order to be appointed as a senator for the College of Business, which I needed to get a ⅔ vote by the FSU senate in order to officially be enrolled. Before the meeting commenced, the Senate President requested a private conversation and informed me that several known and anonymous antisemitic comments about me had been submitted to SGA.

I was genuinely shocked by their violent and aggressive tone. Here’s an example of what I mean: one comment reads, “Noam Druckmann should not be confirmed for a student senate seat. She is a blatant Zionist who supports the apartheid regime of Israel.” While I fully support every individual’s freedom of speech and the right of students to comment on who represents them in student government, almost the entirety of the comments contained harmful, false information. Not only is Israel not an apartheid state, but my personal views supporting the safety and indigenous civil rights of Jews in our homeland should have no bearing on my ability to serve my community here at FSU. 

Unfortunately, much of the open senate discussion reflected this hostile position and my eligibility for the role was heavily scrutinized while my co-applicant was almost automatically accepted. Rather than discussing my merits as a potential senator, most of the debate centered around repeating the dubious concerns related to my national identity and false accusations against me and an organization called CAMERA on Campus.  

For those unaware, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East reporting and Analysis is a media watchdog organization that responds to biased news coverage of Israel. I am currently a fellow in their undergraduate program aimed at training students on how to promote honest and open conversations about antisemitism and Israel. 

None of this was acknowledged. Instead, multiple senators falsely claimed that both myself and the organization I support have a fictional history of suing pro-Palestinian professors and bullying Palestinians. And once again, the apartheid and genocide libels against Israel were thrown around without any protest. Ultimately, the body voted against me with 5” yes”, 13 “no”, and 14 abstentions. 

I was profoundly disappointed that the focus shifted entirely to my involvement with this organization, which, by its record, helps reduce antisemitism on campus and works to educate the public on the complexities of the conflict. .

Before the next senate meeting, the school sent a statement explaining that they had just engaged in view-point discrimination as judged by the Supreme Court and awarded me with my current position. While I did not attend the following meeting because it was held on Yom Kippur, a member of the school’s legal team addressed the senate, explaining that the school was sued by a student for very similar SGA conduct 2 years prior and was not going to allow this cohort to make the same mistake. Having her at the session before a 2nd vote on my position was done with the hope that students would learn from the experience and choose to act responsibly. They chose not to. Once again, instead of discussing my merits fairly, students spent the time venting their frustration about the lack of autonomy and defending their remarks from the previous week. 

While I fully support every individual’s freedom of speech and the right of students to comment on who represents them in student government, that does not mean that false and harmful rhetoric like the kind targeting me should go unchallenged.  

With my position as an FSU senator now being complete, I can confidently say I have earned tremendously from this experience tremendously. Through my short term in the Senate, I was able to pass a proclamation recognizing sexual assault awareness and prevention resources. Looking back, I believe I completed my position with passion and pride, and to the best of my ability. I personally can say I have no bad blood with any member of the senate, and would like to give my senate peers the benefit of the doubt regarding their behavior and concerns.