Even at a young age, Talia Boyle knew what antisemitism looked like.

“In middle school, people called me derogatory names, drew Swastikas in my notebook, and even threw pennies at me,” she told The Denver Gazette recently.

In high school, students vandalized her campus with antisemitic memes, the Denver native said. 

“I just remember having this hopeless and scared feeling,” said Boyle, now a junior at the University of Arizona.

Boyle took that sense of hopelessness and fear and turned into a fuel — the kind that would lead her to visit Israel and meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in person just a few weeks ago.

In that meeting, which took place as the war between Hamas and Israel raged, Boyle shared with Netanyahu a painful antisemitic episode — not because of what happened per se.

But because of where it came from.

“Someone I believed to be my friend at the University of Arizona messaged me and told me that Hitler did not finish the job, and now Hamas is doing it for him,” Boyle told Netanyahu.

Netanyahu later shared that interaction on his office’s account on X, the social media platform. 

ADL: Wave of antisemitism hits college campuses 

What Boyle experienced in Arizona is not unique.

A longitudinal survey from the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research, Hillel International and College Pulse before and after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 said Jewish students are experiencing a wave of antisemitism and non-Jewish students are “much less likely to see it.”

The survey said that 73% of Jewish college students experienced or witnessed some form of antisemitism since the start of the 2023-2024 school year; that the rate of Jewish students who felt comfortable telling others about their identity dropped to 39% from 64%; and that less than half physically feel safe on campus.

In Colorado, that unease led a group of Jewish students at the University of Denver to form a “first responder” squad back in May to protect themselves from Pro-Palestinian protests who, they believe, had become increasingly threatening.

Pro-Palestinian activists had pushed back at that characterization, insisting that Jewish Americans don’t hold a monolithic view, pointing to Jewish Voices for Peace as an ally to their cause. The group has been calling for a “permanent ceasefire and an end to Israel’s genocide against Gaza.”

And in an email, Jonathan Kuhne, one of the activists arrested at the Auraria Campus back in April, said the protests had been “completely peaceful, nothing was being disrupted, no one was being disturbed and there were no safety issues.”

In an interview with The Denver Gazette, Boyle said that antisemitism came in the form of friends who had effectively turned her back on her.     

“I never experienced antisemitism at college until this year, when friends of mine who supported me as a Jew decided not to anymore,” she said.