I’m the one-man face of Jewish resistance against antisemitism at Princeton —here’s why I won’t back down

One Jewish student is leading the charge against campus antisemitism at Princeton University — and taking heat from anti-Israel students and faculty alike.

Maximillian Meyer, 19, has been shoved by a pro-terrorist student, targeted by an anti-Israel professor, and unable to concentrate on his school work as antisemitic chants and terrorist imagery flood his once idyllic Ivy League campus.

“I never in a million years could have imagined that I would see the flag of Hezbollah on this campus or anywhere across America,” Max said, “Many Jewish students have told me they feel unsafe in major areas of our campus.”

Meyer, who believes that his fellow Jewish students have been “intimidated into silence,” has been rallying his community since learning of the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7.

Since then, he has organized groups of Jewish students to stand up at school council meetings and deliver a pro-Israel message at counter-protests.

“When you speak up in the way that I am you quickly learn who your true friends are and sometimes they come from the most unexpected of places,” he told The Post.

Meyer’s most recent call to action came last Wednesday, when he learned that students were planning to erect a Columbia-esque encampment on the Central New Jersey campus.

He quickly assembled a group of students to face-off against the anti-Israel protesters at 6:30 a.m. to show that the “Jewish community is strong.”

Florida Rep. Byron Donalds shrugs off anti-Israel heckler who called him a ‘race-traitor’ at GWU encampment

“Our community is meaningful, and no amount of juvenile rhyme schemes will ever alter that reality to the Jewish community,” Meyer said

As the day went on Meyer watched in horror as the same antisemitic chants calling for “intifada revolution” and terrorist imagery that had sprouted up on other campuses arrived at his doorstep.

The encampments proved to be a turning point for the Jewish student body.

“Pre-encampment it was just me and maybe 2 or 3 others,” Meyer said, “Now we climb in the double digits if we feel that it’s important we show up.”

The young freshman believes the backlash he’s facing is just proof that his actions are having an impact.

“My strategy is working,” Meyer said, “I am calling antisemitic things antisemitic, and if that is going to make people who espouse antisemitic rhetoric uncomfortable so be it.”

When the Princeton University Student Government called an eleventh-hour vote last Sunday to discuss a statement condemning the arrests of campus demonstrators, some students feared it would contain “extreme” language.

Meyer, however, was able to get a group of Jewish students to attend the meeting in a show of force.

New York City police re-raise American flag at City College campus after anti-Israel protesters removed it

“I messaged a chat of like-minded students and wrote ‘they think we won’t show up, we must’ and that’s all it took.

The vote was then forced to reschedule to the following day.

At the final vote, Meyer delivered a rousing speech against antisemitism saying, “we must stand against hate.” The student government ended up passing a moderate statement condemning the arrests.

After protesters took over Princeton’s Clio Hall Monday, Meyer perched up outside the building and demanded the university enforce “Title VI regulations” into a megaphone.

As the hive of protesters descended on the freshman, one shoved him and screamed in his ear.

“I thought for a moment that the situation had the potential to escalate,” Meyer confessed.

Being the sole Jewish resistance against a mob of hundreds of rabid anti-Israel students can be a source of frustration for Meyer, but he also thinks it can help amplify his voice.

“My message as the single counterprotester speaking out publicly… is getting in the heads of those who demand no opposition.”

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR MORNING REPORT NEWSLETTER

After Meyer denounced a poem read by Professor Max Weiss at a pro-Palestinian demonstration as “antisemitic” and heckled him at a speech, Weiss went out of his way to introduce himself in an “unnerving” exchange caught on camera.

“Hi Maximillian, it’s lovely to meet you finally,” Weiss said while glaring at the student.

Later that day, the professor alluded to Meyer in a speech to a charged group of protesters and led the students in a chant of “shame” against the Post’s coverage of the demonstrations.

Shortly after, the teen was handed a copy of the poem “I Am You” by Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer which accuses Jews of having “evolved, backwards,” from “victim” to “victimizer,” with the words “Free Palestine” scribbled on it.

It is unclear if the poem was sent by Weiss, but he has read it at campus demonstrations multiple times.

“That poem was a message, that if you speak up, you’re going to be watched,” Meyer claimed.

Weiss declined to comment for this article.

Being the face of the Princeton Jewish resistance has not been easy on the young political science major.

“For me, the rampant antisemitism has become all-encompassing, I think about the hate I see and feel nearly constantly,” Meyer recalled, even confessing that the demonstrations on campus are preventing him from concentrating on his studies.

“There are moments when I have great fear, even desperation,” Meyer said.

For top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com.