Jewish ASU frat boys speak out after viral video shows them helping cops throw away Gaza Glampers' tents: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
"It’s our duty to help keep our freedoms secure. Jews should not have to feel threatened to hide on campus, when they call for “Jewish genocide” the answer was extremely clear: help the police.”
A viral video circulating on X revealed that several Jewish fraternity members at Arizona State University were seen assisting police officers in throwing away ASU’s “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” materials while police arrested 69 people on Saturday
In the video, multiple students are pictured helping gather trash leftover from the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” while an onlooker yells out: “We’ve got the white proud boys throwing away protesters’ belongings, and we’ve got the pigs in brown doing nothing about it, although, we are being forced off campus.”
Happening now. @ASU and the police are using frat boys to destroy the camp at Old Main. This is insane. #Occupy4Gaza pic.twitter.com/dAWgm21hxA
— AZResist🌵 (@az_resist) April 27, 2024
Campus Reform spoke to two of the students recorded in the video.
Dylan Marks, a Jewish student and member of a fraternity on campus who was pictured on the dumpster throwing a tent away, spoke to Campus Reform, saying the university was happy to let them help out.
“We had been speaking with the ASU staff who, having been called in on overtime, were eager to finish their work. When we offered our help, they gladly accepted, appreciating that it would expedite the process and allow everyone to head home sooner. We figured the faster they got off our campus the better even if that means taking out the trash,” said Marks.
“I don’t want to see my campus fall to divestment of donors for the actions of a few loud mouthed hamas supporters. This is America,” he continued. “I should not be told I’m not allowed on campus because of my race or religion. After traveling to Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising was prevalent in my mind if only regular people had acted sooner. It’s our duty to help keep our freedoms secure. Jews should not have to feel threatened to hide on campus, when they call for ‘Jewish genocide,’ the answer was extremely clear: help the police.”
Marks said that he expects an environment that “fosters education” rather than “discrimination.”
“As a university student, I expect an environment that fosters education rather than discrimination, including against Jewish students like myself. I go to class and go about my day, but the protests, which are disruptive to both students and faculty, seem counterproductive. By continuing to make a spectacle, these demonstrators alienate supporters, so keep protesting, our country is waking up. I hope more students will take intelligent and effective action to maintain a positive atmosphere on our campuses. No student should feel compelled to retreat to their dorms or leave campus due to fear. Through our actions, I hope we set a positive precedent for how to address and resolve such conflicts by simply cleaning up,” Marks added.
Blake Bicek, a Jewish ASU student who was also pictured in the video, told Campus Reform that he spent five hours watching the protest Friday.
“Over the entirety of Friday I spent over 5 hours at the protest. I continuously saw the way the Pro-Hamas supporters were interacting with the ASU and Tempe police officers and I was utterly discussed with the way they were treating them. So when I saw them clearing the protesters from the lawn and the ASU grounds crew working tirelessly trying to quickly remove the trash they had left all over the lawn, I knew it wouldn’t be right to just sit back and watch. That’s when myself and the other young men decided that enough is enough and if we want to see them off our campus then we should be the ones to do it,” said Bicek.
“Throughout the course of this year I’ve personally witnessed a dramatic increase in antisemitism on the ASU campus. I’ve seen swastikas drawn on dorm room doors of fellow Jewish students, I’ve had ‘Free Palestine,’ ‘Shame on you,’ ‘Baby-killer,’ and a slew of other antisemitic slurs yelled at me while walking on campus. And it’s been infuriating knowing that if I respond back, I’ll be labeled as the aggressor. Helping those police officers was the most productive release of a lot of pent-up anger towards not only the Hamas Supporters on this campus but across all college campuses, foreign and domestic,” said Bicek.
Campus Reform has contacted Arizona State University for comments, and this article will be updated accordingly.
