Campus Alert Archive
ND Tantur

A Mile and a Half West: Notre Dame's Jerusalem Gateway Wakes to Air-Raid Sirens on October 7

INshelter in placeemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the morning of Saturday, October 7, 2023, Notre Dame undergraduates at the Jerusalem Global Gateway at Tantur — on the southern edge of Jerusalem — were woken by air-raid sirens as Hamas launched the surprise attack from Gaza that began the Israel–Hamas war. Staff evacuated students to a bomb shelter as a rocket landed roughly a mile and a half west of the campus. Three days later, on October 10, University President Rev. John I. Jenkins announced that the Tantur program was suspended and that all students would be relocated to other Notre Dame international sites — ultimately Notre Dame London at Fischer Hall on Trafalgar Square, where they completed the semester.

Alerts
3
Response
min
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
University of Notre Dame Jerusalem Global Gateway (Tantur)
Private R1 · IN
~20 studentsND Alert (Global Safety & Security)
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction296 chars
ND ALERT — Tantur: Air-raid sirens have sounded in the Jerusalem area. Proceed immediately to the on-site bomb shelter. Do not exit the building. Account for your roommates. Notre Dame Global Safety is in contact with Israeli authorities. Further instructions will follow once it is safe to move.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Tantur sits on the southern edge of Jerusalem, near the boundary with the West Bank — it falls within the Home Front Command zone served by Jerusalem-area sirens, which sounded multiple times on the morning of October 7, 2023
Notre Dame Global Safety & Security operates a 24/7 duty officer at the South Bend campus who coordinates with on-site directors at each Global Gateway — this is the structural counterpart to NYU's Office of Global Services
October 7 was a Saturday and also Simchat Torah, a Jewish holiday — many shelters and emergency services across Israel were operating with reduced staffing when the attack began
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from The Observer's interview with student Leah Moody, who described the air-raid-siren wake-up, the bomb-shelter evacuation, and the rocket impact 'about a mile and a half to the west' of campus608 chars
Dear Tantur students, We can confirm that all Notre Dame students and staff at the Jerusalem Global Gateway are accounted for and safe. A rocket impact has been reported approximately a mile and a half west of campus. Israeli Home Front Command guidance is in effect; please remain in or near the shelter and continue to follow staff instructions. Notre Dame Global Safety and the Office of the President are actively monitoring the situation. Communications with families is being coordinated through Notre Dame in South Bend. We will update you as soon as we have more information about classes and travel.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The 'mile and a half west' figure is the specific proximity reported by Notre Dame student Leah Moody in The Observer — it is the closest publicly reported impact to any U.S.-affiliated campus on October 7
Notre Dame's model of routing family communications through South Bend (rather than Tantur staff) is standard for global-gateway incidents — it consolidates messaging and frees on-site staff to manage the shelter operation
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from Father Jenkins's October 10, 2023 statement, which confirmed that all Tantur students had been relocated to other Notre Dame international sites and that the Tantur program was temporarily suspended721 chars
Dear Members of the Notre Dame Family, On behalf of the University, I write to share that all Notre Dame students who were studying at our Jerusalem Global Gateway at Tantur have been safely relocated to other Notre Dame international sites. Out of an abundance of caution given the ongoing conflict, the University has decided to temporarily suspend the study abroad program at Tantur for the remainder of the semester. The students will continue their studies at Notre Dame's London Global Gateway. We hold all those affected by the violence in the Holy Land in prayer, and we are grateful for the swift work of our Global Safety and Security team and our colleagues at Tantur. — Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., President

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Father Jenkins's statement was issued from the South Bend campus on October 10, 2023 — three days after the October 7 attack — and is the formal closure-and-relocation message of record
Students were relocated specifically to Notre Dame London at Fischer Hall on Trafalgar Square, the University's largest Global Gateway and the natural fallback for a Tantur-class undergraduate cohort
The University maintained 'temporarily suspended' framing rather than permanent closure — consistent with Notre Dame's institutional posture that Tantur and the Tantur Ecumenical Institute remain core to its global mission
Context

Background

Notre Dame's Jerusalem Global Gateway at Tantur — formally the University of Notre Dame at Tantur (UNDT) — sits on a hilltop on the southern edge of Jerusalem, near Bethlehem and the West Bank boundary. It hosts a small undergraduate study-abroad cohort each semester alongside the Tantur Ecumenical Institute. On the morning of October 7, 2023, students were woken by air-raid sirens as Hamas's surprise attack triggered Home Front Command alerts across central and southern Israel, and a rocket impact was reported roughly a mile and a half west of the campus. Staff evacuated students to the on-site bomb shelter. Over the following 72 hours, Notre Dame's Global Safety and Security team — operating from Notre Dame Police's global-safety duty desk — coordinated the relocation of all Tantur students to Notre Dame London at Fischer Hall on Trafalgar Square. On October 10, Father John Jenkins issued a public statement confirming the temporary suspension of the Tantur program and the relocation. The case is included in the archive both as a study in how a U.S. study-abroad site can layer its student-accountability messaging on top of Israeli Home Front Command sirens, and as the closest publicly reported rocket impact to any U.S.-affiliated campus on October 7.
Analysis

Key Findings

Notre Dame's Tantur Global Gateway was the closest publicly documented U.S.-affiliated study-abroad site to an October 7, 2023 rocket impact — reported as approximately a mile and a half west of campus
The University's response combined real-time shelter operations (under Israeli Home Front Command guidance) with a 72-hour relocation pipeline to Notre Dame London, illustrating the operational value of a multi-gateway global network
Father Jenkins's October 10 statement is the formal closure-and-relocation message of record and remains the model used by Notre Dame for subsequent Middle East crisis communications
Outcome
All Notre Dame Tantur students sheltered safely and were relocated to Notre Dame London within days. No casualties among the Notre Dame community. The Tantur program remained suspended through 2024.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    Jerusalem study abroad students detail evacuation to London (The Observer)
    ndsmcobserver.com
  2. Student Paper
    Notre Dame students in Israel relocated, campus holds prayer service (The Observer)
    ndsmcobserver.com
  3. Official
    Father Jenkins' statement on Notre Dame students in Jerusalem and outbreak of violence in the Holy Land
    president.nd.edu
  4. News
    Notre Dame suspends study abroad program in Jerusalem amid war between Israel, Hamas (WNDU)
    wndu.com
  5. Official
    Notre Dame Jerusalem Global Gateway
    jerusalem.nd.edu
  6. Official
    Notre Dame Global Safety & Security — Emergencies Abroad
    police.nd.edu
Tags
shelter-in-placeoverseas-campusinternationalisraeljerusalemtanturoctober-7hamas-attackprivate-r1notre-damestudy-abroadrelocationhome-front-command
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion