Introduction

As the semester ends many leading universities were overrun by anti-Israel protestors who have dominated campuses since October 7. Encampments and occupations of buildings spread to many campuses, resulting in arrests of both students and faculty and the paralysis of campus life. That even small efforts to restore order created organized widespread havoc reflect the extent to which control has been lost over campuses to organized groups of Islamists like Students for Justice in Palestine and communists like Within Our Lifetime working in concert.

The pro-Hamas and antisemitic cries of “We don’t want no two states. We want ’48”  and “intifada revolution” now dominate elite university landscapes. Harassment of Jewish students are complemented by cries of “death to America” and “death to Israel” heard at massive public protests disrupting transportation and economic centers reflect the communist-Islamic alliance that aims to undermine Western society as a whole.

Editor’s Note: The rapid growth of BDS-related antisemitism since the October 7 Hamas attack has required the BDS Monitor to be greatly expanded. Readers are reminded that a shortened version appears in The Algemeiner.

Analysis

Administrations

The most notable BDS related development in April were efforts by colleges and universities to push back against anti-Israel students who have dominated campuses since the Hamas rampage of October 7. But relatively minor constraints on anti-Israel demonstrations quickly created mass reactions. Only a selection of events are described here:

• Columbia University suspended four students and evicted them from student housing in the aftermath of an event which featured members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
• A sit-in protesting the expulsions was later cleared by New York police and resulted in 100 arrests. Among those arrested and suspended was the daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar who is a member of the House subcommittee examining campus antisemitism.
• A large scale encampment was reestablished the next day and pro-Hamas faculty announced they would boycott commencement. The university also announced that the remainder of the semester would be conducted via remote learning. The rapid decay of security on campus prompted the rabbi of Columbia’s Orthodox community to call for Jewish students to go home.
• Once the main plaza at Columbia was occupied organizers restricted media access. A 14 point guide issued by organizers regarding street tactics indicate the movement is guided by Antifa revolutionaries. At least one ‘Extinction Rebellion’ activist was seen directing students at Columbia.
• Numerous incidents of violence and harassment were reported at Columbia, including an assault on an Israeli Arab journalist and shouted threats that “Are you ready? 7th of October is about to be every day. Every day. 7th of October is going to be every day for you,” “Go back to Poland,” and “Al-Qassam, you make us proud, take another soldier out.” Access to the ‘liberated’ encampment was limited by ‘monitors’ and those deemed “Zionists” (that is, visibly Jewish individuals) were excluded.
• Columbia and Barnard administrators engaged in negotiations with occupiers and provided assurances that there would be no lockdowns of campus or evictions from student housing but the president stated that divestment from Israel would not occur. A number of deadlines passed without the university taking serious action. Finally protestors smashed their way into a university building and barricaded themselves inside.
• One result of the conciliatory approach is that most of the Barnard students suspended in the early conflict will be restored and their records cleared. Another student demand at Columbia Law School is for mandatory pass/fail grading.
• Protests in sympathy with Columbia are widespread at other campuses including Boston University, Brown University, the University of North Carolina, Tufts University, Rice University, the University of California at Berkeley, and elsewhere outside the US including Paris, Britain, and Australia.
• Jewish students were denied access to campus areas including classroom buildings at the University of California at Los Angeles and many other campuses. At UCLA a recording demonstrated that the university police had been instructed by the administration to not respond to complaints from Jewish students. A number of Jewish students were also assaulted by pro-Hamas activists at UCLA.
• Encampments at Emerson College, Emory University, University of Minnesota and the University of Texas and other sites were cleared by police, multiple times in the case of Texas.
• Harvard University closed its campus to prevent the creation of an encampment which was nevertheless established. Protestors later raised Palestinian flags over the yard replacing American flags.
• At least 44 students occupying a plaza at Yale University were arrested and reportedly face disciplinary charges.
• A request from the George Washington University administration for Metropolitan Police to clear an encampment was rejected by the city’s mayor.
• Several buildings at Cal Poly Humboldt were occupied and vandalized. The school has shut for the remainder of the semester.
• Extremist and violent rhetoric was documented at many institutions:
• One notable example was a protest organizer at Columbia who stated “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” and “Be grateful I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists. I’ve never murdered anyone in my life and I hope to keep it that way.” The statement in question had been made during a January disciplinary hearing but after media exposure the individual was apparently barred from campus but not expelled.
• Chants of “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” “Smash that Zionist settler state,” and  “Resistance is justified when people are occupied,” are widespread at many campuses, as is “intifada revolution.” Sign calling for the destruction of Israel and for Jews to ‘return to Europe’ are also common.
• At Columbia chants in Arabic included “O’ [Mahmoud] Abbas, you spy. We will stomp on your head” and “From the water to the water [river to the sea], Palestine is Arab.” These and other incidents across the country demonstrate the involvement of Arabic speaking students and possibly outside activists.
• Islamist rhetoric was also heard including at Northwestern University where calls of “Khaybar, Khaybar, ya yahud!” were chanted by crowds.
• As the campus occupations continued anti-American and anticapitalist rhetoric has become more prevalent including speakers who stated “We want to smash the Democratic Party, we want to smash the Republican party, we want to smash this whole goddamn capitalist, imperialist empire.”
• Even anti-Israel speakers such as former academic Norman Finkelstein who specifically counseled Columbia protestors to use less polarizing rhetoric than “from the river to the sea…” were effectively repudiated by organizers. The upshot appears to be that hard core protestors see elimination of Israel and its supporters especially Jews as a redemptive project of cosmic if not religious importance.
• Student media uniformly laud the unity, sacrifice, and commitment of occupiers, emphasize the participation of both Jews and Muslims, highlight the views of anti-Zionist Jews, and implied pro-Israel counterprotests were antagonistic and racist.
• Most mainstream media depictions of the events downplayed threats to Jewish students, emphasized left-wing Jewish participation, claimed to see no signs of antisemitism, and followed student activists’ claims that blamed ‘unrelated outside agitators’ for antisemitic statements and violence.
• Non-media visitors to campuses and non-American reports emphasize the empty sloganeering by activists unable to support their statements, proliferation of pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah sentiments, assertions that the October Hamas massacre was justified as resistance but denials that murders and rapes took place, claims that Israel is fundamentally illegitimate, threats and harassment of Jews, and a command structure where activists manipulate uninformed protestors.
• Commentators noted that similar attacks on blacks or other minorities would not have been tolerated and suggested that in the broadest sense Jews were acting as stand-ins for ‘whites’ and Western civilization as a whole. Others noted that campus protests are undertaken by a psychologically damaged generation that “started elementary school in the financial crisis, started high school in the Trump presidency, and started college in the pandemic… We’ve never lived in normal times.”

The connections between campus protests organized by SJP, ‘Jewish Voice for Peace,’ national Islamist and communist organizations like Within Our Lifetime, and Antifa are now inescapable:

• Documents indicate that Columbia University protest organizers were in contact with counterparts at Princeton University regarding strategy and tactics. Princeton organizers also received legal advice from the communist National Lawyers Guild.
• Another organizing guide, which likely originated with Antifa, was issued by the National SJP and instructed students on occupying and fortifying campus buildings and made reference to the 1968 Columbia riots.
• Reports indicate that a number of SJP members who received paid training by the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) were responsible for organizing encampments. The USCPR is funded by the Open Society Foundation and other far left foundations.
• Protests organized by SJPs were held on April 15 to coincide with the “A15 Action” protests aimed at economic and transportation links. In the aftermath of the Columbia incidents the National Students for Justice in Palestine group announced a nationwide “Popular University for Gaza” to “seize our universities and force the administration to divest, for the people of Gaza!” Allied organizations including the Palestinian Youth Movement, Within Our Lifetime, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace, Democratic Socialists of America and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) connected Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network issued nearly identical statements, indicating close coordination.

Other connections implicated an even wider range of organizations. The marxist PFLP issued a statement condemning “repressive practices” of universities and praising “our students in American universities,” while the ‘Institute for Middle East Understanding’ was referenced as a partner in an organizing guide issued to students at Princeton University in anticipation of an encampment. The document references their “a trained security team, pro bono legal support, and ‘faculty members on our side to negotiate with administration.”

Hamas, the PFLP, and Iran praised the campus protestors. Overall the campus situation and its connections with conspiracies to disrupt economic activities manifests the red-green alliance of communists and Islamists that is now fully active in America.

The correlation between institutions with high numbers of foreign students, such as Columbia with 55%, is strong. But the movement is also class based and functions as social contagion to expand its numbers and reach among students with little or no understanding of the issues but who appear eager to participate in something deemed meaningful but to do so without any consequences. This was demonstrated as media attention increased:

• An encampment at the University of Washington was postponed on the grounds that too many white students were participating. Organizers expressed a hope for “a better reflection of the UW community, and having even greater unity with Muslim, Palestinian and Arab students.”
• Reports from the Columbia encampment observed that participants were largely upper middle class and children of privilege and noted the expensive food and accoutrements being provided.
• Interviews with individual protestors demonstrated that some had little or no understanding of the Gaza War, Israel or the Palestinians but were participating as part of a social phenomenon.

Another sign of hesitant pushback against student extremism that produced dramatic results was cancelation of the University of South California’s (USC) valedictorian after social media postings came to light in which she had called Zionism a “racist settler-colonial ideology” and demanded the abolition of Israel. The university claimed the move was ‘security related’ and then canceled commencement.

Casting the move as a matter of safety rather than a direct condemnation of her views sidestepped free speech issues but made it appear that the safety concerns implicated Jewish groups. The perception of a ‘Jewish mob’ veto was promoted by the New York Times. The decision was condemned by CAIR and other anti-Israel groups. The USC campus was then occupied by pro-Hamas protestors. Observers warn that other commencement speeches will be saturated with anti-Israel and “pro-Palestinian” rhetoric.

Numerous incidents of classroom harassment by students were reported including the University of Melbourne pro-Hamas students entered classes, demanded student supporting ‘Palestine’ raise their hands, and then photographed those who did not. Reports from Britain indicate that harassment of Jewish university students is pervasive.

Reputational harm to Columbia in particular was swift, with condemnations from local Jewish politicians. Robert Kraft, a major Columbia donor, announced he would no longer contribute to the university until corrective measures were taken.

Anecdotal reports also continue to indicate that more Jewish students are shunning elite universities in favor of institutions in the south which have better environments. A letter from the heads of Israeli universities also decried the rise in antisemitism at American institutions and offered assistance to Jewish students and faculty who wished to join their institutions. Brandeis University also extended its deadline for students to apply to transfer specifically in order to allow as many Jewish students as necessary to relocate.

A number of additional Wall Street and high tech firms stated they would no longer recruit from Ivy League schools. The data engineering firm Palantir stated in response to the protests that a requirement for its semester long internship program was “commitment to democratic values, ability to engage constructively on difficult issues, and desire to uphold Palantir’s mission of supporting the institutions underpinning western & allied nations.”

One longer term results of the pro-Hamas displays at elite institutions will likely be brand destruction leading to even more reliance on foreign students who have antipathy towards Jews and the United States.

Students

Prior to the campus takeover some of the most disturbing events of April were celebrations of the massive Iran missile attack on Israel noted on many campuses. Social messaging campaigns that appeared coordinated across the US and included Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters and the associated Palestinian Youth Movement. These cheered Iran and condemned Israel, the US, and Arab states for their efforts to thwart the attack. The theme “Hands off Iran” also appeared.

Similar enthusiasm for the Iranian attack was also documented among anti-Israel activists from both Palestinian-American and socialist groups organizing to disrupt the Democratic National Convention in Chicago who were taught to shout “death to America” and “death to Israel” in Farsi. Messages from CAIR officials supported the attack and condemned Arab states who worked with Israel and the US. Postings from far let politicians including member of the Squad blamed Israel and demanded a ceasefire.

Another revealing incident occurred at the home of Berkeley Law School dean Edwin Chemerinsky, who had invited law students to a dinner. Malak Afaneh, co-president of Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine produced a microphone and began a speech at which point Chemerinsky and his wife, law professor Catherine Fisk, repeatedly asked her to stop and to leave. Fisk then attempted to grab the microphone leading to Afaneh to charge that she had been assaulted and that her First Amendment rights were being violated with the claim that the dinner was an official university function rather than on private property. The law school’s SJP chapter had previously posted images on social media calling Chemerinsky “ZIONIST CHEM” and showing him eating with blood dripping utensils.

Afaneh later claimed that she had been “assaulted” because she was “hijabi-wearing, kuffiyeh-repping, Palestinian Muslim student.” With the exception of the communist National Lawyers Guild, which had advised the students in advance, no First Amendment lawyers saw merit in the charge of speech suppression or assault. In response, however, all ten “Faculty for Justice in Palestine” chapters at UC campuses condemned Chemerinsky and Fisk.

The Chemerinsky incident illustrated again the well-established but unexplained pipeline that cultivates Islamist and far left law students like Afaneh and then places them in leadership roles in anti-Israel and anti-American organizations. Another example is CUNY Law valedictorian Nerdeen Kiswani who now heads the communist/Islamist group ‘Within Our Lifetime’ which was formed out of the New York SJP. Similar pipelines take pro-Palestine activists and place them into DEI positions in universities, such as at MIT, making them ideological enforcers on campus.

A report by the ADL showing the continued rise in campus antisemitism and grading individual campuses was condemned by a number of Hillel and Chabad professionals as well as by students for oversimplifying local circumstances.

Student governments and other groups also continue efforts to remove Jewish members, including at the University of California at Santa Barbara where a senator and the president were targeted. At Vanderbilt University  the ‘Multicultural Leadership Council also denied membership to Students Supporting Israel.  Israeli or Jewish events have also been disrupted or shut down by protestors.

Overall, the pro-Hamas protest phenomenon appears to be a social contagion which has elements of class, gender, ethnicity, mass hysteria, and borderline mental illness. It is facilitated by social media and sisinformation, founded on low educational attainment as well as foreign espionage and domestic political and criminal conspiracy which operate through secure communications channels. These manipulate generational conflict and ennui and an almost religious yearning for meaning which has ironically or predictably been directed toward eliminationist antisemitism as the ultimate source of fulfillment.

The broader success of the movement, however, remains difficult to gauge. One measure are polls, one of which indicates that the Israel-Palestinian conflict does not rate in the top five issues for Americans age 18-29.

Resolutions and Referendums

The trend of promoting Israel boycotts and divestment through student resolutions and referendums greatly accelerated in April. Only a selection are presented here:

• Student governments at the Harvard Divinity School, School of Design, and Harvard Law School passed BDS resolutions. The Harvard Undergraduate Association halted consideration of all referendums after a BDS petition was put forward, which then prompted a series of satirical petitions including “Should Harvard turn Annenberg into a strip club?” and ‘should Harvard remove Jews from its faculty?
• At Rutgers University a divestment referendum and another calling on the university to end its relationship with Tel Aviv University were approved by the student body.
• At Vassar College a BDS bill was blocked from consideration by the student    government after the administration warned the group’s bylaws and state regulations    opened it to lawsuits.
• The Columbia University undergraduate student government shelved a resolution that would have required the organization to divest its funds from Israel but the law school senate and graduate student association approved resolutions.
• Cornell University undergraduates approved a divestment referendum.
• The University of Maryland student government voted down a divestment resolution.
• The Wichita State University student government approved a resolution.
• The American University student government passed a BDS resolution, which was condemned by the university president.
• The student government at Binghamton University passed a BDS resolution.

An important student government resolution on “anti-Palestinian racism” was approved at Rutgers University. “Anti-Palestinian racism” is defined as

• a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives. Anti-Palestinian racism takes various forms including: denying the Nakba and justifying violence against Palestinians; failing to acknowledge Palestinians as an Indigenous people with a collective identity, belonging, and rights in relation to occupied and historic Palestine; erasing the human rights and equal dignity and worth of Palestinians; excluding or pressuring others to exclude Palestinian perspectives, Palestinians and their allies; defaming Palestinians and their allies.

Defined this way Palestinians become a protected class and their narrative of victimization at the hands of the Jews an official doctrine.

Student demands for divestment have been uniformly rejected by university administrators and trustees including at the University of California. At Yale University the university announced that it would not divest from military industries but would liquidate holdings in companies retailing “assault weapons” to the public.

Ongoing ‘negotiations’ between administrations and protest organizers, however, generated concessions on divestment or ties to Israel to restore calm at smaller institutions like Bryn Mawr College. At Portland State University the university decided to “temporarily” halt donations from aerospace giant Boeing as a concession to students.

Other examples of this appeasement strategy emerged at Northwestern University where the administration negotiated an agreement with protestors to disperse most of their encampment in exchange for an “advisory committee on investment responsibility” which includes students and faculty. Additional concessions include advising employers not to rescind job offers and to support two Palestinian faculty and five students at university expense. FInally, at Brown University, the administration agreed that the university corporation would hold a vote on divestment in October in return for students ending their encampment. The proposal recommends “divestment from “companies that facilitate the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.”

Faculty

Faculty remain at the forefront of promoting campus anti-Israel bias and antisemitism. The ideological alignment of faculty with pro-Hamas students was evident in numerous video testimonies. Other statements also made clear the commitments to the destruction of Israel, vilification of its supporters including Jews, and the end of capitalism. Only a sample are presented here:

• A group of Princeton University faculty signed a letter vowing to boycott Columbia and Barnard until that university reversed the suspension of pro-Hamas students and organizations. A similar open letter was quickly signed by 1400 academics including faculty and graduate students from around the world indicated an organized effort to enlist anti-Israel faculty.
• Princeton University faculty members temporarily occupied a building but withdrew before a university deadline.
• At a number of schools faculty attempted to physically defend pro-Hamas occupiers which resulted in a number of arrests including at Columbia, Emory University and New York University.
• Faculty at City University of New York released a video in which they proudly stated their support for anti-Israel protests and BDS demands.
• After BDS activists vandalized a subway station the New York University Faculty for Justice in Palestine chapter released a statement from the perpetrators endorsing the action.
• Georgetown University’s ‘Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine’ held a vigil to commemorate Palestine academics killed in Gaza. Faculty members wore their academic robes for the march.
• Faculty at the University of Southern California marched in support of protestors, accusing Israel of ‘genocide’ and calling for boycotts of Israel.
• Northwestern University Dean of Students Mona Dugo attended an anti-Israel rally outside the university Hillel, ostensibly to support “right to protest” and to “protect the right to free speech.”
•  Pomona College faculty passed a motion condemning the college for suspending students
• At the Sapienza University of Rome, the faculty senate and board of directors rejected student demands for a boycott of Israeli institutions. In response, students rioted.

In one dramatic incident a committee from the York University Department of Politics proposed that any defense of Israel be regarded as “anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic, and anti-Arab.” The report called for “a departmental definition of anti-Palestinian racism” since “The struggle for Palestinian self-determination will support the liberation of all humans and non-humans from colonial oppression” and since “Zionism is a settler colonial project and ethno-religious ideology in service of a system of Western imperialism that upholds global white supremacy.”

The report demanded total academic and commercial boycotts of Israel and a system that would discipline “individuals who violate the code of conduct and community safety standards.” The university disavowed the statement saying it had “no bearing on the policy of the University and would have no legal force.”

In a similar vein, the City University of New York faculty union announced a special meeting to consider five demands to be put forward to the administration:

• Divest! Immediately divest from ALL companies complicit in the imperialist-zionist genocide, including weapons, tech and surveillance, and construction   companies. Commit to full financial transparency regarding CUNY’s institutional investments.

1. Boycott! Ban all academic trips to the Zionist state, encompassing birthright, Fulbright, and perspective trips. Cancel all forms of cooperation with Israeli academic institutions, including events, activities, agreements, and research collaborations.
2. Solidarity! Release a statement affirming the right of the Palestinian people to national liberation and the right of return. Protect CUNY students and workers who are attacked for speaking out against the genocide in Gaza and in solidarity with Palestinian liberation. Reinstate professors who have been fired for showing solidarity with Palestine.
3. Demilitarize! Demilitarize CUNY, Demilitarize Harlem! Get IOF and NYPD officers off all CUNY campuses, and end all collaboration, trainings and recruitment by imperialist institutions, including the CIA, Homeland Security and ROTC. Remove all symbols of US imperialism from our campuses: Rename the Colin Powell School of Global and Civic Leadership at CCNY and reinstate The Guillermo Morales and Assata Shakur Community and Student Center!
4. A People’s CUNY! We demand a fully-funded, free CUNY that is not beholden to zionist and imperialist private donors! Restore CUNY’s tuition-free status, protect the union, and adopt a fair contract for staff and faculty.

The scope and tone of the resolution suggest it will not be taken seriously by administrators or state officials. The resolution also calls for blatant violations of Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1964 and on that basis may expose the union to lawsuits.

In the broader international sphere, reports continue to regarding growing informal boycotts of Israeli academics and universities. The reports detail how European and American counterparts have ceased collaborations with Israelis, accused them of ‘genocide,’ and succumbed to student pressure to disinvite Israeli speakers and collaborators.

K-12

More attention continues to be paid to the spread of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias in K-12 education, especially through ‘ethnic studies.’ The Gaza War and the growing crisis on university campuses has also been leveraged by BDS related activists to mobilize K-12 students. One example are high school walk-outs to support university protestors organized in a number of locations including in Washington State on the first day of Passover.

Efforts to embed pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas ideology within K-12 education also remain constant:

• The Ontario Education Minister overruled the Peel District School Board’s decision to put ‘Nakba Day’ on the school calendar.
• Minnesota adopted a K-12 social studies curriculum emphasizing “decolonization” which requires students to “describe how individuals and communities have fought” for “liberation against systemic and coordinated exercises of power,” and to assess “the impact of colonialism” and “dominant and non-dominant narratives.”
• Backlash against the Massachusetts Teachers Association’s ‘anti-Palestinian racism” trainings expanded with condemnations from state senators and jewish organizations. The organization, however, responded by proposing resolutions to divest pension funds from companies working in Israel and to ‘protect students’ in order to support the “liberation for Palestinians and a peaceful solution to the conflict in Palestine” through “Critical Race Theory” and “Critical Social Justice Ideology.”
• Britain’s National Education Union issued a statement blaming Israel for the Gaza War and calling on its members to circulate ‘educational materials’ with that message.
• A lawsuit was filed against the Berkeley Unified School District alleging that parents were denied access to the anti-Israel curriculum being taught in schools and that the curriculum was deeply tendentious and antisemitic.

An especially disturbing incident which demonstrates the convergence of ‘Palestine’ with gender propaganda was an Amherst (MA) “Queer Storytime for Palestine” which featured a drag queen prompting children to repeat “Free Palestine.”

The House committee addressing antisemitism also expanded its investigation to include K-12. The leaders of the New York City and Montgomery County (MD) schools are scheduled to testify.

Protests

Protests off campus continued through April, the most notable being a global day of disruption organized by “A15 Action” aimed at “economic choke points” which shut down numerous transportation links including access to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, Seattle’s Sea-Tac Airport, the Brooklyn Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge, and parts of Lower Manhattan. Protestors burned American flags and waved Hezbollah flags while harassing the public and police. In the case of the Golden Gate Bridge protestors were released when the District Attorney claimed there was insufficient evidence to charge them. As campus encampments and occupations spread similar efforts began in public spaces such as Jackson Square in New Orleans.

An unconfirmed report indicated that the A15 disruptions were organized by the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps working through a variety of local groups such as “Within Our Lifetime.” Other reports noted that bail for arrestees was provided by the Community Justice Exchange, with funds being collected through the Democratic Party’s ActBlue online fundraising platform with ActBlue earning a 4% commission.

The Community Justice Exchange is a project of the Tides Center, the far left dark money operation which supports a number of anti-Israel enterprises including the Arab Resource and Organizing Center and Adalah Justice Project, in addition to Black Lives Matter. Major donors to Tides include billionaires George Soros and Pierre Omidyar. ActBlue also took a cut from donations to support the Michigan State University pro-Hamas encampment.

Protests earlier in the month included the disruption of an Easter Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, a New York City fundraiser attended by President Joe Biden and former presidents Clinton and Obama (at which Jewish women were chased and called “murderous fucking kikes”), a sit-in outside the headquarters of Britain’s National,  Health Service, a sit-in at the US Senate cafeteria at which 50 participants were arrested, and an attack on an Israel-Norway soccer match in Skien which included fireworks and rocks aimed at police. Protests outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. remain ongoing, apparently in contravention of local regulations.

Anti-Israel protests in Britain continue every weekend, with infrequent arrests of protestors displaying swastikas and other proscribed symbols. In another recent development London police threatened a ‘visibly Jewish individual’ with arrest when he attempted to cross paths with a pro-Hamas protest while a pro-Israel march was canceled.

These and other examples demonstrate the intents to paralyze daily life using threats and violence while specifically targeting Jews and Jewish institutions. In heavily Jewish Teaneck (NJ) car caravans of Palestinians from nearby Patterson have become a regular occurrence. In one case an event featuring Israeli first responders from Zaka about the October 7 massacres turned into a face-off between pro-Israel and pro-Hamas crowds.

The Islamic nature of local antisemitism was displayed in a widely condemned video clip which featured an “Al Quds Day” rally in Dearborn (MI) where the crowd shouted “death to America” and “death to Israel” at the end of the Ramadan month.

In another widely publicized incident in Bakersfield (CA), a local activist, Riddhi Patel, testified before the city council to demand the city support a ‘ceasefire’ and stated “I remind you that these holidays that we practice, that other people in the global south practice, believe in violent revolution against their oppressors, and I hope one day somebody brings the guillotine and kills all of you motherfuckers.” She concluded by saying “We’ll see you at your house. We’ll murder you.” Patel was then arrested and charged with making terroristic threats.

Overall the ADL reported that antisemitic incidents in the US were 2.5 times more numerous in 2023 than in 2022, with the major occurring after October 7. At present Federal law enforcement appears to have take no interest in what appears to be a series of national criminal conspiracies. The role of American Muslim and Democratic-linked organizations in these conspiracies, as well as foreign powers, may be acting as constraints.

Politics

In the political sphere, the Gaza War and the Israel question continues to split the Democratic Party which continues to move to isolate Israel even in the aftermath of the Iranian missile attack and campus occupations. As campus unrest intensified concerns were expressed regarding potential disruptions at the summer Democratic National Convention which could damage President Joe Biden’s electoral chances.

The events at Columbia University were sufficiently dire that a deputy White House press secretary and then national security communications adviser John Kirby were forced to comment. Kirby stated “The president knows that there are very strong feelings about the war in Gaza. He understands that, he respects that, and as he has said many times, we certainly respect the right of peaceful protest. People should have the ability to air their views and to share their perspectives publicly, but it has to be peaceful,” adding “We absolutely condemn the antisemitism language that we’ve heard of late, and we certainly condemn all the hate speech and the threats of violence out there.”

Members of the Squad, however, condemned Columbia University’s crackdown on student protestors with Rep. Ilhan Omar visiting her daughter on campus and then remarking that Jewish students were either “pro-genocide or anti-genocide.”

For his part former President Trump stated “What’s going on is a disgrace and it’s all Biden’s fault.” In a visit to the Columbia campus by House Speaker Mike Johnson condemned “heinous acts of bigotry” and called for students to go back to class.

Prior to the protest the leading political event in April was a hearing before a House subcommittee investigating campus antisemitism. The testimony of Columbia University president Nemat Shafik was predictably political, with Republicans attacking the university’s inadequate response to campus protests and pointing to bigoted statements from faculty and Democrats describing the protests as anti-Israel rather than antisemitic.

Shafik’s remarks, and those of faculty and trustees who appeared with her, were quickly overshadowed by the police response to the campus sit-in and then the spreading protests and occupations of campuses. Later reporting also indicated that Shafik had plagiarized much of her most cited academic article.

A bipartisan group of Senators introduced a measure that would instruct the Department of Education to codify the IHRA definition as a formal guideline. A similar House measure was passed by unanimous consent in 2016 but then reintroduced twice without action being taken. A House resolution condemning the chant ‘from the river to sea…” as antisemitic was also passed by a large margin. Another measure was introduced to mandate antisemitism monitors on campuses.

At the local level, a variety of initiatives have begun to limit the impact of campus antisemitism. In Arizona a the governor signed a bill which allows university students to op out of paying student activity fees which fund various clubs. The measure came after Jewish students objected to funding BDS related activities.

Efforts to shut down reporting and exposure of BDS and pro-Hamas activities expanded in April. At Columbia University a petition demanded that business school professor Shai Davidai be fired over his social media activity, which has focused on campus extremists. CAIR representatives have also met with state prosecutors in California and Massachusetts to demand that journalists be jailed for exposing pro-Hamas activities under the guise that this violates state anti-doxxing laws. This effort would target independent journalists as well as sites such as MEMRI and Canary Mission which focus on extremism.

Reports also continue regarding the prevalence of anti-Israel sentiment among government employees including in the State Department. In one case it emerged that a student leader of the Columbia protestors, Aiden Parisi, was the son of a State Department official, who herself has tacitly expressed opposition to US policy on Israel.

The unwillingness of government leadership to confront disruption from junior staff members indicates that anti-Israel bias is acceptable and will impact policy development and implementation in the future. The dominance of anti-Israel and antisemitic attitudes among cadres of students from elite institutions indicates hostility among government employees and in the related ecosystem of NGOs, think tanks, and media will increase greatly in the future.

Economics

Efforts to isolate Israel economically were the focus of the A15 global protests. Overall except for the tourism sector Israel’s economy appears to be weathering the Gaza War including in the high tech and defense sectors. International ratings agencies were split regarding the economic outlook with S&P following Moody’s in downgrading Israel’s credit rating. Long-term issues such as war risks, budget deficits and government expenditures remain the main concerns rather than BDS.

International companies have been targeted by the BDS movement. Some, like Starbucks, have no presence in Israel and the boycott was driven purely by rumors and by the perception of support from the company’s CEO. One real casualty has been McDonalds, which has been targeted after its Israeli franchisee offered soldiers free meals leading to widespread boycotts in Asia and decline in revenue. In April the conglomerate bought back the franchise after the retirement of its Israeli owner, leading to speculation that the company would withdraw entirely from the Israeli market.

High tech was also the focus of protests in April, including from Google employees who occupied several New York and California offices including that of the Google Cloud president to demand the company cease all work in Israel especially a cloud computing project for the government. Several were then arrested and several dozens were fired by the company.

Other high tech related areas include the ongoing allegation that Israel and Jews are behind efforts to have the Chinese owned social media and spyware platform TikTok “banned” in the US. A variety of conspiracy theories pushed by influencers and TikTok itself continue the platform’s established anti-Israel and antisemitic biases which are engineered by the company on behalf of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Ireland’s sovereign wealth fund divested its holdings of Israeli companies including banks and supermarket chains over their operations in the West Bank. The stated rationale was the “risk profile” of the companies rather than an explicit political statement. The Irish Communications Workers Union also passed a motion demanding the right for postal workers to not handle mail from Israel.

Harassment of Jews and Israelis in professional settings also expanded in April. In Canada Jewish physicians report a campaign of online harassment that was triggered by a public letter condemning the Hamas attacks. Individual physicians have been targeted and harassed including educators through teaching evaluations.

Arts and Culture

Reports continue to emerge regarding the exclusion of Israeli and Jewish artists in the wake of October 7.

A survey of American Jewish poets noted that their ability to publish both original work and translations on non-Jewish platforms  has diminished sharply since October 7, with many respondents noting near monolithic support for Palestinian narratives and active casting of Israelis a ‘white supremacist settler-colonialists.’

The growing imperative in the arts communities to shun even the most liberal Israeli was reflected in the March cancelation of an essay in the literary magazine Guernica, the initial acceptance of which had prompted the resignation of the staff. In a belated statement, the founder of the magazine, Michael Archer, claimed that he had never wanted the piece to be run in the first place. The former editor stated in an interview that this was false.

A number of nominees for PEN America awards withdrew from consideration accusing the organization of ‘failing to protect Palestinian writers,’ “normalizing genocide,” and acting as “a front for American exceptionalism.” PEN American then canceled the awards ceremony. The organization now appears on the verge of implosion.

The artistic and literary boycotts and accompanying enthusiasm for Palestinian rejectionism reflects a fetishizing of violence in the name of liberation that has characterized corners of intellectual life for decades.

The Israeli artist and curators chosen to represent Israel at the Venice Biennale decided not to cancel the exhibition but to lock their pavilion and to demand the return of hostages and a ceasefire. Pro-Palestinian artists and ‘arts professionals’ had demanded the exclusion of Israel from this year’s Biennale and protested the shuttered pavilion.