Jewish students blocked, harassed at James Fishback USF appearance

On Tuesday, April 14, Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback spoke at the University of South Florida at 8 p.m. in Ballroom 2100 of the Marshall Student Center.

He was invited by Young Americans for Freedom and the USF Young Republicans, both official student groups.

Since a student group has reserved the space, university rules require the event to be open to the public. Usually, university police manage security for these events.

However, for this event, Fishback’s team handled security on their own.

USF police were there, but they were not in charge. Fishback’s team decided who could enter.

The only students known to be denied entry — three in total — were all visibly Jewish. One was told he was a “threat,” even though he showed no threatening behavior, appearance, or tone.

He was clearly Jewish, wearing a Magen David and a kippah.

The other two visibly Jewish students were not given a reason for being turned away. They were told they had “cut the line” and could not enter, even though there was no actual line. They went to the back of the crowd and tried again, but were denied entry once more.

Fishback’s team spoke with USF police and told them these three students were not allowed in. After that, USF police denied the students entry without giving a reason.

The Dean of Students, Danielle McDonald, was present. She told one of the three students that if they did not leave, they would be trespassed and arrested. Mike Severy, who works at the Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement, helped enforce the decision to deny entry to the visibly Jewish students.

While waiting to get in, the visibly Jewish students were mocked and made fun of, even though they were the ones labeled as “threats.”

Another Jewish student, who was not identified as Jewish by Fishback’s team, and Sylvie Feinsmith, a Jewish professional on campus, were allowed in. Inside, they saw behavior and heard comments that Feinsmith described as “going back in a time machine” because of the racist and antisemitic rhetoric.

Feinsmith shared what she experienced inside the event:

“Fishback touched on real problems faced by everyday American citizens, but wrapped them in a hateful package that blamed various groups.

“He said we have an addiction problem in this country, and it is not drugs or alcohol but AIPAC.

“He claimed that Zionists, along with Russian oligarchs, are why we cannot afford houses, because Zionists want to buy their second or third home here.

“The crowd reaction when he said these things was a roar of applause.”

Besides Fishback’s comments, Feinsmith overheard other people in the audience using terms like “goy slop” to refer to Jews, saying “I want to go to a Klan rally,” and using “6 million” (referring to Jews killed in the Holocaust) as an insult or a joke.

She saw more than one participant give the Nazi salute.

All of this happened on Yom HaShoah, the Jewish day of remembrance for Holocaust victims.

Fishback is scheduled to visit FAU on Monday and has already been to UF.

There is a lot of video of his speech. It is not known if there are recordings of the Jewish students being taunted or denied entry by university officials.

Events like this show why the funding that bipartisan lawmakers are seeking, sponsored by Sen. Alexis Calatayud and Rep. Allison Tant, is important for protecting Jewish students on seven Florida campuses: USF, FSU, FAU, UF, FIU, UCF, and UM.

When the Legislature returns in June to finalize the state budget, this funding will directly impact these campuses’ ability to uphold the law, protect Jewish students equally, and respond to the growing hate from both sides of the political spectrum.