As warplanes battle the existential threat facing the Jewish people in the state of Israel, the battle is also ongoing against threats facing Jewish students in the state of California.
The FBI is intervening at Stanford University, where anti-Semitic emails were sent to various Jewish students on campus shortly before events to celebrate the holiday of Purim were to take place, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Several emails contained threats. One message has a subject line reading, “Holocaust 2.0.”
Some messages warned Jewish students against gathering for Purim celebrations.
Stanford said it is working with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to investigate the threats.
The FBI is investigating “Holocaust 2.0” email threats targeting Jewish students at Stanford. Campus Hillel says Purim events will proceed: “Celebrating proudly is the best response.” https://t.co/93cygfXaXT
— Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) March 4, 2026
Hillel executive director and Senior Rabbi Jessica Kirschner urged students to go about their business.
“It is very disturbing to receive these kinds of emails, but the folks most directly impacted are all doing OK,” she said, according to the Stanford Daily, the college newspaper.
“While the FBI and other professionals do their work, the best way I know to combat hate is to be proudly, deeply Jewish, and to keep building community with each other and with caring people across Stanford,” she said.
“There has been an increase in incidents over the last five-plus years, with a steep increase following Oct. 7, 2023,” Kirschner wrote in a statement. “As much as we might think Stanford is a bubble, this follows national and international trends of increasing anti-Semitism. No one should do this to other people, and no one should have to receive it.”
The college said it would increase security for Purim celebrations.
“We are proud of who we are and what we have to share as Stanford citizens,” Kirschner wrote. “The best way to address hate is to strengthen the bonds of mutual connection and trust.”
The story of Purim, in which Queen Esther averts a Jewish genocide in ancient Persia, is related in the Old Testament Book of Esther.
The Stanford incident comes against a backdrop of anti-Semitism in California that led to a lawsuit filed against the state and its Department of Education, alleging rampant anti-Semitism in California schools, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The suit by two civil rights groups — Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights and StandWithUs — was filed on behalf of Jewish parents and students who allege “pervasive anti-Semitism in their California public schools,” court documents said.
The suit wants the state to monitor anti-Semitism, eliminate curricula that are anti-Semitic, and limit funding to schools that practice discrimination.
“Jewish children and children perceived as Jewish are bullied and excluded by their peers and harassed by their teachers, who silence, mock, and even segregate them if they speak out,” Kenneth Marcus, chair of the Brandeis Center, said.
Los Angeles high school parent Mike Rosenthal said his child “felt unsafe expressing their Jewish identity in the public school after an adult teacher was permitted to display anti‑Jewish, anti‑Israel, and anti‑American materials in the classroom.”
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