Two Jewish students attacked at DePaul University speak out after being attacked – NBC Chicago

Two Jewish students who were attacked at DePaul University are speaking out against hate after they were attacked by two masked men on the Lincoln Park campus.

Days after the attack, Max Long and Michael Kaminsky share their stories and say they will not be silenced.

“It was a terrible crime, a terrible attack, it was clear that it was because we were Jews,” Kaminsky said. “We showed our Israeli pride and held up the sign to encourage people to come and talk to us about the IDF and Israel.”

The dialogue effort comes against the backdrop of the continuation of the war between Israel and Hamas, which began on October 7, 2023, after a Hamas-led attack on Israel left 1,200 people, mostly civilians, dead.

According to former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, about 250 Israelis were taken hostage in the attacks and 101 remained captive. It is believed that around a third of the remaining hostages are dead.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 43,000 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip in the subsequent Israeli military operation. The agency does not distinguish between militant and civilian deaths.

The two students have been recovering since late Wednesday afternoon, dealing with injuries including a concussion and a broken wrist, as well as the trauma of the attack outside the university’s student center.

“He shook my hand, we have it on video, and then out of nowhere I just put myself in a defenseless position,” Long said. “We were attacked from behind by a second masked attacker and that was the last thing I remembered until I stood up.”

The attack was captured on cell phone video. Long can be heard talking to the masked suspect before being attacked from behind by another. Kaminsky stood right next to his friend, tried to intervene and help, and said he, too, had been attacked.

“He grabs me and pushes me to the ground, then tries to attack me while I’m on the ground,” Kaminsky said. “After a while I get up, they both look at me and run away.”

“I had people come up to me and say to both of us, you got what you deserved,” Long said. “I’m kind of trying to shake it off and figure out what just happened.”

Chicago police opened an assault and hate crime investigation and released surveillance images of the two suspects they are still searching for. According to police, the two men are believed to be in their mid-twenties.

“They may have hurt me physically, but my spirit is not broken,” Kaminsky said. “Max and I’s spirits are not broken – in fact we are resilient, we are not the victims.”

Over the past few weeks, the two Jewish students have been engaging in dialogue and conversation with other students on campus and plan to return next week.

“As someone who served in Israel in the reserves, it is important to me, having realized that this war has another front and that it is here, and it is an information war and to ensure that the truth is told and that the stories, our stories are being told,” Long said.

The students are calling for an end to the violence amid a rise in hate crimes against Chicago’s Jewish community as well as attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam this week.

“Our hope is that people can look at us. Yes, we may disagree with you, but we are not going to go out and commit anti-Semitic incidents,” Kaminsky said.

“We need to come together as a community and allies to our community and work together to ensure that Jews feel safe,” Long said.

Long and Kaminsky are calling on the university to release surveillance video of the attack. Anyone who has information about the alleged suspects is asked to contact the police.