Tension. Awkwardness. Fear. For Jewish, Palestinian students in Milwaukee, war in Gaza changes campus life.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that rallies were held at UW-Milwaukee and Marquette University. The rallies organized by Marquette students were held off campus.

Awkward interactions in class. Campus protests that students flock to, or avoid. Young women who keep their heads down and try not to walk alone.

Deep divisions over the war have boiled over at colleges across the country, in part, because of students' close proximity to each other and because campuses carry long histories of protest.

Milwaukee-area Jewish and Palestinian-American college students describe their lives in the last month as a virtually around-the-clock cycle of processing their grief, finding comfort in like-minded groups, occasionally speaking out, obsessing over social media and news reports, checking in with family ― all while keeping up with their studies.

Jewish students are "feeling like non-Jewish friends at best don't understand what they're going through, and far too often are saying and posting things that are immensely hurtful," said Rabbi Joshua Herman, executive director of Hillel Milwaukee, a Jewish student organization for 11 local campuses.

In the students' "anger and bewilderment," Herman said, there's a feeling of loneliness that "when you most need your friends to be there, they are least there for you."

Palestinian-American students said they have been heartened by the displays of broader support for the Palestinian people, noting larger attendance at campus protests and events than in the past. But the war is a constant source of anxiety in their lives, as many worry for the safety of their relatives.

"It's always on our minds. We’re always talking about it, we're always thinking about it. When we wake up, when we go to sleep, it's kind of the topic of our whole life," said Sana Abubaker, 18, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

In news reports and on social media, the students aren't just inundated with graphic footage of Hamas' attack and the ensuing Israeli bombardment of Gaza. They are seeing campuses in turmoil elsewhere in the U.S., as well as reports of antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks on Jews and Palestinians around the globe. It's been taking a toll.

"We sit and doom-scroll," said Lexie Niskanen, 24, a global studies student at UW-Milwaukee and Hillel's Israel chair. "It's hard to turn away when this is happening."

More: On visit to Israel, Milwaukee Jewish leader sees resilience in the face of continuing trauma

More: Palestinian-Americans in Milwaukee helpless as relatives in Gaza fear death is imminent

Jewish students find rally slogan antisemitic, threatening

Jewish students said rallies and marches in support of Palestinians and against Israeli advancement into Gaza have made them feel particularly unsafe.

The rallies, many of which have been organized by UW-Milwaukee and Marquette University students, often feature the chant: "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

Although some suggest the chant just means Palestinians should be able to live freely and without Israeli-imposed restrictions, Jewish people consider the slogan antisemitic, a call for a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. They see it as advocating for the removal of the Jewish state.

At a recent UWM protest, activists affiliated with a socialist student group added the phrase "by any means necessary."

"To me, that was inciting violence," Niskanen said.

Niskanen and a few other students filled out a bias incident report with the university. The school responded that it was an example of free speech, she said. Hillel staff has been encouraging students to file bias reports when they encounter such statements, Herman said.

"We can disagree about government policy," Herman said. "But things that celebrate violence against civilians, things that celebrate and justify the heinous attacks of Oct. 7, that has to be documented, and deserves a response from the university."

No students affiliated with Hillel Milwaukee have reported being the victim of physical violence. But students such as Jane Blossom, 20, of Marquette University, speak of a "very hostile environment" on campus.

Blossom, who is studying international affairs and Spanish, took off the Star of David necklace she used to wear every day and is avoiding any pieces of clothing that reference Israel.

"I don't feel comfortable to wear that right now," she said. "It’s asking for something bad to happen."

Niskanen, speaking last week, said she would be skipping a class because another Palestinian rally was planned for the same time. She didn't want to risk encountering protesters.

Outside a vigil hosted by Hillel last month, a car backfired, and everyone jumped, she said.

"It made me realize how tense and unsafe the environment is right now, and how everyone is super hypervigilant," Niskanen said.

Students also declined to be photographed for this story, citing safety concerns.

Muslim students carry a sense of dread, helplessness

Minnat-Allah Ahmad, 24, a UWM student studying to be a radiology technician, never felt she needed pepper spray. Last month, she started carrying it with her everywhere. She wears a hijab, so she's used to the occasional stare, but is more aware than usual that it only takes one person to become enraged and attack her.

Her mother, who has been following the news in Gaza closely, calls her often to make sure she's OK at school. Ahmad minds her own business, she said, going to class and doing her homework, then returning home. She hopes someone on campus would step in to help if she were in danger.

"It's just having that faith that everything will be OK," she said.

Abubaker, who also wears a hijab, was always taught not to travel alone, especially at night, a legacy of the kinds of post-9/11 precautions her Muslim-American parents instilled in their children. She wasn't sure what UW-Milwaukee would be like when she graduated from the Muslim-majority Salam School last spring, but she has been grateful there are other students of her faith on campus.

For both Abubaker and Ahmad, the October fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy in Illinois by his landlord looms large, a threat that anyone could lash out. A sense of dread, combined with guilt and helplessness at the ongoing war, permeates all community gatherings, Abubaker said.

"We're sitting here when we're supposed to be there helping our brothers and sisters," she said. "We could turn off the TVs and turn off the phones, but they're still going through that."

More: Franklin man loses 32 relatives in Gaza airstrike. A beloved aunt and an infant are among the dead.

Students with personal ties to Middle East bear emotional burden

The emotional burden of the war has affected some students' ability to focus and complete school work.

When Ahmad tries to give her mother a break from the traumatic images playing on the TV screen, her mother resists. Ahmad herself can't stop thinking about the gruesome videos of children injured or killed in Israeli airstrikes she's seen on social media, imagining her own nieces and nephews in their position.

"Every time I go on my phone, there's these videos and photos and screams and cries and bodies," she said. "I can't sit and do math homework."

But there's a feeling that she shouldn't turn away.

"Why do we get the privilege of getting a break when they can't?" her brother-in-law recently told her, a sentiment Ahmad agreed with.

Recently, an English professor saw Ahmad watching social media videos on her phone before class began and expressed his condolences about the situation. He said she should let him know if she can't focus or needs to leave the classroom.

"He was so understanding, and it made me feel so safe and so comfortable," Ahmad said. "I felt like someone understood."

Jewish students said it's been hurtful to feel like their friends on campus don't care or don't understand — or are ignoring them.

"A lot of it has been silence," Niskanen said of the response from many of her friends. "I didn't think if something like this happened, I would just not hear from any of them."

Devora Kittner, 21, studying biological health sciences at Mount Mary University, said people at the Catholic women's school have been leaving rooms when she enters. Proud and outspoken about her Jewish identity at a school with only a handful of Jewish students, the mood has been "awkward and uncomfortable," but with few direct confrontations, she said.

After Hamas' attack, her theology professor allowed Kittner to share her thoughts with the class, which she appreciated.

But her sister, also a Mount Mary student, is more reserved, and has heard more comments from classmates, she said. With no advance conversation, a student turned to Kittner's sister in class and said, "Free Palestine," then smiled.

Kittner, her sister and a few friends met with Mount Mary administrators to express their concerns, and they came away feeling heard and understood, she said. The school has created a committee to address the issue and is working on two statements, one to denounce antisemitism, and one on conflict resolution and healthy dialogue between students. It also may host a panel on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Jewish and Palestinian-American students alike expressed disapproval with their schools' initial statements on the war, which they said were so general and neutral that they didn't seem to stand for anything.

The good and bad sides of social media

Adding to the stress has been a ubiquitous presence in campus life: social media.

Jewish students are frustrated by what they see as a proliferation of incorrect or badly framed posts shared by people uninformed about the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Niskanen has been responding to people's Instagram stories, trying to address misinformation one-on-one, but — perhaps not surprisingly — hasn't had much success changing minds.

Kittner was upset by a post she saw that compared Israelis to Nazis.

People who "post any infographic they see" may not realize its context and how detrimental it is to uninformed students. Sometimes a post seems to make a logical point, but it misses the larger picture, Kittner said, or it comes from a source considered antisemitic.

Palestinian students said they've been grateful that more people are talking about the plight of Palestinians after feeling invisible to the world for so long. Still, many, like Abubaker, view the news media as overwhelmingly biased in Israel's favor.

Social media provides a platform that bypasses traditional news outlets and reaches large audiences, Abubaker said.

"It's basically all we can do over here. We can't help them (Palestinians) physically, so we can help them through spreading media and always staying informed," she said.

Ahmad hasn't engaged in any conversations or debates on social media. She feels emotional about Palestinian causes, having visited family in the West Bank two years ago. She and her sister were detained for questioning in the Tel Aviv airport for five hours for no apparent reason, a frightening experience she carries with her today.

While she has remained quiet in class and online, Ahmad has been participating in rallies at UW-Milwaukee, her way of taking a stand. At the protests, groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine have been calling for an end to study abroad trips to Israel and for the Golda Meir library on campus to be renamed. Meir, who grew up in Milwaukee, was Israeli prime minister from 1969-'74.

"It's important to go to these protests and these rallies because we have that freedom that unfortunately my family in Palestine does not," Ahmad said.

Emotional support necessary at this time

Abubaker has noticed it's not just Muslim or Palestinian students attending rallies, informational sessions and other Students for Justice in Palestine events.

"It kind of feels like we’re not alone anymore in the struggle," she said.

For Blossom, at Marquette, Hillel has provided a sense of comfort and community at a challenging moment.

"Hillel has always supported us. But they've just created a lot more space for us to be vulnerable and feel comfortable there," she said. "If I didn't have that support system from other Jewish students and the people that work at Hillel, I don't know where I’d be right now."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jewish, Palestinian students feel tension over Israel-Hamas war