In the wake of antisemitic threats against several of the Stanford community’s Jewish organizations, leaders say they hope to prioritize mutual support and togetherness.
In a March 2 statement, Vice Provost for Institutional Equity, Access and Community Patrick Dunkley wrote that the University is working with the FBI and law enforcement to investigate the emails.
One Feb. 28 email, addressed to The Daily’s staff with leaders of Hillel and other Jewish organizations on campus copied, threatened a “monitoring” program of Jewish students based on several unfounded and antisemitic claims. A second, addressed to Stanford’s Office for Religious and Spiritual Life (ORSL) and leadership of the Taube Center for Jewish Studies, claimed there were “acute credible threats” against the campus Jewish community.
The emails, delivered from a Proton Mail address with the username “exposingstanfordjews,” were also sent to The Daily’s Editor-in-Chief and Chief Operating Officer as well as the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS). The authors of the emails claimed to be a Europe-based “watchdog” group composed of Stanford alumni.
In an op-ed published in The Jewish News of Northern California, Olivia Raykhman M.A. ’26 and Stanford Review Managing Editor Dylan Rem ’27 wrote that six staff members of The Review, a conservative student publication, received an email from the same address entitled “Stanford Moderates & Conservatives: STOP JEWISH INFILTRATION.”
The message, which was sent only to non-Jewish staffers, linked an article from the Occidental Observer, according to Raykhman and Rem. The article equates Jewish people and vampires, alleging that they harbor “anti-White, anti-male and anti-Christian sentiments.”
The Review did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment.
Stanford Chabad, a community organization based in Palo Alto, received an antisemitic email from the same address on March 2. The email, titled “The coming Holocaust 2.0?”, accused Stanford’s Jewish community of having a “persecution complex” and participating in “infighting about who’s Jewish enough,” according to reporting by The Jewish News.
The message, addressed to Rabbi Dov Greenberg, included threatening and violent statements. “If you all died of the flu tomorrow, hypothetically speaking, it would be a major win for the world and for the cleansing of human genetics,” the email read.
Chabad hosted its Purim celebration as planned that night with heightened security, the Jewish News reported.
“I assume, just like when the students receive this kind of [threat], it’s really disturbing to get,” Hillel executive director and Senior Rabbi Jessica Kirschner said of the emails sent to Chabad. “I know they’re determined to keep being joyfully, proudly who we are, and that’s really important,” she told The Daily.
Stanford Chabad did not respond to requests for comment.
Despite nerves regarding the threats, Kirschner said that on-campus Purim celebrations were “joyful.”
“Even though this weird thing was happening in the background, Purim was lovely,” Kirschner said. “There was a great group at Hillel last night, and I heard there was another great group at Chabad.”
To celebrate the holiday, members of Hillel gave out gift bags in White Plaza – a tradition that Kirschner said drew positive community engagement. “It was really joyful to be able to celebrate our holiday in this kind of shared public space,” she said.