When 26-year-old Adiel Cohen isn’t creating content for Instagram and TikTok, he’s barnstorming college campuses advocating for peace. Cohen visited UF Thursday evening to address a room of Jewish Gators.
About a minute into his presentation, about ten attendees walked out in protest.
An unfazed Cohen shrugged and then launched into action, shepherding the audience through a winding narrative of his family’s journey to Israel, which he learned through his savta, Hebrew for grandmother.
Cohen detailed the hardships of his Jewish Yemenite forbearers and drew parallels between the hostilities they faced in Biblical times and those Jews face now.
The event is part of a broader education campaign about Middle Eastern and North African Jewish communities through Camera on Campus, which equips students with resources to learn about and advocate for Israel.
That’s why Cohen speaks with young people. He said he wants to amplify the stories of underrepresented Mizrahi Jewish communities spanning North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. So far, he said he’s encountered relatively polite, engaged audiences.
“Besides a group of people here who came to basically walk out in protest of, I’m guessing, me being Israeli, it was beautiful,” he said. “That is exactly what I came here to do. I wanted to share my story that people don’t often know about.”
Cohen said before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, he used to do a lot of peace activism to unite Jews and Palestinians. He lamented that people left the event in protest, as he would have welcomed them to stay and facilitate healthy dialogue.
“I don’t mind engaging with people with differing opinions,” he said. “I’m all for discourse and cultural exchange, the exchange of ideas.”
Contact Natalie Kaufman at nkaufman@alligator.org. Follow her on X @Nat_Kauf.
Natalie Kaufman is a sophomore journalism student and the Alligator's Fall 2024 Metro General Assignment reporter. In her free time, she likes drinking copious amounts of caffeine and running.
