Republican National Convention 2024

Jewish students to address the Republican National Convention

Scheduled to speak before an estimated 50,000 attendees, a recent Harvard graduate and fraternity brothers from UNC-Chapel Hill will recount their encounters with anti-Semitism.

RNC convention 2024 (Photo: Aaron of L.A. Photography/ Shutterstock)

The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week will spotlight firsthand accounts of the turmoil over the Israel-Hamas war that has gripped college campuses nationwide. A recent Harvard graduate and a group of University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill fraternity brothers will share their experiences with the estimated 50,000 attendees.

Shabbos Kestenbaum, who earned a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School this spring, told Jewish Insider that although he usually votes Democrat, he chose to speak at the RNC because 'the Democratic Party has abandoned me."

"The hostilities toward the Jewish people and Jewish faith that I witnessed firsthand as a student at Harvard are incomprehensible, and I want to be part of a party that recognizes the necessity of the liberal democratic state of Israel," said Kestenbaum, who in March spoke to a roundtable organized by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce about the anti-Semitism he experienced on Harvard’s campus. Kestenbaum added that his goal in speaking at the RNC is to 'elevate certain policies that I believe lead to antisemitism."

The Jewish Insider contributed to this report

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