Written by Douglas Belkin and published in the Wall Street Journal on 12/14/22 . Adina Pinsker commutes to Rutgers University in Newark, N.J., to study supply-chain management. She is also active in Hillel International, the nation’s largest collegiate Jewish organization. . When she arrives on campus, she takes an indirect route to class and tucks inside her shirt the silver Star of David she wears around her neck. These are precautions, she said, to avoid harassment from students who dislike Israel, the people who support it, or both. . “We have basically been shunned,” said Ms. Pinsker, who said she has been subject to derogatory remarks about her beliefs. . Ms. Pinsker’s actions are emblematic of rising fear among some Jewish college students around the country, who have begun shrouding their religious identity and political beliefs to avoid growing ostracism and harassment, according to interviews with dozens of students. . College campuses have long hosted heated debates about the Israel-Palestinian conflict. But now, students say anti-Jewish antagonism is on the rise: Antisemitic incidents have increased, and a growing number of campus groups bar students who support Israel from speaking or joining. . Hostility, including vandalism, threats and slurs toward Jewish students on college campuses increased more than threefold to 155 incidents in 2021 from 47 in 2014, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based Jewish civil rights organization which has tracked reports of such behavior since 2014. The group counted 2,717 antisemitic incidents in the U.S. overall last year, up 34% from 2020 and the highest number in its records dating to 1979. . Students at schools including the University of Vermont, Wellesley College and DePaul University have ejected Jewish students who support Israel from clubs and study groups, according to interviews with affected students. . Students at Tufts University, University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles tried to prevent Jewish classmates from serving in student government or attempted to remove them from positions in student government because of their support of Israel, according to students, administrators and campus news reports. . The uptick in incidents and tension on some campuses comes amid a string of recent high-profile controversies that have drawn renewed attention to antisemitism. This month Twitter suspended the account of rapper and entrepreneur Kanye West—who now goes by the name Ye—after he tweeted to his 32 million followers an image of a swastika merged with the Star of David, weeks after he tweeted: “I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.” . On campus, students say that stereotypical antisemitic slurs are directed at Jews, but that much of the hostility derives from growing criticism of Israel’s handling of its political and military conflict with Palestinians over land rights. Jewish students say harassment often compounds when criticism of Israel increases. . Most American Jews feel an attachment to Israel, though many are critical of the Israeli government, according to a 2021 survey from the Pew Research Center. . Some of the conflict on campus stems from competing definitions of antisemitism and anti-Zionism and whether they overlap. . Anti-Zionism is a political position distinct from antisemitism, which is a prejudice, said Dylan Saba, an attorney with New York-based Palestine Legal, which works to support the civil and constitutional rights of people in the U.S. who advocate for Palestinians. The two are conflated by supporters of Israel to discredit critics, he said. . Condemning Israel may make some Jewish students feel uncomfortable, but that doesn’t mean it is antisemitic, he said. “All we are asking for is equal rights,” he said. . The U.S. State Department includes in its definition of antisemitism the view “that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” as well as the act of “holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.” . In 2010, Hillel International began restricting partnerships with groups that are anti-Zionist—which the organization defines as those opposed to Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state. The policy has been criticized by some outside the organization. . Hillel’s mission is “to inspire every student to have an enduring connection to Jewish life, learning, and Israel,” according to its website. While the organization invites debate, it refuses to have partnerships with groups that “delegitimize, demonize, or apply a double standard to Israel.” . At the beginning of this school year, graffiti on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison listed five Jewish organizations and said that they all “have blood on their hands.” . “When people are listing every single Jewish organization on campus for being Zionist, they really are just attacking them for being Jewish,” said Ruth Tsesis, a junior at the university. . In a four-month span in the spring of 2021, 16 U.S. college students said they were spat on for being Jewish, according to a survey of 1,027 Jewish fraternity and sorority members with chapters on 160 campuses, sponsored by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which advocates for the civil rights of Jewish people. . Half of the respondents said they had been verbally denigrated and hid their religious identity for fear of being targeted. . Jewish students on campuses around the country said they are responding to incidents by avoiding parts of campus and hiding or removing personal items such as jewelry and water bottles with Hebrew script. Some said they keep any hint of their support of Israel off social media. . More than 1,000 Jewish students from 550 colleges and universities mostly in the U.S. and Canada have shared 2,208 experiences with bias over the past 2½ years with an organization called Jewish on Campus. Many include allegations of being expelled from study groups and academic clubs over public support for Israel. In response to incidents, hundreds of students expressed their reluctance to publicly acknowledge their Judaism or support for Israel. . “They are choosing to be quiet,” said Julia Jassey, the University of Chicago senior who started Jewish on Campus. . Nerdeen Kiswani, who graduated from the City University of New York Law School this year and has been advocating for Palestinians since she was an undergraduate at several CUNY schools, said antisemitism is harmful not only to Jews but to the Palestinian cause because it detracts from grievances about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. . “There’s nothing that undermines the Palestinians’ struggle more than antisemitism,” she said. . In August, Berkeley Law School Students for Justice in Palestine passed a bylaw prohibiting Zionists from speaking at its events. Eight additional student affinity organizations at the law school adopted the bylaw. Student leaders didn’t respond to requests for comment. . “The narrative on campus is that if you are a Zionist, if you in any way shape or form think Israel has the right to exist, you are the same as those who support ethnic cleansing and genocide and you are so morally compromised that people shouldn’t even engage with you,” said Charlotte Aaron, a Jewish second-year law student who spoke out against the restriction. . The dean of the Berkeley Law School, Erwin Chemerinsky, characterized as antisemitic the rule to prohibit Zionists from speaking at student clubs, but he supported their right to make the rule. Overturning it would amount to compelled speech and violate students’ First Amendment right to reject views they oppose, he said. . School officials contacted by The Wall Street Journal at Tufts University, University of Vermont, DePaul University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Southern California, Rutgers University, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wellesley College said they denounce antisemitism while also championing free speech. . In the spring of 2021 Cassie Blotner, a senior at the State University of New York at New Paltz, helped to start a support group for victims of sexual violence with five other students. Then the other founders forced her out, she said, telling her that her support for Israel was incompatible with the mission of the organization. . Other founders of the organization didn’t respond to requests for comment. . A string of threatening anonymous antisemitic posts on social media followed, Ms. Blotner said, and by the end of fall semester last year, Ms. Blotner stopped attending class. The school now provides her with a plainclothes police escort on campus to walk her to class. . “We unequivocally condemn any attacks on SUNY students who are Jewish, and we will not tolerate antisemitic harassment and intimidation on campus,” said Chrissie Wilson, a school spokeswoman. . Ms. Blotner said walking to class with a police officer is awkward, but she isn’t ready to cancel the protection. . Earlier this fall, she said she was walking home from a restaurant near campus with two friends when someone screamed out of a passing car, “Jew!” . “I have no idea who it was,” she said. “But they knew me.”