Max Long and Michael Kaminsky spoke out Saturday for the first time since they were attacked in broad daylight in the middle of campus Wednesday afternoon, according to police.
One student was jumped from behind and beaten, police said, as he and another Jewish student were standing outside the Lincoln Park student center.
Long and Kaminsky have just gotten out of the hospital.
"Trying to cope with everything that happened, pretty traumatic experience," Kaminsky said.
Long has a concussion and Kaminsky suffered a fractured wrist after they were attacked on their own college campus.
"I didn't believe something like this could happen," Kaminsky said.
Long was standing outside the student center, as he does every week, holding a sign, donning the Israeli flag, and offering to speak with passersby about the war in Gaza.
He knows the war intimately.
"I was in Israel on October 7," Long said. "I was called up with my team."
A reservist with the Israeli military, he was deployed by the Israeli Defense Forces after the attack in 2023. He was part of a counter explosive unit, recovering hostages.
This summer, when reserve staff Sergeant Long moved to Chicago and enrolled at DePaul University, he said sharing his truth became his new focus of operation.
"I witnessed firsthand the things that I was hearing people say over here that were fake and were not true," Long said. "And so it became this mission of, 'I need to make sure that the truth is told.'"
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It has been an honest, peaceful and mostly constructive endeavor, he said.
"I would say 90% of the conversations were positive," Long said. "It was students who truly wanted to hear more and learn more from someone who was there."
That was until Wednesday afternoon, when two men in ski masks hit him from behind and pushed down his friend, another Jewish campus leader standing alongside him.
"It was, it was quite a beating while I was on the ground," Long said.
Long had his phone recording in his pocket when he saw the masked man approach. He can be seen on video, and he even shook his hand.
"He spoke to me for a good minute and a half or two minutes and we were engaging," Long said.
The video shakes, and that's when, he said, another person began punching him out of nowhere.
"It was lights out," Long said. "I got attacked from behind from a defenseless position."
Kaminsky was also badly injured. His arm is still wrapped in bandage.
"I never thought that me continuing to do my activist work would've put a target on my back and cause somebody to want to go out there and target me and Max for our Jewish religion, our national origin, our ethnicity our identity," Kaminsky said.
Chicago police are now investigating the attack as a hate crime, releasing photos of the suspects they're looking for.
Despite the traumatic experience, the two students say they refuse to cower to fear and intimidation.
Long said this doesn't stop him from wanting to have conversations about the war.
"Not at all," Long said. "I'm sure that was the intent behind the attack. We've been there every week, they probably want that to stop, and we cannot allow that."
The duo plan to continue advocating for open dialogue.
"Yeah, they may have tried to physically attack us, they may have hurt us, but our spirits aren't broken," Kaminsky said. "If we don't have conversations, then nothing gets resolved."
DePaul's president called the incident outrageous and completely unacceptable. Governor JB Pritzker has also asked Illinois State Police to assist Chicago police in apprehending the suspects, offering any assistance needed to bring them to justice.