On April 18, a collaborative Instagram post was made by Instagram accounts VT for Palestine , Virginia Tech YDSA , Amnesty International at Virginia Tech , Students for Racial Justice and Students for Justice in Palestine at Virginia Tech.

The beginning of the caption read, “VIRGINIA TECH: WE CHARGE YOU WITH ANTISEMITISM.”

Jack Leff, a science and technology studies graduate student at the university and former president of Virginia Tech’s Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS), claims he received several antisemitic photos, messages and emails in September 2021 beginning with members of the university’s Jewish organizations Hokies for Israel and Hillel at Virginia Tech at the time.

Leff called the 11-week long online ambush “the largest antisemitic attack in campus history” in his open letter and the Instagram post reiterating his statement.

The antisemitic attacks were in response to Leff and other members of the GPSS releasing a resolution called GPSS Resolution 2021-22N3 , or Resolution to Divest in Compliance with the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement.

BDS is a pro-Palestine movement advocating for pressure on Israel to address Palestinian rights. By suggesting that Virginia Tech comply with the BDS Resolution, it called for preventing the use of Virginia Tech military equipment sent to Israel and ending financial contribution to Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

“We (Virginia Tech) are the drone capital of the entire world, and consequently every drone being used to drop missiles in Gaza right now has a piece of Virginia Tech hardware or software inside of it,” Leff stated in his open letter.

At the start of Leff’s presidency in 2021, he was only required to introduce the resolution to the commission. However, Leff believed that before moving forward, he wanted to ensure that there was a clear majority of the GPSS supported the policies before they were passed to the commission stage. Under Leff’s presidency, 27 policies were advanced to the commission , the largest number in Virginia Tech GPSS history according to the data on the GPSS website’s resolutions page .

“Fifty-one percent (acceptance) wouldn’t cut it. I wanted to impose a higher threshold for acceptance,” Leff said.

After the resolution was released on Sept. 9, 2021, Leff claimed he had received harassment and antisemitic attacks almost immediately.

Within 11 weeks, Leff compiled over 200 images of news articles and posts of backlash. From these, many had been threats explicitly directed towards him.

In his open letter, Leff said, “Over the next 10 weeks I was sent images from the Holocaust to unsettle me, called a nazi kapo, accused of being responsible for dead children during the Holocaust, called a 'fake Jew,' and had people making threats of violence against me.”

On week 11, Leff received more attacks after inviting Steve Salaita, a former Virginia Tech professor and American scholar, to be the keynote speaker for that year’s graduate student conference . Salaita had resigned from Virginia Tech in 2014 to work at the University of Illinois, but his offer of employment was withdrawn as a result of speaking in support of Palestine on many online platforms.

A part of an email sent to Leff Sept. 27, 2021, read “Please know that your anti-semitic blood libel campaign will be opposed with vigor, and -- after you pass your fake resolution -- your names and photos will be disseminated for the 5 million Jews in America and 6 million Jews in Israel to know.”

This same account threatened to release the private information of Leff and the rest of the GPSS.

Another email stated, “Thank you for ignoring history and all the evils Arab nations who are tyrannical, rapists, murders, wife beaters, and have sex with animals. Even a high school dropout can Google that and see that it is covered in news sources. Complying with the Arabs to kill Jews and eliminate Israel shows you promote all of the above. I hope you get the world you want just like Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc.”

Pro-Israel news programs outside of the university spoke against Leff’s resolution, including Algemeiner , the Jewish Press and the Cleveland Jewish Press.

Leff claimed that he knew Hokies for Israel and Hillel contacted many of news channels like these because he noticed direct quotes from Hillel and Hokies for Israel members in articles that were circulating at the time. He explained that this strategy is called decentralized harassment tactics.

“What basically happens is an organization like Hillel, Hokies for Israel or Turning Point USA will file complaints with established organizations that are well-funded and have a lot of media connections,” Leff said.

Leff is not the only member of the university to catch the eye of pro-Israel organizations. More recently, Bikrum Gill, Virginia Tech political science professor had been documented on a website called Canary Mission for his pro-Palestinian stance in an online lecture on Nov. 21, 2023.

Gill, however, believes that while the attacks towards him and Leff are troublesome, it is important that people don’t stray away from the central objective of people like Gill and Leff speaking out.

“We can’t forget that the main issue is the complicity, the complicity of our institutions of genocide in Gaza, and that we are working to oppose that,” Gill said.

During the attacks, Leff claimed he was ignored by Virginia Tech officials despite his repeated reports of the incidents.

According to Leff, after his appeals were disregarded by Vice President of the Office of Inclusion and Diversity (ODI) Menah Pratt eight times, he decided to reach out to her publicly at a Board of Visitors meeting. Leff stated that he was ignored at that meeting as well.

Leff had sat in a conversation with former president of Hillel and Director of the ODI Alicia Cohen where an agreement was made that both Hillel’s and Leff’s sides would be reported to upper administration and an open line of communication about the conflict would be made between them. Both agreed that if one of them failed to do, they would step down from their positions. Five days later, the president of Hillel emailed members of upper administration requesting to shut the conversation down.

As Cohen worked as a mediator between the two heads of the university’s student-run organizations, Leff asked Cohen to follow through with the decision that was made.

“I asked Alicia Cohen, like hey, you’re supporting and mentoring these students and organization, are you going to step in and do something? Silence,” Leff said.

Leff had also contacted President of Virginia Tech Tim Sands, who in response released a statement Oct. 29, 2021.

Leff expressed his appreciation for Frank Shushock Jr., former vice president of Virginia Tech Student Affairs and current president of Roanoke College, for his public apology on X on Nov. 21, 2021.

“@JRLefftist We’re sorry for any and all hate speech, racism, or doxxing the GPSS, or anyone else, has experienced,” Shushok wrote.

Leff, however, also expressed his frustration over former Dean of Students Byron Hughes, who wrote a statement about the theft of an Israeli flag from the Malcolm Rosenberg Hillel Center in May of 2021. When Leff had reached out to Hughes, he did not receive an answer.

“The fact that Dean Byron Hughes was willing to put out a statement defending a flag when he wasn’t willing to put out a statement defending a Jewish student who had faced 11 weeks of threats is, I think, a travesty,” Leff said.

While there were grievances put onto Leff from former Hokies for Israel and Hillel members, he does not put blame on current members for the attacks he received. However, he expressed his feelings of these Jewish organizations misrepresenting Jewish people on campus and the antisemitism students endure on campus.

“If they’re (Hillel and Hokies for Israel) are serious about antisemitism, they need to put aside their support for Israel to make sure that Jews are safe first and foremost,” Leff said.

After a year of presidency, Leff did not run again for mental health reasons. However, he remained with the GPSS for two years following the attacks.

Leff wants his experience to be an example for others who aren’t afraid to speak out. He also wants accountability to be taken from Virginia Tech campus officials who had not responded to his reporting of antisemitic remarks.

“Whether they’re Palestinian students speaking out against the genocide in Gaza and the racism they are experiencing on campus in response to their advocacy or whether it’s anti-Zionist or Zionist Jewish students speaking out on antisemitism,” Leff said.