Southwest
Jewish students at the University of Texas say escalating antisemitism is spiraling into pure 'Jew hatred'
As students chanted “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” Jewish students spoke with Fox News Digital about the antisemitism and extreme anger they have experienced on campus during this week’s protests.
Hundreds of protesters gathered on campus at the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday to participate in an unruly anti-Israel protest that included “significant participation by outside groups,” according to a statement from the school. Nearly 60 people were arrested, but criminal charges were dropped against 46 of the 57 protesters.
UT Austin joined universities like Columbia and Yale, as well as the University of Southern California, where anti-Israel protests have made headlines in recent days. UT Austin said the protest was organized by the Palestine Solidarity Committee, which it said seeks to “paralyze the operations of universities across the country.”
Amid the protest, an anti-Israel student could be heard telling a Jewish student, “F— you Zion Nazi b—-,” and multiple students told Fox News Digital that they had been approached and told to “go back to Germany.” Other chants like “APD, KKK, IDF / they’re all the same,” were also heard, comparing the Austin Police Department and Israeli Defense Forces to the KKK.
Levi, a Jewish student who wore a kippah and an Israeli flag tied over his shoulders, told Fox News Digital Wednesday that the protest was made up of “pro-Hamas” individuals, but expressed his gratitude to law enforcement for making sure everybody remained “relatively peaceful.”
“We have seen a few acts of violence against the officers,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of angry people, I’ve seen a lot of people that have been crying, I’ve heard a lot of Jew hatred. I don’t call it antisemitism anymore, I think that’s sugarcoating it, it’s Jew hatred when a girl walks up to me and says, ‘You should go back to Germany.’”
“Every time they protest, it’s going to make me louder, it’s going to make me prouder to be a Jew and I’m not going to go home. They’re not going to scare me,” Levi added. “I know the university administration has our backs in ensuring that Jews feel safe on college campuses. I’ve seen a lot of anti-Israel protests and I understand that. I’ve seen a lot of pro-Hamas chants. I’ve heard a lot of them.”
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“I’m ready for this to be over, I’m ready for Jew hatred to not have a place on our campus,” he concluded. “I’m glad law enforcement and the administration is taking the correct steps to ensure that hatred has no place here at the University of Texas.”
Another Jewish student, Jeremy, told Fox News Digital that he was also told by anti-Israel protesters to “go back to Germany” and described the protests as “extremely antisemitic.”
“I do obviously support the right to protest no matter what,” he said. But, “It’s getting a little antisemitic and, of course, it’s not how it should be going.”
Zachary, a Jewish student, told Fox News Digital that he was counter protesting to represent Israel and stand in solidarity with the Jewish people.
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“It’s hurtful, you know, antisemitic rhetoric is being spread throughout,” he said. “We hear the chants and things like that. It’s really tough to hear, but it’s important that we stand here peacefully and share information and be willing to have discussions with individuals.”
“But, yeah, it’s disheartening to hear that [anti-Israel chants],” he added. “We go to a school with such a great education and with such a great system and this rhetoric is still being spread around campus.”
The APD and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) were observed making arrests while protesters chanted, “Pigs go home!” The keffiyeh-wearing protesters attempted to set up a few tents before police intervened.
The DPS later told Fox News Digital the arrests were made “in order to prevent any unlawful assembly and to support UT Police in maintaining the peace by arresting anyone engaging in any sort of criminal activity, including criminal trespass.”
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott denounced the protests as lawless and antisemitic on X.
“These protesters belong in jail,” Abbott wrote. “Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas. Period. Students joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled.”
UT Austin told Fox News Digital early Wednesday afternoon that it “does not tolerate” disruptive protests and that evening university President Jay Hartzell released a statement about the protest activity, calling it a “challenging day.”
“We have witnessed much activity we normally do not experience on our campus, and there is understandably a lot of emotion surrounding these events,” Hartzell wrote. “Today, our University held firm, enforcing our rules while protecting the Constitutional right to free speech.”
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Jay Hartzell, president of The University of Texas at Austin, speaks during the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) economic policy conference in Dallas, Texas, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. (Nitashia Johnson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Peaceful protests within our rules are acceptable,” he added. “Breaking our rules and policies and disrupting others’ ability to learn are not allowed.”
Hartzell also applauded law enforcement and staff for allowing peaceful protests that “happen within the rules.”
“We are grateful for the countless staff members and state and university law enforcement officers, as well as support personnel who exercised extraordinary restraint in the face of a difficult situation that is playing out at universities across the country,” he said.
“There is a way to exercise freedom of speech and civil discourse, and our Office of the Dean of Students has continued to offer ways to ensure protests can happen within the rules,” he added. “The University of Texas will continue to take necessary steps so that all our university functions proceed without interruption.”
Fox News’ Christopher White, Andrea Vacchiano, Lawrence Richard and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
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A black bear was caught on camera roaming the yards of multiple Glendale homes Friday.
Video provided by a viewer shows the bear climbing onto a wall on the 3300 block of Paraiso Way, down the street from Valley View Elementary School, at around 4:15 p.m. The bear then sidesteps a gate and leaps down into the home’s backyard.
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A black bear hops a wall and jumps into a Glendale backyard on July 17, 2026. (Viewer-submitted video)
Glendale Police Department officers were seen following the bear as it made its way through the neighborhood. A resident had a brief encounter with the bear while they were walking their dog, the viewer who provided the video told KTLA. The resident, dog and bear were all unharmed, they said.
Residents in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains have said that bear sightings are more frequent since the Eaton Fire, which burned more than 14,000 acres in the Altadena area.
Watch footage of the bear in the video at the top of this story.
The driver of a Tesla Cybertruck was arrested for driving under the influence early Saturday morning following a pursuit that ended in a crash. According to a California Highway Patrol spokesperson, their officers were assisting the Los Angeles Police Department when the pursuit terminated along the westbound span of the 118 Freeway near De Soto […]
“Moana” has been called a box office flop, an unnecessary money grab by Walt Disney Studios, but what it hasn’t been called yet is a triumphant win for cultural representation on the big screen.
The live-action adaptation of the beloved 2016 animated movie “Moana” effectively bombed at the box office, making much less money than industry insiders anticipated.
While it failed to live up to the expectations of the box office and critics alike, the film did exceed the expectations of moviegoers of Pacific Island descent, and they’ve taken to social media to express just how much the movie means to them.
Moana is more than the main character’s name. It means ocean across several Pacific Islander languages.
One user explained how this kind of representation is more than entertainment.
“When I watched ‘Moana,’ I couldn’t hold back my tears. I heard the language of my parents, the language of my people. I saw our traditional Samoan clothing, our weaving, our siva, our culture, our values. I saw my people. I saw me.”
Another user said seeing Pacific Islanders on the silver screen influenced her own artistry.
“Representation matters. As a sometimes-Female-Polynesian-filmmaker (depending on the day and my imposter syndrome), seeing our stories on a screen this big makes me dream a little bigger too.”
Even the film’s star, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, spoke to the film’s representation in a recent Instagram post.
“I feel that our movie ‘Moana’ will always serve a bigger purpose than just a film – it’s representation. Our Polynesian culture showcased to the world, and embraced by the world – with love, humility, warrior spirit and MANA.”
That representation was taken as a serious responsibility by the actors and creative team behind the scenes of Disney’s latest live-action remake.
“We got chosen for a reason,” Rena Owen, who plays Gramma Tala in the film, explains.
“Every single one of us, whether that’s an actor, whether that’s a creative, whether that’s a crew person. We’re raised that way, we’re raised in villages and we’re raised… on our earth, with our sky father and our moana, that’s what we all have in common. So, we just had to be ourselves.”
Disney once again leaned on members of its Oceanic Cultural Trust, a group formed over a decade ago to ensure cultural accuracy for the first “Moana” movie.
The trust’s lead consultant, Dr. Grant Muāgututiʻa, spoke about the work that went into bringing Moana to life on screen.
“We have a big responsibility to our folks who are gonna be watching the film. We’re elated that the film crew and the filmmakers were really receptive to all of the input that we had and we’re really happy with the way it turned out.”
Dr. Muāgututiʻa is a linguist by trade, serving as Assistant Professor of Linguistics at California State University San Marcos. He told KTLA he was thrilled that people of Samoan descent can hear their language spoken in a major Disney film.
“The mountaintop scene where you can hear both Jon Tui, who plays Chief Tui, and Catherine Laga’aia, who plays Moana speaking Samoan. And then the Siva Tau scene, where Seiuli Dwayne Johnson also speaks Samoan. I think those are special moments that are new, especially for our people to see. They’re able to experience real islanders that are proud of their culture.”
“Moana” Choreographer and Cultural Trust member Tiana Nonosina Liufau agreed.
“Seeing an all-Pasifika cast, and hearing them, there’s a lot of Mana in that, hearing these words come out of their mouth, something audiences can trace back to their genealogy, that’s priceless. All worth it.”
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