Two American Jewish students who were viciously attacked on DePaul University campus in 2024, have continued to experience threats of violence, doxxing, and intimidation, the two told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
Max Long, a US-born IDF lone soldier reservist, and Michael Kaminsky, a first-generation American Jew, connected in the 2024 academic year when both were trying to speak up for Israel and Jews on campus. Kaminsky had already begun his activism in the immediate aftermath of October 7, 2023, organizing the largest pro-Israel rally in the college's history, and standing outside pro-Palestine encampments with Israeli flags.
After meeting Long, the two decided to fight the fight with information. They began showing up on campus every week and standing there for hours with a sign encouraging people to ask them questions - about being Jewish on campus, about serving in the IDF, and Israel-Palestine.
"People were actually coming up to me with thought-out questions and were ready to listen to my answers," Long told the Post. Kaminsky added that the conversations were productive: "It kind of made it humanized."
However, on November 6, 2024, Long and Kaminsky were attacked by assailants in ski masks. Long was punched in the back of the head, even when he fell to the floor, and Kaminsky sustained an injury to his wrist and elbow when he intervened. Long suffered a brain injury, and Kaminsky has required two surgeries (the most recent of which was on Monday).
A DePaul public security officer stationed just 10 feet away at the time did not intervene. After the attackers fled, he came to ask if they were okay. Students began to gather to say, "You got what you deserved for killing babies," or "You're going to hell."
The 'wanted' posters
In the days following the attack, Long told the Post he was in a state of shock and did not have a chance to scrub his phone number from his website. As a result, his contact details were leaked, and he started getting inquiries on his lone soldier page of people saying "death Zionism," "Zionist pig," and "baby killer."
Then he started getting messages on social media, as did some of his siblings. Then 'wanted' posters began to appear on social media and around campus with pictures of the two, claiming they were wanted for war crimes. Students were handing out flyers saying 'the IOF butcher Max Long is back, DePaul students get dangerous."
"It was very traumatizing," Long told the Post.
"We've had countless death threats," interjected Kaminsky.
Because of the threats, Long changed his contact addresses and began keeping a low profile, no longer posting where he was going or posting ahead of an event. He said he felt like he had a target on his back, so he ended up taking Zoom classes for the next semester. He also couldn't bring his own security to campus, and noted that he shouldn't have to in the first place. Then, in summer 2025, he took a leave of absence to go back to Israel to be in the reserves.
"After everything, I felt like I had lost control. So I wanted to go back and serve."
He still also suffers physically and psychologically from the incident, experiencing burning sensations down his neck because of the nerve damage that he needs physical therapy for.
"But just moments after I was attacked in DePaul I was told I deserved it. And the next day, there were wanted posters calling for my expulsion. And then from that point on it was just endless doxing and harassment and intimidation."
"We're still recovering," said Kaminsky.
DePaul's failure to protect Jewish students
In the meantime, students perpetrating harassment on campus experienced no repercussions. Long told the Post that during the pro-Palestine encampment period of April 2024, 1000s of complaints were reported about protesters' behavior from students and the broader community around DePaul, "and yet not one expulsion."
Kaminsky spoke of how knives and pellet guns were found inside the encampment. "They tore out several wooden panels across campus to add nails and studs to them and make booby traps. It took 17 days of the camp before the university realized it was too dangerous for students. Since then, there have been actual Hamas flags flown on campus, as well as the PFLP. We've had almost every terrorist organization's flag flown on our campus, and yet nothing has been done."
"It kind of all accumulated up to the point where Jewish students no longer felt safe," he added.
"There's a strong Jewish community in Chicago and at DePaul, and I have so much respect for these students," Long added. "That's the other part of this, being an outwardly pro-Israel student today is putting themselves in harm's way. So I have so much respect for Jewish students at DePaul and the pro-Israel.
"We know that the university is worried because of this lawsuit because they're exposed, but it also gives us the ability to work with the other Jewish students to help advance the other things that need to happen to make it a safe space. Such as the idea of the Jewish tax." The Jewish Tax concept refers to how Jewish clubs or institutions are expected to pay for their own security for events or other, a cost which is not reimbursed, but which many believe should be.
"I've had students reach out to me and say they went to DePaul seven years ago and that the atmosphere on campus then was also not safe for Jewish students. But I think the last two years and the encampments specifically set it off."
"My interaction with the administration is more through our lawyers, which is weird because I am also a student there."
The legal case
The university has filed a motion to dismiss Kaminsky and Long's lawsuit against it, which will be heard tomorrow, on Wednesday. The university is arguing that it did not have a duty to protect Long.
"It's tough to hear that," added Long.
The lawsuit, filed in April 2025, argues the university failed to protect the students from assault.
Regarding the criminal case, the attacker, Adam Erkan, was recently released after signing a plea deal. Does the process stop here?
"No, so this was the criminal side, the state bringing charges, but we can also sue the attacker civilly," Long explained. "And we want to see justice. We also want to see the university taking accountability."
Kaminsky concurred: "In terms of civilly, we're just exploring all opportunities and all paths forward. And if that's something that comes up in the future, then that's something we'll discuss. I just think that right now, our biggest focus is seeing full accountability on the criminal side, before we see anything else on the civil side."
"We hope that the university takes full accountability for all their failures to combat antisemitism, which led to the incredibly hostile environment on campus," continued Kaminsky. "They want to say it's not their fault that Jew hatred was allowed to fester on campus, and it's the fault of the students themselves." He criticized DePaul for making "empty promises" such as its promise to create an antisemitism task force, which he said he never saw play out. "They're masters of PR," he added.
Once police arrested Erkan, Kaminsky and Long made sure to attend every court hearing so that the judge would see their faces and it wasn't "a victimless crime."
"So it's really important for me now that Israelis know what's happening over here," said Long. "There is the mindset that the war's over. But it's not over, there's just a different front, and we aren't necessarily as equipped to fight it."
"This is a traumatic experience: being completely blindsided and assaulted on campus while doing something which was so positive."
Kaminsky also wanted to focus on the positive aspect of how they've been able to spotlight how the Jewish community has been able to kind of persevere through all of these challenges, and the sacrifices made by Jewish students to ensure their campuses are safe spaces.
"There are only 200 Jewish students who are undergraduates at DePaul University. The fact that we were able to put this university that almost nobody has really heard of before on the map internationally has been a testament to the courage and bravery of Jewish students, and hopefully, we see real change brought around."