Jeffrey Blutinger said he only takes his news from print sources now. Press coverage of the massacre in Israel over the weekend of Oct. 7 has left him trying to stay updated on the safety of his friends and colleagues abroad while avoiding exposure to the most graphic details. Blutinger said watching TV news puts him more at risk of seeing disturbing information.
Blutinger, director of the Jewish studies program at California State University Long Beach, has personal connections in Israel where over 1,000 people have died during an invasion by Hamas militants.
One example he gave was of one of his teachers, whose daughter and son-in-law died in the first day of the attack.
“The kibbutz, where they live was overrun and their two daughters had made it to the safe room and their 16-year-old son was exposed and so they threw themselves over him and they were shot and killed but then the bullets passed through their bodies into their son but he survived and he was wounded,” Blutinger said.
Blutinger said he was able to use Facebook Messenger to communicate with friends in Israel and was able to make sure his friend in Tel Aviv was okay. Blutinger said his friend’s location meant he was “pretty far from the front lines,” but still being shelled.
Blutinger said Jewish campus community members have had to deal with antisemitism on top of their grief, due to recent events on campus.
“Jewish faculty, Jewish students, we’re all you know, broken and in mourning,” Blutinger said. “It’s been a very difficult few days, it wasn’t made easier by the antisemitic rally yesterday, which was adding insult to injury, literally.”
Blutinger was referencing the protest organized by La F.U.E.R.Z.A. on campus Oct. 10 in support of Palestine. The attack on Israel was carried out in the name of Palestinian liberation.
The Daily Forty-Niner reported that the group walked around campus, chanting pro-Palestinian phrases as well as carrying a banner that looked like the Palestinian flag that said “When people are colonized resistance is justified,” referring to the attack.
According to the Daily Forty-Niner, protesters said they condemned antisemitism and were not glorifying the attack. However, the event has been under public censure on and off campus including by CSULB President Jane Close Conoley.
“For many, those posts — and an event the group is planning for this afternoon — are deeply offensive in light of the loss of life and unspeakable violence during this conflict,” she said in an email.
Blutinger also said he thinks that antisemitism outside of the Middle East will escalate after events like this.
“Whenever there’s been a conflict in Gaza we’ve seen an uptick in antisemitic incidents throughout the world,” Blutinger said.
Blutinger gave education as a method of combating antisemitism in America, saying that people have misconceptions about the war in Isreal.
“Most people don’t have background to know what’s really going on in the area,” Blutinger said.
Blutinger said the personal impact of the attack was more intense because the Jewish community is very small and close.
“I don’t know every Jew in the world but you know people talk about six degrees of separation, in the Jewish community it’s a lot smaller than that,” Blutinger said.