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Recent BGU Media Coverage Following October 7 Terrorist Attacks
Recent BGU Media Coverage Following October 7 Terrorist Attacks
October 25, 2023
- NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt: Israeli University Mourning Members of Their Community Amid War with Hamas
Ben-Gurion University in the south of Israel is mourning a number of students, staff and faculty who were either murdered, kidnapped or missing in the Israel-Hamas war. NBC News’ Kelly Cobiella is in Be’er Sheva, Israel and speaks with the school’s president and a student.
Watch the NBC Nightly News segment below or click here
- The New York Times: On the Front Lines, an Israeli University Grieves and Readies for War
At Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, dorms turned into barracks and medical students manned emergency rooms. Dozens from the university community were killed in the Hamas attacks.
Read more in The New York Times
- Chronicle of Higher Education: How Should College Presidents Speak About the Unspeakable?
The need for US leaders to take a firm stance against terror has never been more urgent. The Chronicle of Higher Education interviewed several university presidents, including Ben-Gurion University of the Negev‘s President, Danny Chamovitz. “We expected an unequivocal condemnation of terrorism, not ‘yes, buts,’” Chamovitz said. “It never occurred to us that the leading universities of the United States would equivocate on something so clear.”
Read more on the Chronicle of Higher Education
- The New York Times: What We Know About the Americans Who Were Missing or Killed
In an email to The New York Times, Mr. Troen, who teaches at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, said that he was heading to a hospital in Israel to visit his 16-year-old grandson, Rotem, who had been shot in the stomach but survived, hiding until he could be rescued. Mr. Troen described his daughter and son-in-law in the interview with MSNBC as “idealists.” They lived at Kibbutz Holit, a small community just over a mile from Gaza, and had sent their children to a school that taught both Hebrew and Arabic, he said, “in the hope that somehow Jews and Arabs would learn to understand more about each other,” and “change the course of history here.”
Read more on The New York Times
- The Jewish Press: Israelis Embrace Besieged Residents of the South with Helping Organizations
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is offering rooms near Soroka Medical Center for families of those who are missing and/or injured and hospitalized at Soroka.
Read more on the Jewish Press
- The Jewish Chronicle: Hours after mother told relatives she was ‘doing OK’, Hamas executed her entire family
Stories of beloved members of the BGU community and beyond continue to pour in. There are no words to describe how heartbroken we are over these losses, including Tamar Keren and her entire family. May their memory be a blessing and live on through their beloved family and friends. “According to Tamar’s Facebook page, which is packed with pictures of her family, she grew up in Jerusalem and received her MA in Management and Public Policy at Ben-Gurion University. She was a community leader and women’s rights activist, working as an adviser to the Ministry of the Interior in the Department of Regional Cooperation and Clusters.”
Read more on The Jewish Chronicle
- The Times of Israel: Hayim Katsman, 32: US-Israeli scholar and peace activist
Hayim Katsman, a BGU alumnus, was murdered by Hamas terrorists last week in Kibbutz Holit. His neighbor, Avital Alajem, told CNN that the two of them were hiding in a closet as Hamas terrorists stormed into Kibbutz Holit on October 7, and he protected her with his body. “He was murdered,” Alajem told CNN. “I was saved.”
Read more on Times of Israel
- San Diego Jewish World: Jewish Communal Members Seek to Rally Support for Israel, against Hamas
Americans for Ben-Gurion University stands with Ben-Gurion University and its counterparts in Israel, urging academic institutions worldwide to condemn Hamas terrorism and stand with Israel. “As President Biden eloquently expressed this week, this is a battle between good and evil, and we implore academic leaders–and all leaders–not to find themselves on the wrong side of history.” – Doug Seserman, CEO, Americans for Ben-Gurion University
Read more on San Diego Jewish World
- The Times of Israel: Resilience and Ingenuity in Crisis
Listen to Effie Shoham, Professor of Medieval Jewish History at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and leader of the recent protest movement in Jerusalem, Shomrim Al Habayit Hamishutaf, speak on the podcast Identity/Crisis about his organization’s resilience and ingenuity in the wake of October 7th.
Read more on Times of Israel
- The Jerusalem Post: Real-time medical simulation at BGU as IDF prepares to move into Gaza
Medical teams that will treat wounded soldiers from Gaza battlefields are undergoing training not only in the field and in hospitals but also at the Center for Medical Simulation at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev (BGU) in Beersheba. The center took the initiative to allow doctors, medical staff, and even volunteer doctors from abroad to be trained in a practical approach to the treatment of trauma victims.
Read more on The Jerusalem Post
- Times of Israel: BGU Announces Emergency Grants For Reservists
Enrolled students called up for reserve duty will receive a NIS 1,200 ($300) grant and a delay in paying rental fees if they were living in university dormitories, Ben Gurion University of the Negev announces.
Read more on Times of Israel
- Calcalist: Israeli University Heads Sign New Letter to Colleagues
Israel’s Association of University Heads says that “college campuses have become breeding grounds for anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiments,” in a second appeal to their colleagues around the world.
Read more on Calcalist
- Times of Israel: BGU Steps Up To Support Students
Ben-Gurion University, with its main campus location in Beer-Sheva, makes it the closest major university to the Gaza border, “immediately opened its campus and dormitories to soldiers, doctors, and visiting family members at no cost… A variety of psychological services are also available to students, faculty and staff,” the university said in a statement to The Times of Israel.
Read more on Times of Israel
- Ben-Gurion University Rector, Prof. Chaim Hames, at Kibbutz Be’eri After the October 7 Massacre
Israeli university provosts, including BGU Rector Prof. Chaim Hames visited the ravaged Kibbutz Be’eri where 130 residents were murdered by Hamas during the October 7th massacre.
Watch full video here
- The Jewish Chronicle: President Chamovitz Shares How BGU Took Action Following Oct 7
When he became president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Professor Daniel Chamovitz never thought he’d one day be formulating a mourning protocol. “We immediately sprang into action when, within an hour or two, it was clear that this was just not a normal attack,” he told the Jewish Chronicle.
Read more on The Jewish Chronicle
- The Jewish News Syndicate: First US College President In Israel Since Oct 7 Visits BGU
President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Andrew Rehfeld, visited the campus of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev on Sunday in the first such visit by a leader of an American academic institution since the start of war between Israel and Hamas.
Read more on The Jewish News Syndicate
- i24 News Interview Rector, Prof. Chaim Hames
Ben-Gurion University Rector, Prof. Chaim Hames, was interviewed by i24 News, urging university professors to take a moral stance against the rise of antisemitism across campuses in the United States.
Watch full video here
- Y Net News: BGU Prof. Reli Hershkovitz Recalls Scenes from Oct 7.
Prof. Reli Hershkovitz, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University and Head of the Women and Maternity Department at Soroka University Medical Center took immediate action following the attacks on October 7.
Read more on Y Net News
- Times of Israel: A4BGU CEO Adresses the Negev’s Future
In a Times of Israel op-ed, CEO Doug Seserman writes, “Right now, it’s difficult to envision the day after the war. But make no mistake, there will be a day after, and then “the future of Israel will emerge from the Negev” will ring truer than ever.
Read more on The Times of Israel
- Israel Hayom: A4BGU Amplifies Relevance of Ben-Gurion
Ben-Gurion Day in the USA took place on Sunday, November 19th to honor the legacy of Israel’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion. His powerful words are more poignant than ever following Hamas’ brutal attacks on Israel, on October 7.
Read more on Israel Hayom
- Jewish News Syndicate: JNS Spotlights Ben-Gurion Day in the USA
Paula Kabalo, Head of BGU’s Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism and featured speaker of Ben-Gurion Day in the USA 2023, reflects on David Ben-Gurion’s four tests of the Negev and how it relates to the current situation.
Read more on Jewish News Syndicate
- The Times of Israel: BGU President Pleads To University Presidents To Condemn
Hate In a new Times of Israel op-ed, BGU President Prof. Daniel Chamovitz writes: “Academia’s reluctance to condemn such speech under the guise of protecting free speech is not just cowardly; it is morally reprehensible.”
Read more on The Times of Israel
- Haaretz: Historians React to “Genocide” Accusations
Prof. Tuvia Friling, a professor emeritus at BGU, co-authored a response to a recent New York Times piece that charges Israel with genocide and ethnic cleansing without evidence.
Read more on Haaretz
- Daily Mail: Liora Argamani Pleads To See Daughter Again
Liora Argamani, the mother of BGU second-year engineering student, Noa Argamani who was kidnapped on Oct 7 by Hamas terrorists, fears she will not live to see her daughter again as her battle with stage 4 brain cancer continues to intensify.
Read more on Daily Mail
- Haaretz: BGU Professors Swap Academics for Agricultural Fields
After Hamas killed 40 migrant workers from Thailand during the October 7 massacre, thousands more fled the country. Answering a call for help, BGU’s Prof. Haim Weiss and Prof. Guy-Ben Porat, left their desk to help farmers in Gaza border communities.
Read more on Haartez
- Texas Jewish Post: Six Dallas Organizations Join Ben-Gurion Day in the USA
Six Dallas-based organizations partnered with Americans for Ben-Gurion University to spread hope of David Ben-Gurion’s vision for the future of Israel for the 2nd annual Ben-Gurion Day in the USA.
Read more on Texas Jewish Post
- EJewishPhilanthropy: $100 Million Gift Given to BGU to Pave Way Forward
BGU President Prof. Daniel Chamovitz said the University is “profoundly grateful to the Sylvan Adams Family Foundation…This gift will help guide the way forward for our community as we look to rebuild an even stronger Negev, together.”
Read more on EJewishPhilanthropy
- NBC News: BGU Student Noa Argamani Is The Face of Hostages
It has been more than two months since BGU student Noa Argamani was abducted from the Nova music festival. Friends and family are growing more desperate to know her fate, and why she hasn’t been freed alongside dozens of others.
Read more on NBC News
- Times of Israel Features BGU Student Displaced From Home
Guido Cohen, from Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, immigrated from Argentina just three years ago. He was about to begin his studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Following the October 7 attacks, he was evacuated to Eilat. This is his story.
Read more on Times of Israel
- University of Pennsylvania Delegation Visits BGU
It was the first Ivy League faculty solidarity mission to Israel since the recent congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses and the first since the Hamas massacre on October 7.
Read more on the Jewish Press
- NPR Interviews Prof. Ilan Troen 100 Days After October 7
100 days after October 7th, NPR released a conversation between journalist Daniel Estrin and Prof. Ilan Troen, Professor Emeritus at BGU, whose daughter and son-in-law were murdered by Hamas terrorists.
Read more on NPR
- Fallen IDF Soldier’s Dream of Coexistence Lives On
“Ahmad was proud to be Muslim, Bedouin and Israeli in equal measure, and he wanted to show that pride on the ground by taking action to protect the country,” said Kaid Abu Latif about his brother, who recently fell in battle in Gaza.
Read more on i24 News
- CEO of Startup Developing Life-saving System Killed in Gaza
Adam Bismut z”l, an Israeli entrepreneur from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s Yazamut 360, MBA graduate, and faculty member who founded the start-up SightBit, was killed on Monday in a battle in the Gaza Strip.
Read more on Calcalist
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