A recent poll published Monday and commissioned by the British Union of Jewish Students found that one in five college students in the United Kingdom expressed reluctance to room with a Jewish student.

This echoes a very ancient pattern of non-Jews wishing to isolate Jews, beginning with the brothers visiting Joseph in Egypt. Joseph ordered his servants to set tables for a meal, and the verse goes on to say: “And they set for him [Joseph] separately and for them [the brothers] separately, and for the Egyptians who ate with him separately, because the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, because it is an abomination to the Egyptians” (Genesis 43:32).

The remaining findings of the poll are equally disturbing:

• 23% of students had observed Jews being targeted or harassed.
• 39% who observed pro-Hamas protests had seen Jews being targeted or harassed.
• 49% had heard chants or slogans “glorifying Hamas, Hezbollah or other proscribed groups on campus.”
• 47% had heard justification offered for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
• 77% had encountered anti-Israel protests.
• 65% said the protests had disrupted their ability to learn.

Two statistics from the poll offer a glimmer of encouragement:

• 82% agreed with the statement that calls to “globalize the intifada” are antisemitic.
• 69% disapproved of protests that disrupted learning.

The poll also found that substituting the word “Zionist” for Jew increased the negative responses. For example, 16% of students agreed with the statement that it isn’t antisemitic to say that Jews control the media. But 24% agreed with that statement when the word “Zionists” was substituted for Jews.

In one instance, a student apartment posted on social media that they had “only one rule — no Zios in the flat.” The word “Zio” is considered an antisemitic slur.

UJS concluded that “Most institutions demonstrably care, deeply, about these issues, but have lacked the speed and conviction of action required to stem the normalization of antisemitism. When everyone is somewhat responsible, no one takes the lead.” The group called on universities to create enforceable rules for investigating and punishing hate crimes. It called for a stronger degree of collaboration between universities, law enforcement and government, as well as a “national counter-extremism strategy with a dedicated focus on campus radicalization.”