Politics | Campus Watch

Anti-Israel protesters burn diplomas outside Columbia graduation

The NYPD told JNS that two people were arrested and issued desk appearances after altercations with police.

This is a very serious situation, the intricate is being brought to the United States.

Politics | Campus Watch

Harvard Doesn’t Have It Under Control

One can legitimately question the wisdom and even the motivations of government officials exerting financial pressure on universities over their handling of antisemitism. But

Politics | Campus Watch

Columbia’s Pulitzer Disgrace

The increasingly irrelevant Pulitzer Prizes were awarded on Monday to a slew of left-wing news reports, chronicled by our colleague Andrew Stiles here.  The prize for commentary went to the “Palestinian poet” Mosab Abu Toha for his work in the New Yorker

Politics | Campus Watch

Scathing Harvard Report Details Pervasive Anti-Semitism Driven By 'Politicized Instruction'

Harvard University, in the midst of its funding fight with the Trump administration, released its long-awaited anti-Semitism report on Tuesday. It provides a scathing account of life at the Ivy League institution in the wake of Oct. 7, finding that "polit

Politics | Campus Watch

Harvard 'Human Rights' Lecturer Fawned Over ‘Hero’ Hamas Leader

A Harvard University faculty member who teaches courses on human rights law and international "negotiation skills" recently praised the slain leader of Hamas as a "hero" and called the terrorist organization a "movement for freedom, for liberation."

Politics | Campus Watch

Terrible Ideas Have Terrible Consequences

On April 22, Islamic terrorists stormed across a tourist spot in Jammu and Kashmir and killed 26 people, often confirming the victims were Hindu before executing them in front of

Politics | Campus Watch

At Harvard's Center for Health and Human Rights, Academics Paint Israeli Jews as the Real Terrorists

In late March, Harvard University, anticipating a funding fight with the Trump administration, suspended its School of Public Health's longstanding research partnership with Birzeit University, a West Bank institution known for hosting Hamas military para

Politics | Campus Watch

'F— Israel, F— Zionism': Uproar at Cornell Over Featured Spring Concert Singer Kehlani

Jewish students at Cornell University are up in arms over an upcoming spring concert—funded through hundreds of thousands of dollars in mandatory student fees—featuring singer Kehlani, who has endorsed "intifada" and said, "It's f—k Israel, it's f—k Zioni

Politics | Campus Watch

Columbia 'Environmental Justice' Lecturer Endorses Palestinian 'Resistance in All Its Forms,' Calls for an End to Zionism

A Columbia University "environmental justice" lecturer endorsed Palestinian "resistance in ALL its forms" shortly after the Oct. 7 terror attack and called for an end to Zionism, a Washington Free Beacon review of her social media posts found. She also de

Politics | Campus Watch

Columbia proves it was lying all along about fighting Jew-hate

Once an antisemite, always an antisemite — and in the case of Columbia University, a despicable, lying, scheming antisemite, at that. Proof: News that interim president Katrina Armstrong privately told faculty Columbia had not banned masks, even after pro

Politics | Campus Watch

Hamas’s American Mouthpieces

The Internet is abuzz today over a lawsuit filed against several anti-Semitic organizations. The suit alleges, with a fair amount of evidence, that these groups aren’t merely pro-Hamas in outlook

American entities and Americans are funding Hamas, and may have had foreknowledge of 10/7. The Biden administration ignored it all, but thanks to private lawsuits, we’re discovering a lot about what actually took place, and is most probably still taking place.

Politics | Campus Watch

Columbia Professors Cancel Classes in Solidarity With Pro-Hamas Activist in ICE Custody

Some Columbia University professors canceled in-person classes on Monday in support of Mahmoud Khalil, the student activist and foreign national whom the Trump administration moved to deport over his pro-Hamas campus organizing. The cancellations—which ca

Politics | Campus Watch

Hamas Hostage Taker Who Wrote for US-Based Website Boasted of 'Actively Coordinating' With American Campus Protesters

A Hamas operative who also wrote for a U.S.-based nonprofit publication bragged to his Israeli hostages about how the terror group "was in contact and actively coordinating" with anti-Israel protesters at American colleges, according to eyewitness account

Politics | Campus Watch

'Death to Jews': Inside the Home of 2 SJP Leaders at George Mason University, Police Find Guns, Ammo, and Terrorist Flags

When police searched the home of two Students for Justice in Palestine leaders, a pair of sisters at George Mason University, their allies painted a sympathetic picture. The students were targeted, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (C

Politics | Campus Watch

DePaul University Enabled Violent Attacks and Brain Injury on Jewish Students

My name is Brooke Goldstein. I am the founder and executive director of The Lawfare Project, and the founder of the #EndJewHatred civil rights movement. I have dedicated my career to upholding the legal rights of the Jewish people, a fight that is all the

Politics | Campus Watch

Beware distinguished professors rewriting history

Historian Avi Shlaim is giving oxygen to the false claim that “Zionists” committed bombings in 1950 and 1951 to make the Jews leave Iraq.

Politics | Campus Watch

The Che Guevara of the Tentifada – Commentary Magazine

The moments of clarity keep piling up. The latest one is thanks to the newest progressive hero, Abu Obeida, a senior Hamas official and spokesman for the terror group’s “military

Politics | Campus Watch

Keffiyeh-Clad Man Injures Jewish Students with Glass Bottle at University of Pittsburgh

 The new academic year has scarcely begun, and Hamas supporters on campus are already signaling that they haven’t lost a bit of their fanaticism. If anything, they’re even more menacing.

Politics | Campus Watch

Elder Of Ziyon - Quoting the ADL and saying Israel is beautiful is now "Anti-Palestinian racism"

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

Politics | Campus Watch

Anti-Zionist Campus Activists Admit It: Their Purpose Is To Silence Jews

Two things can be true at once: 1) The universities that have decided on a policy of “institutional neutrality”—that is, they will not take official university positions or make official

Politics | Campus Watch

Federal Judge Slams UCLA for Standing By as Jewish Students Were Barred From Parts of Campus

A federal judge slammed the University of California, Los Angeles, on Tuesday for standing by as anti-Israel activists prevented Jewish students from accessing portions of campus.

Politics | Campus Watch

Education Department probing Pomona for alleged Title VI violation

The Claremont, Calif., liberal arts school is one of the nation's top ranked.

Politics | Campus Watch

Elder Of Ziyon - University of Washington antisemitism and threats to Jews are swept under the rug

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

Politics | Campus Watch

UCLA Urges Federal Court to Reject Jewish Students' Civil Rights Claims

UCLA claims that it should not be ordered by a federal court to protect Jewish students from antisemitism when they return to campus.

Politics | Campus Watch

Santa Monica College professors assign ‘anti-Israel propaganda’

StandWithUs wrote to the public school that requiring students to adopt antisemitic views “is constitutionally impermissible.”

Politics | Campus Watch

Netanyahu to US Jewish College Students on Campus Anti-Semitism:  “You Have to Fight”

  Edited by: Fern Sidman In a concerted effort to tackle the surge of anti-Semitism on university campuses, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with a delegation of American college students in Jerusalem on Monday. This meeting comes in the wake

Politics | Campus Watch

At MIT, Administrators Allow Unlawful Encampment To Displace Lawful Israeli Independence Day Event

In the run-up to an annual Israeli Independence Day celebration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, university president Sally Kornbluth assured student organizers that an unauthorized anti-Israel encampment—located in the same area where the Je

Politics | Campus Watch

Northwestern Administrators Sign Resolution Calling for Boycott of 'Terror' State Israel

Northwestern University administration officials and faculty members signed a resolution demanding that the school cut ties with Israel, calling the Jewish country a "terror" state and accusing it of "one of the most atrocious and monstrous sieges in mode

Politics | Campus Watch

Biden Civil Rights Chief Plans To Give Columbia Law Commencement Speech As University Cancels Main Ceremony

The Biden administration’s civil rights chief Kristen Clarke is still planning to give the keynote speech at the Columbia Law School graduation next week, after Columbia canceled its main commencement ceremony amid attacks on Jewish students on campus, a

She’s an antisemite who refuses to investigate ANY of these colleges for obvious civil rights violations of Jewish students. But she’s a black, female democrat, so she gets to do whatever she wants.

Politics | Campus Watch

A Yale Professor Wrote an Op-Ed About Anti-Semitism on Campus. The University Spent Over a Year Investigating Him.

Yale University spent more than a year investigating a Jewish professor for six words of an op-ed he published in a pro-Israel newspaper, raising questions about the school’s approach to anti-Semitism and free speech as the campus continues to cope with t

Politics | Campus Watch

NYU 'student' at anti-Israel protest praises North Korea for supporting Palestinians

A young woman was filmed at a New York University anti-Israel protest over the weekend praising North Korea’s support for Palestinians and their “shared struggle” against oppresso…

Morons.

Politics | Campus Watch

UC Riverside Strikes Deal with Pro-Palestinian Mob, Violates California Anti-BDS Law

UC Riverside gave in to the "encampment" and may divest from Israel and boycott Sabra hummus. But the deal violates California's anti-BDS law.

Why do all of these people get to violate the law at will?

Politics | Campus Watch

WSJ: Pro-Palestinian Encampments Trained for ‘Months’

The Wall Street Journal reports that many of the pro-Palestinian activists in campus "encampments" around the nation trained for "months."

Politics | Campus Watch

They aren’t revolutionaries. They’re bigoted brats

The Columbia cranks rant about killing Zionists one minute and demand hot meals the next.

Politics | Campus Watch

Giant screen erected at UCLA confronts student radicals nonstop with grisly footage of Hamas' Oct. 7 atrocities

Anti-Israel protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles, secured endorsements from the terrorist organizations Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine last week with their genocidal rhetoric, violent outbursts, and denuncia

I’m so sick of these little cowardly scumbags. They are like insects that we all need to swat away.

Politics | Campus Watch

It Was Only a Matter of Time Before We Saw Something Like This at These Pro-Hamas Rallies

 It was only a matter of time before the truth seeped out of these pro-Hamas rallies. We’ve known the true intent for months, but the media will find it harder to pivot when they see signs and paraphernalia like this.

Politics | Campus Watch

Jew Hating Professor Caught on Camera Encouraging Violent Revolution to Columbia Students

Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report'' shares a DM clip of footage of CUNY professor and fired CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill encouraging violence to the pro-Pa...

Mark Lamont Hill is a scumbag, and a known Jew hater. Like all of them, there have been ZERO consequences for his behavior over the years.

Politics | Campus Watch

It's Time to Act Against Antisemitic Behavior on Campus

In the past few weeks, we have witnessed an unabated explosion of Jew-hatred at some of the top American universities, including Columbia, Yale, New York University, and others.

Politics | Campus Watch

How anti-Semitism became a virtue on American campuses

The anti-Israel camps taking over elite universities are a physical manifestation of the DEI agenda.

Politics | Campus Watch

Restore Order and Crush the Campus Jihadist Thugs

The basic formula for fighting back against Hamas' useful campus idiots is simple.

Politics | Campus Watch

Network Behind Eruption of Anti-Israel College Campus Protests Revealed

Network Behind Eruption of Anti-Israel College Campus Protests Revealed by Dion J. Pierre   Alegemeiner News Service Anti-Zionist protests striking US colleges and universities across the country have been the result of “tightly coordinated” efforts

Politics | Campus Watch

USC Cancels Commencement Ceremony Amid Pro-Hamas Antics by Lunatic Students

 The University of Southern California will be canceling their main commencement ceremony amid pro-Hamas shenanigans by leftist students that’s turned many a campus across America into riot zones. Students are protesting the war in Gaza, though many times it’s devolved into calls for murdering Jewish people and the destruction of Israel. At Yale, one Jewish student was stabbed in the eye.

Of course, because the left destroys EVERYTHING, and they are complete cowards.0"

Politics | Campus Watch

Stefanik accuses Columbia president of perjury after pro-Hamas prof denies reprimand

Nemat Shafik said that Professor Joseph Massad had been “spoken to” about an article praising Hamas’ attack on Israel; Massad denied he’d been reprimanded in any way

They are all liars.

Politics | Campus Watch

Northwestern University Dean of Students Attends Protest Targeting Campus Jewish Community Center

The dean of students at Northwestern University attended an anti-Israel protest this week targeting Hillel, the school’s Jewish student community center, to defend the demonstrators’ "right to free speech."

Politics | Campus Watch

Yale Administrators Stand By as Students Unveil 'Free Palestine' Banner During Official Class Photograph

Yale University officials stood by silently as students unveiled a large "Free Palestine" banner during an official class photograph for the School of the Environment. The move came after university officials said they had warned students not to display "

Politics | Campus Watch

Columbia Law School To Host Speaker Who Charged Jews Benefit From 'White Privilege,' Creating Tension With 'People of Color’

Columbia Law School is slated to host an event next week with a DEI author and alumna who said Jews benefit from "white privilege," thus creating "some sort of tension" between Jews and "people of color."

I think “people of color” produce their own “tension” because of the large number of antisemites in their ranks.

Politics | Campus Watch

‘Texas will continue to stand with Israel,’ says governor in campus Jew-hatred executive order

“We thank Gov. Abbott for his leadership in taking this crucial step to ensure a safe learning environment for Jewish students in Texas,” stated Sacha Roytman, CEO of Combat Antisemitism Movement.

Politics | Campus Watch

Berkeley Is a Safe Space for Hate

Thuggish intimidation of Jewish students and teachers is the new normal as leftist brownshirts topple once-heralded free speech bastion

Politics | Campus Watch

Berkeley’s Jews Show Some Spine

In the late 1950s, the University of California, Berkeley started cracking down on campus politicking. By the ’60s, this effort almost became a total ban. The backlash congealed into the

Politics | Campus Watch

He Endorsed Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Then He Landed a Professorship at Columbia University.

During a Jan. 5 interview with socialist podcast Revolutionary Left Radio, Islamic scholar Mohamed Abdou declared his support for Hamas and "the resistance." The terror group's "dedicated few," he said admiringly, worked in "stealth mode" on Oct. 7 to def

Anxiety r intersectional lowlife. It’s amazing how many of the scumbags are brown/black people. Obviously, not all, but clearly a much larger portion of their respective populations than the general population. That’s what 60 years of progressive victim culture, selective racism, and most of all - affirmative action and DEI has brought us.

Politics | Campus Watch

‘You Jew!’: UC Berkeley Mob Attacks Jews During Event With IDF Soldier, University Pledges “Investigation”

A mob of hundreds pro-Palestinian students and non-students shut down an event Monday evening at University of California, Berkeley featuring an Israeli soldier, forcing Jewish students to flee to a secret safe room as the protestors overwhelmed campus po

From what I saw, this attack was more violent than most of the previous campus violence, and it is only getting worse. And of course, this occurred at one of the most far-left schools in the country, even though they are all leftist indoctrination factories at this point.

Politics | Campus Watch

American elite academia is riddled with anti-Semitism, and nowhere more so than Harvard

Demonization of Jews extends to teaching staff who endorse hate cartoons

Politics | Campus Watch

Pink Floyd Frontman's Nazi Uniform Was No Big Deal, Penn's Anti-Semitic Cartoonist Says

The University of Pennsylvania communications lecturer who published a slew of anti-Semitic cartoons is defending Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters from charges of anti-Semitism, describing the Nazi regalia Waters wore on stage as a "leather jacket."

Politics | Campus Watch

‘Run by the Mob’: How Anti-Semites Took Over Stanford’s Campus

On January 24, Stanford University held a forum on combating anti-Semitism. The event, which featured Stanford president Richard Saller and provost Jenny Martinez, was meant to reassure Jewish students that the university had their back amid the wave of a

Politics | Campus Watch

At Penn, Nothing Has Changed in Wake of Magill's Defenestration

When Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, then an emeritus professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed in 2019 arguing that political issues like climate change and gun control had no place in medical sch

Politics | Campus Watch

Penn Lecturer Is Behind Grotesque Anti-Semitic Cartoons

A lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Communication has published several anti-Semitic cartoons since Hamas's Oct. 7 attack, including one that depicts Zionists sipping Gazan blood from wine glasses, a version of the ancient b

Politics | Campus Watch

Speaker at MIT’s ‘Standing Together Against Hate' Event Endorsed Hamas Terrorism as Lawful 'Resistance'

In an attempt to ease campus "tension" following Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is slated to bring a series of guest speakers to campus—including one who endorsed Hamas terrorism as an act of lawful "resistance.

These people are all bastards.

Politics | Campus Watch

Elder Of Ziyon - "Hunger strikers for Palestine" at Brown U. are the definition of privileged, spoiled children

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

Politics | Campus Watch

Hamas Loving Cornell University Instructor Cancels Class for 'Global Strike for Palestine'

A Cornell University instructor who once said Israelis should "rot in the deepest darkest pits of hell" canceled her first class of the semester in solidarity with a "Global Strike for Palestine," an email obtained by the Washington Free Beacon shows.

Politics | Campus Watch

UPenn Honors Radical Professor Who Accused Israel of ‘Genocide’

The University of Pennsylvania is giving its annual MLK Jr. Social Justice Award on Wednesday to a radical professor who signed a letter accusing Israel of "genocide" and "apartheid" and denounced U.S. military support for the Jewish state as a "moral cat

What a “shock,” yet another black female antisemite. It’s time for good people to unite, and admit that the largest single ethnic group of Jew hating racists in the United States are black Americans.

Politics | Campus Watch

Columbia Defends Inclusion of Anti-Semitic Terror Defender in University's 'Day of Dialogue'

Columbia University defended its decision to invite a pro-terrorist professor who founded the Hamas-supporting Students for Justice in Palestine group to speak at its official “Day of Dialogue” event on Friday, praising him as a “renowned” scholar who cou

Politics | Campus Watch

Elise Stefanik Slams Harvard’s Appointment of Anti-Israel Prof to Anti-Semitism Task Force

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) slammed Harvard University Tuesday for appointing an anti-Israel professor to a leadership position on its task force to combat anti-Semitism.

Politics | Campus Watch

Harvard To Host Summer Program At Palestinian University Dominated By Hamas

Ivy League students set to travel to West Bank to learn how to combat “settler colonialism” at university affiliated with terrorists

Politics | Campus Watch

After Penn President's Resignation, Professors Say Anti-Israel Sentiment on Campus Is 'Very, Very Strong'

JERUSALEM—Until three months ago, University of Pennsylvania psychology professor Michael Kahana said he had never felt the need to wear a yarmulke, or Jewish skullcap, to his classes. "It started Oct. 7. I now feel that if I don't wear a yarmulke then my

Politics | Campus Watch

Elder Of Ziyon - U of Illinois Excluding Israeli Voices and Platforming Vile Propagandists

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

Politics | Campus Watch

'Dark Money Nightmare': How Qatar Bought the Ivy League

"At least 100 American colleges and universities illegally withheld information on approximately $13 billion in undocumented contributions from foreign governments, many of which are authoritarian.... Speech intolerance—manifesting as campaigns to

Politics | Campus Watch

Reporter Gets Shocking Response Asking College Students if They Would Donate to Support Killing Jews

 Every time we think we've seen the worst of antisemitism on college campuses in America, those darn college students have to go and sink themselves even lower than the bar they previously set. We're pretty sure that bar is now located far below sea level, somewhere in the general vicinity of the Mariana Trench, and yet they still manage to slide under it.

Politics | Campus Watch

After Yale dining erases Jewish state, ‘Israeli’ couscous back on menu

"Authenticity of the food and naming of the recipes have been a concern brought to us by students in the past," a university spokesman said.

Just the fact they removed it demonstrates how insanely petty the antisemitic, pro-Hamas leftists are.

Politics | Campus Watch

Anti-Semitism Goes to School

“I never dreamed that it could come to this!”

Politics | Campus Watch

Harvard covered up a secret plagiarism probe into president Claudine Gay during antisemitism storm — threatened The NY Post

Claudine Gay was probed by Harvard over possible plagiarism — but the college kept it a secret and even hired lawyers to protect her.

Absolute scum.

Politics | Campus Watch

SJP and JVP At Columbia University Admit To Breaking Rules of Their Suspension

About a month ago, New York's Columbia University announced that it was suspending the activities of SJP and JVP

Who thinks there will be any consequences for them? I never thought that the few schools who suspended them would enforce the suspensions.

Politics | Campus Watch

Stanford’s antisemitism committee co-chair aligned with anti-Israel groups, concluded antisemitism wasn’t a problem on campuses in 2017 paper

Professor Ari Kelman also argued in an amicus brief against the IHRA definition of antisemitism

Politics | Campus Watch

Harvard's President Erases Jews

How someone answers a yes-or-no question is revealing. If they don’t give you a one-word response, it’s because they object to something in the premise of

While all of the Ivy League presidents are despicable, I have to ask again, when are we going to acknowledge the huge amount of antisemtism among blacks?

Politics | Campus Watch

Elder Of Ziyon - You can scream "Kill the Jews" at Jews at major US universities without fear of punishment

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

Their hypocrisy is totally astounding.

Politics | Campus Watch

Just 4 Percent of American Universities Condemned Hamas Terror Attack on Israel as Anti-Semitic

Just 4 percent of America's universities condemned Hamas's October 7 terror attack on Israel as an anti-Semitic crime, and only 2 percent committed to addressing persistent Jew-hatred on campus, according to a study published Tuesday.

Politics | Campus Watch

President of Harvard SHOCKINGLY Refuses To Say Israel Has the Right To Exist As A Jewish State

 In today's lesson on 'why do Leftists have such a hard time answering simple questions?', we have Doctor Claudine Gay. Gay is the President of Harvard. Now, that allegedly means someone is smart, but after listening to Gay answer questions today, perhaps don't jump to that conclusion so very quickly.

This was on the same day that the president of Penn refused to call genocide against Jews bullying, or hate speech.

Politics | Campus Watch

Tufts University Student Group Honors Palestinian 'Martyrs'—Including Hamas Terrorists Who Died Attacking Israel

A Tufts University student group on Wednesday unveiled a campus display honoring the names of Palestinian "martyrs"—including known Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists who died while attacking Israeli soldiers.

Politics | Campus Watch

Terrorist Group Sponsored Princeton Anti-Israel Rally

A Palestinian terrorist group co-sponsored an anti-Israel rally at Princeton University on Friday, according to a flier advertising the event.

Politics | Campus Watch

Elder Of Ziyon - Where Will Your Children Go to School? (Judean Rose)

What does antisemitism do to the soul and psyche of Jewish youth and what is the remedy?

Politics | Campus Watch

Disgraced Prof Says University Threw Her to the Wolves by Refusing To Defend Her 'Poetic' Post About Killing Jews

What happened: A professor at Wake Forest University, who resigned earlier this month for "personal reasons" after posting an anti-Semitic outburst on social media, complained that university leaders "threw me to the wolves" by refusing to endorse her "po

Politics | Campus Watch

Columbia Administrators Stand By as Anti-Israel Protesters Overrun Law School and Disrupt Classes

Administrators at Columbia Law School stood by for hours on Thursday as anti-Israel protesters took over the law school's lobby, refusing to shut down an unauthorized demonstration that disrupted nearby classes for nearly three hours and violated several

Politics | Campus Watch

Concordia University is unsafe for Jewish students and professors

The Jew hatred I grew up with has followed me from Lebanon to Montreal

One side supports rapists and genocidal murderers and the other side wants to be left alone in peace.

Politics | Campus Watch

Antisemitism on Campus: Jewish MIT Students Physically Prevented from Attending Class

 While the Biden administration is labeling parents and fitness buffs (but not antisemites) 'domestic terrorists' and focusing on Islamophobia, very bad things are happening on our college campuses.

Politics | Campus Watch

Report: At Least 200 US Colleges Hid Info About $13 BILLION In Donations From Foreign Regimes

 Well, this is certainly an interesting development. As we've watched antisemitism spread like wildfire on college campuses, a new report shines light on one of the factors that may be contributing to it.

Politics | Campus Watch

The Latest Antisemitism on College Campuses Is Beyond Sickening

 Jewish people are running for cover, and can you blame them? In America, most Jewish communities probably never thought they’d have to arm themselves—ever.