Greg Laurie’s Bold Fight Against the New Wave of Antisemitism on College Campuses

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Pastor and author Greg Laurie says anti-Israel protests on college campuses are an example of modern-day antisemitism and that they harken back to events in pre-Nazi Germany that led to the Holocaust. He also says Christians must speak out in support of Jewish people everywhere. 

“The great criticism of the church of Germany was that they did not speak out on behalf of the Jewish people,” said the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in California in a blog on his website. “We cannot let this happen again. Not us. Not now. We stand with Israel, we stand with Jews everywhere, and we stand against antisemitism.”

Police in recent days have arrested students on at least 20 college campuses during anti-Israel protests that have drawn criticisms from leaders in both political parties. At Columbia University, U.S. representatives who visited the campus reported chants and taunts of “We’re all Hamas” and “Go back to Europe.” Others at the school chanted, “We say justice, you say how. Burn Tel Aviv to the ground!” 

New York police arrested more than 300 protesters Tuesday night at Columbia University.

“The ongoing anti-Israel demonstrations at elite US colleges and universities are exactly what happened in Germany in the 1920s, just years before Nazis took over the country, according to the head of the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel, Dani Dayan,” Laurie wrote in a blog on his website. “While many of these students have no idea what they are even supporting when they hold signs that say, ‘We are Hamas,’ ‘Gas the Jews,’ and ‘Final Solution,’ many of them do. Even more alarming, professors, who certainly know what they are doing, are joining these protests.”

The modern state of Israel, Laurie wrote, “was formed on the heels of the holocaust where 6 million Jewish men, women, and children were murdered by the Nazis.”

“They realized that they needed a homeland where they could live in peace and prosperity and raise their families,” he wrote. “But also the Jewish community has had a continual presence in their land since the first kingdom of Israel, since King David. How could they be colonizers? They are indigenous people. 

“God gave this land to Israel,” Laurie added.

The church must not be silent as Jewish people are attacked for who they are, he added. 

“As a pastor, I will not stand by idly as this horror unfolds before our very eyes. We are living in a moment where history will judge us,” he wrote. “... Antisemitism is evil, and as leaders and followers of Jesus we must speak out against it loudly and constantly.”

Laurie wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “The anti-Israel protests at US colleges & universities are exactly what happened in Germany just years before Nazis took over the country.”

The anti-Israel protests at US colleges & universities are exactly what happened in Germany just years before Nazis took over the country. As a pastor, I will not stand by idly as the horror of antisemitism unfolds before our eyes. We stand with Israel.https://t.co/zbY9cSzqU9

— Greg Laurie (@greglaurie) April 30, 2024

Meanwhile, Laurie noted that such anti-Israel protests are not taking place on Christian college campuses. 

“I urge my Christian brothers and sisters, especially pastors and Christian leaders, to speak up for the Jewish people more than ever, now!” Laurie wrote. Also, I thank God we are seeing none of these protests on Christian colleges. We should send our kids to them.”

Photo Courtesy: Greg Laurie Facebook

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

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