Fall semester ends with campus protests diminished, violent attacks escalating. DEI-driven antisemitism in the medical profession and cultural life escalates.

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Introduction

The fall semester ended with the number of campus protests down but antisemitic incidents unchanged. The escalation in violence against Jews and Jewish institutions worldwide demonstrates again that anti-Zionism is simply antisemitism motivated by hatred of Israel and Jewish sovereignty. Policy changes indicated by the Trump Administration may begin to address antisemitism in the higher education industry. But despite the ongoing collapse of DEI ideologies and bureaucracies anti-Israel bias and hence antisemitism are deeply rooted in diverse sectors such as medical education and publishing and have driving out Jews as an unstated goal.

Editor’s Note

The enormous growth of BDS-related antisemitism since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack has required the BDS Monitor to be greatly expanded. Readers are reminded that a shortened version appears in The Algemeiner.

December was characterized by a continuing high number of protests and attacks against Jews and Israelis in the US and globally. Notable incidents included:

Protests and attacks against property included:

The escalating number of antisemitic attacks and violence is also reflected in various statistics:

The huge escalation of violence in Canada and Australia in particular, attributed in part to large scale Muslim immigration and official hostility towards Israel following October 7, have caused serious alarm including among local politicians. Jewish communities report feeling abandoned by progressive movements with which they had identified, and governments, which appear intent on protecting pro-Hamas protestors rather than Jews.

On campuses the number of protests and arrests dropped dramatically compared to the 2023-2024 academic year. This may be attributed to a loss of momentum by the pro-Palestinian movement and to university time, place and manner restrictions put in place as a result of last year’s violence. The impact of ‘dialogue programs’ instituted by universities cannot be quantified.

The appearance of greater calm, however, might be misleading. The arrest of two George Mason University students and SJP leaders, Palestinian-American sisters Jena and Noor Chanaa, suspected of vandalizing university property, revealed a cache of guns and ammunition as well as Hezbollah and Hamas materials. A third George Mason University student, Egyptian national Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, was arrested on charges of planning a terror attack on the Israeli consulate in New York City.

Virginian Governor Glenn Youngkin stated further that SJP “pose[s] a clear and present threat to Jewish students and the Jewish community in Virginia.” Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares launched an investigation of SJP’s supporting organization, American Muslims for Palestine, shortly after October 7th. The prospect of terrorist attacks by students gives further urgency to calls to detain and deport hostile foreign nationals.

The positive campus embrace of Luigi Mangione, accused of murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthCare, indicates that campus environments as a whole have been conditioned to accept if not embrace political violence.

Politics

In the political sphere, debates over antisemitism and Israel continue to be shaped by the reelection of President Donald Trump. Many universities have been telling foreign students to return to campus before January 20th in order to avoid possible Executive Orders on border controls and deportations.

A Republican House subcommittee report on campus antisemitism excoriated the Biden Administration’s inaction on the issue and faulted colleges for failing to prevent antisemitic incidents or impose real consequences on students. It recommended among other things cutting off Federal funding to universities that boycott or divest from Israel. In the Senate effort to attach the Antisemitism Awareness Act to the defense spending bill failed and outgoing Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer refused to present the bill as standalone legislation for fear of exposing divisions within the Democratic Party. For its part the Biden Administration unveiled a “U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate.”

Antisemitism and Israel remain divisive issues within Democratic Party politics. Criticisms of the University of Pennsylvania’s inadequate response to antisemitism from Governor Josh Shapiro, touted as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, is an early effort to retake the party from anti-Israel forces.

At the same time, a variety of signs indicate that the general trend of the party remains away from Israel. Though often cast as a broad generational problem, the question is largely limited to the Democratic Party. Shapiro’s statement came a week after 77 House Democrats signed a letter accusing Israel of violating US laws in its use of American-made arms. A leading candidate to head the Democratic National Committee, Ben Wilker, stated that the party should have allowed pro-Palestinian voices to present at the summer convention. At the state level Anderson Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, complained that US support for Israel eroded support for the party and “absolutely” contributed to its defeat.

With the important exceptions of Sen. John Fetterman and Rep. Ritchie Torres, the party’s remaining notables appear to agree that movement against Israel is politically and morally necessary. This position was articulated in a long piece by former Obama official Ben Rhodes. More immediately Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) also urged the outgoing Biden Administration to “send a message” to Israel in its last weeks by sanctioning right wing members of the Israeli government, blocking the sale of offensive weapons, and unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state. In a talk before a Maryland Jewish group Van Hollen was sharply criticized by fellow Democrat, state Senator Ben Kramer.

And in another sign that the ‘Democratic Socialists of America’ remain a force on the far left, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) stated in a call with DSA representatives she had whipped opposition to supplemental aid to Israel. Ocasio-Cortez aspires to lead the Democratic Party but lost her bid to lead the powerful House Oversight Committee. The continuing progressive shift to the left and embrace of the Palestinian cause over the working class is fully consistent with patterns seen in France where ethnic minorities represent a growing electoral base.

At the local level Jewish voters and concerns are at the center of political races in New York City. Speaking to a Jewish audience embattled incumbent Mayor Eric Adams touted his response to pro-Hamas protests as other contenders have begun to distance themselves from Democratic Socialists of America support. Pro-Hamas city council member Shana Hanif is facing a Jewish pro-Israel challenger.

The effect of the Gaza War on local politics continues. The Boulder City Council voted to abstain from calling for a ceasefire and to condemn the antisemitic abuse aimed at the city’s mayor. In contrast, the Minneapolis City Council urged the University of Minnesota not to charge pro-Hamas protestors who were arrested after occupying a campus building. And in an unusual example of lawfare, two California representatives face a class action lawsuit from pro-Hamas constituents who allege that votes in favor of military aid to Israel caused mental and material harm both locally and to Gazans.

Local governments also continue to adopt BDS including through “environmental, social, and governance” investment policies. One recent example is the Alameda County Board of Supervisors which sold its holdings in Caterpillar and promises to exclude investments in “fossil fuel extraction, the production and sale of weapons, or companies with a persistent record of direct involvement in severe human rights violations, such as war crimes, apartheid, and crimes against humanity.” The county was praised by CAIR.

In the international sphere, there is now a coordinated effort by anti-Israel NGOs in publishing a series of reports accusing Israel of ‘genocide.’ Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have made the allegation claiming that Israeli actions such as damage to infrastructure constitute genocide despite the historically low proportion of civilians killed relative to Hamas combatants, efforts to warn Gaza residents of impending military activities, and to provision internally displaced persons.

In both cases the organizations deliberately misrepresented comments by Israeli leaders to suggest that the military had been directed to undertake indiscriminate attacks. Amnesty’s Israel branch then disavowed the parent organization’s report despite its own severe criticisms of Israeli war efforts. Calls by Pope Francis for an ‘investigation’ of the claim of genocide have given the calumny further momentum.

The full embrace of the Palestinian cause by the Irish government, including efforts to join South Africa in bringing the charge of ‘genocide’ in the ‘International Court of Justice’ and endorsing the recent Amnesty International report, has led the Government of Israel to close its embassy. Israel also announced that it would open an embassy in Moldova.

In its application to the ‘court’ Ireland argued that the existing definitions of genocide needed to be broadened to include unspecified harm to civilians. In related comments the Irish president accused Israel of wanting to build a settlement in Egypt. The diplomatic rupture was poorly received by Ireland and may threaten trade relations with Israel even as Irish politicians continue to demand the European Union adopt wider scale Israel boycotts. Leaders of the Ireland’s tiny Jewish community also point to escalating antisemitism abetted by comments from political leaders.

The impact of the coordinated ‘genocide’ campaign, which is aimed at vilifying Israel in the most extreme terms, has yet to be felt. On the one hand the charge is not new since it effectively began with Hamas supporters in the immediate aftermath of October 7th and before the Israeli counterattack began. It has already been incorporated into Hamas and academic messaging.

On the other hand, the palpable falsity of the genocide charge and its incessant and shrill repetition have not resonated outside the far left and Muslim circles. As with many allegations hurled at Israel the charge undermines empirical reality and accepted language and works to the detriment of ‘international law.’

Elsewhere, the Westminster City Council stated that divesting pension funds from companies active in Israel was impossible. Some 60 British Members of Parliament also called for sanctions against Israel including weapons exports and a bilateral cooperation agreement, and to commit to arresting Israeli political leaders at the behest of the ‘International Criminal Court.’ Poland has also committed to arresting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on behalf of the ‘court’ forcing him to cancel a planned appearance at the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Administrations

The sustaining relationship between ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ (DEI) programs and ideology and campus antisemitism continues to be highlighted. Faculty and students continue to step forward to demonstrate how DEI personnel act as ideological enforcers, often combining explicitly racialist policies with Kafkaesque punitive procedures. One recent study documented how DEI training increases psychological harm, hostility, and the propensity to agree with extremist language and punitive behaviors.

The situation was demonstrated in a case at the University of Michigan where a leading administrator was fired for making antisemitic remarks. Rachel Dawson, who led the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, stated at a conference that Jews have “no genetic DNA that would connect them to the land of Israel” the university was “controlled by wealthy Jews” and reportedly commented regarding Jewish students experiencing harassment and requiring support that “Jewish students are all rich. They don’t need us.” She denied making the remarks and plans to sue the university. Dawson’s firing comes as the university ended the use of diversity statements in faculty hiring, promotion and tenure decisions and considered ending all its DEI programs.

Elsewhere the Idaho State Board of Education also unanimously voted to end DEI “ideology” and programming and close resource centers at the state’s universities. Overall six states banned DEI programs in 2024 and more are poised to do so in 2025. DEI programs were also rolled back substantially in the corporate sector in 2024. Reports also indicate that many universities are scrambling to shield academic programs and bureaucracies even as they attempt to meet new state and Federal expectations.

Both the University of Cincinnati and the University of California resolved cases regarding anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim discrimination with the Department of Education. The resolutions involved changes to staff training and reporting procedures rather than fundamental changes to campus culture. The University of California made no admission of wrongdoing.

The bureaucratic nature of this resolution, wherein the same people who failed to address the problems are retrained in order to meet a standard of training rather than affect substantive change, does not portend meaningful improvement.

That the legal sphere has devolved into performative suits and countersuits was reflected in a lawsuit brought against the University of Michigan on behalf of its pro-Palestinian student group. The suit alleges the university violated constitutional rights by “weaponizing student and student organization disciplinary processes to punish pro-Palestine protesters into silence and to chill, and repress speech in support of Palestinian causes on campus.”

The suit was filed by lawyers associated with CAIR, the National Lawyers Guild, and the Maurice and Jane Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice. CAIR had previously filed a complaint with the Department of Education alleging that the university “favors fighting antisemitism over Islamophobia.”

More substantive legal consequences for pro-Hamas protestors are emerging in California where the State Bar association noted in a report that “Violence or other conduct that infringes on the rights of others may not be protected by the First Amendment, and is legitimate grounds for inquiry and consideration in the moral character process.” The report emphasized that “The political beliefs that motivate an applicant’s participation in protests generally are not a proper basis for inquiry in the moral character process,” but an “applicant’s conduct during protests related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be considered without regard to the applicant’s political motivations.”

Pro-Hamas protestors continue to be disciplined by universities. The University of Georgia and George Mason University suspended their SJP chapters while the University of Minnesota suspended a number of SJP members and demanded financial restitution for damages they caused during a building takeover. New York University Law School also warned protestors that they may be subject to unspecified disciplinary action.

In economic terms divestment appears to be dead at major institutions. A task force formed to advise the Berkeley Endowment Management Company which controls investments for the University of California at Berkeley declined to recommend divesting from weapons manufacturers. Clark University, Vassar College, and the New School made similar announcements. San Francisco State University and Union Theological Seminary remain the only institutions of note that have formally adopted BDS strategies, albeit in the guise of divesting from weapons manufacturers.

The decisions come as the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia warned of accelerating enrollment declines and resulting college closures. Fitch Rating echoed this conclusion and warned that as a result higher education faced a “deteriorating credit environment.” Even Ivy League schools which rely on their comparatively large endowments face significant liquidity problems.

In the international sphere, the Estonian Academy of Arts announced it was canceling a lecture by an Israeli academic and severing ties with Israeli universities. The move was criticized by Estonia’s Prime Minister who called on the university to review the decision.

Students

Fallout from the past year’s anti-Israel protests continues to be felt. Despite a lower number of protests, Hillel International reported approximately the same number of campus incidents in 2024 as in 2023. These included several violent assaults. The prospect of future violence also remains strong. In addition to the arrests of three George Mason University students, two University of Virginia students were suspended after threatening a Jewish housemate with a gun and making antisemitic statements.

In political terms despite having been rejected by nearly all university administrations and boards of trustees BDS resolutions and referendums continue to be passed by, presented to, or demanded of student governments, including at the University of Maryland, Yale University and Wayne State University. The Rice University student government, however, voted against a resolution.

At the University of Michigan, saga of the activists elected on the platform of shutting down student government in order to support ‘Gaza’ has come to a close. After shutting down funding to all student clubs only to have the administration provide independent funding, the president and vice president of the student government have now been impeached and removed from office. Even pro-Palestinian students admit that the officers “look like extremists” and have damaged the cause on campus.

The extent to which ‘Palestine’ has damaged various aspects of campus life is becoming clear:

Faculty

Faculty continue to be at the forefront of campus antisemitism and support for Hamas. A new study has shown again that institutions with the most active anti-Israel faculty are those with the most incidents directed against Jewish students. The top ten schools, of 724 surveyed, are New York University, University of Minnesota, Columbia University and Barnard College, University of California Santa Cruz, University of Washington, Georgetown University, UCLA, the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York, University of California Irvine, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Faculty anti-Israel activity is also now fully bound up with unionized labor. At Rutgers University a majority of faculty union members associated with two unions, the American Association of University Professors and American Federation of Teachers, voted in favor of a BDS resolution and called for the university to ends its relationship with Tel Aviv University.

In a joint statement the two unions noted the anti-Israel demands were part of a unified struggle and “We will need to work together to resist the Rutgers administration’s ongoing attempts to undermine our contract victories. We will face the consequences at Rutgers of the incoming Trump administration’s looming assault on all of higher education.”

By following unionized graduate students in making anti-Israel politics a labor issue faculty unions attempt to leverage public support for organized labor and minimize the overt bias involved in anti-Israel resolutions. This is consistent the American Association of University Professors’ continuing transformation into a left wing labor union and follow longstanding campaigns to mobilize academic associations against Israel. Recent efforts by the leadership of the Modern Language Association to forestall damaging BDS resolutions have been characterized as ‘censorship’ by anti-Israel members.

These efforts mesh with continued efforts to characterize anti-Israel course content and classroom behavior as part of ‘academic freedom.’ Criticism of such content, such as planned course at Cornell University called “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance” to be taught by a notable anti-Israel faculty member, including comments by the university president, were characterized as a ‘threat to academic freedom. In another recent example of this subterfuge it emerged that Columbia University’s most notorious anti-Israel faculty member, Joseph Massad, will be teaching a course on Zionism.

Faculty efforts to suffuse anti-Israel content into other areas, such as academic publishing using constantly evolving shibboleths, are also longstanding. This is demonstrated by recent calls for contributions to a proposed volume on “Whiteness and Palestine” and to an issue of the Journal for Architectural Education to be entitled “Palestine.” The latter requests contributions that “map, represent, theorize, and historicize genocide, ecocide, spaciocide, terracide, and urbicide as practices of colonial erasure and unpack the way they appear and operate” and which “Palestine has inspired pathologies of hope, constellations of coresistance, and infrastructures of resistance, the world over.”

A lawsuit brought against Carnegie Mellon University by an Israeli student provides an inside look at how individual faculty abuse students in the classroom. The suit, which a Federal court has allowed to proceed, alleges that a faculty member described the student’s architectural project “model looked like the wall Israelis use to barricade Palestinians out of Israel,” and that the student’s time “would have been better spent if [she] had instead explored ‘what Jews do to make themselves such a hated group.’”

The judge found that the university’s “Dean of Students, Vice Provost of DEI, School of Architecture Director of DEI, and the Title IX Coordinator and Assistant Vice Provost of DEI, all knew of Professor Arscott’s racially and ethnically offensive conduct directed at Ms. Canaan, but showed deliberate indifference toward Ms. Canaan’s federally protected right not to be discriminated against on the basis of her Jewish identity.”

In another case a Jewish faculty member at Hunter College has sued the university claiming the institution’s lack of response to campus unrest after October 7th created a hostile workplace for her and others.

Politicians also continue to take notice of faculty involvement in anti-Israel politics. Two New York City council members have called for an investigation of a CUNY faculty member who allegedly acted as one of the ringleaders of a spring 2024 encampment which resulted in serious damage to a university building.

K-12

After October 7th the K-12 sphere was revealed as a key environment for anti-Israel bias. Replacing the emphasis on transgender issues with anti-Israel bias appears to be part of the sector’s adaptive strategy to maintain its relevance. Teachers’ unions are central to the process. For example, the Massachusetts Teachers Association declared that Israel was committing ‘genocide’ in December 2023 and has proceeded to undertake training sessions and to provide materials demonizing Israel.

The trend of teachers testifying to one another that Israel is a satanic entity has expanded. At a recent educator’s conference Massachusetts teachers emphasized Israeli ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid’ with one participant calling for “two perspectives” regarding the Holocaust. Similarly, at the recent National Association of Independent Schools conference, which represents more than 2000 private schools, several speakers described Israel as racist and genocidal. Jewish participants reported hostility from other attendees, with many vowing not to return. The association’s president apologized, a move which was condemned by anti-Israel speakers.

The increasingly pervasive bias shown by teachers has been institutionalized in classrooms and administrations. Responding to a complaint from Jewish parents the Department of Education (DoE) found that the Philadelphia School District did not adequately address cases of “harassment based on shared ancestry.” The resolution calls for staff training and revised policies. The DoE also found that the school district refused to produced requested information.

Economics and Professions

Antisemitism founded in anti-Israel bias in the medical profession continues to be an issue. A Capitol Hill briefing on the problem saw a variety of testimony that highlighted antisemitism and discrimination, often couched in ‘decolonizing’ rhetoric, and fear of upsetting anti-Jewish staff. A recent study of American Jewish medical professionals revealed that over 25% feel threatened or intimidated by colleagues, including those who state that ‘Zionists’ should not receive medical treatment. DEI frameworks such as ‘anti-racism curriculums’ and supporting personnel drive much of the problem.

The problem is particularly acute in Britain. There the British Medical Association has been forced to investigate its president over her pervasive anti-Israel bias including accusations that Israel and its supporters are ‘profiting from the holocaust’ in Gaza. The problem is replicated at many levels of the British medical establishment, where nursing and other staff have praised Hamas and Jewish staff and patients have been intimidated into silence. A similar situation has emerged in Canada, where a recent survey indicates that 30% of Ontario’s Jewish medical professionals are considering emigrating due to antisemitism.

The manner in which anti-Israel and antisemitic bias is being incorporated into medical education has been previously reported. The manner in which this is upheld by DEI-saturated medical schools was illustrated recently at the University of Pittsburgh, where a seminar on ‘dialogue’ organized by the American Jewish Committee was disrupted by pro-Hamas protestors, with the indulgence of university DEI personnel in attendance.

Arts and Culture

Evidence that Jews are being excluded from various aspects of Western cultural life increased during December. British writers and artists report being subjected to demands they describe Israeli actions as ‘genocidal’ or be excluded from venues such as festivals and publishing opportunities. One result is that books and writers deemed ‘too Jewish’ are being systematically rejected, largely as a result of low and mid-level employees rather than senior management. Another is that Jewish arts patrons are removing support from institutions, effectively acceding to demands from pro-Hamas artists.

Claims have long been made that condemnation of or refusal to display artworks that are overtly anti-Israel ‘repressive.’ At the same time arts professionals, especially in Germany, are warning that events such as festivals are jeopardized by state policies regarding public expressions of antisemitism. The corollary conclusion, the presence of Jewish artists who do not condemn Israel or in general, is de facto disruptive, is inevitable.

The larger context of anti-Jewish behavior in Britain is found both at universities and in the anti-Israel bias of public institutions such as the BBC. There some staff members resigned after being instructed by their unions to wear colors or flags in support of Palestinians, demonstrates the problem is structural. Jewish employees of the BBC have testified how anti-Israel bias transformed into overt antisemitism both on and off the air since October 7th.

The exclusion of Jewish writers in the US and Canada from literary circles and opportunities and rising condemnation of anyone deemed supportive of Israel is also escalating. One result is that while broader arts spaces are being impoverished, specifically Jewish ones are being invigorated and invented.

Fall semester ends with campus protests diminished, violent attacks escalating. DEI-driven antisemitism in the medical profession and cultural life escalates.

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AUTHOR

Alex Joffe

Editor SPME / BDS Monitor

Alexander H. Joffe is an archaeologist and historian specializing in the Middle East and contemporary international affairs. He received a B.A. in History from Cornell University in 1981 and Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona in 1991. From 1980 to 2003 he participated in and directed archaeological research in Israel, Jordan, Greece and the United States. Joffe taught at the Pennsylvania State University and Purchase College, and has been Director of Research for Global Policy Exchange, Ltd., and The David Project, Center for Jewish Leadership.

Joffe's work is uniquely broad. Since 1991 he has published dozens of studies on the archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean and is a leading figure in contentious debates over the relationship between archaeology and politics in the Middle East. He has also authored numerous works on contemporary issues, including Middle Eastern environmental security threats from pollution and weapons of mass destruction. His work on the problem of dismantling intelligence agencies is widely cited by experts and democratic reformers alike.

In the past decade Joffe has written and spoken on topics as varied as the future of American Jews, the Palestinian refugee problem, and nationalism. During that time as well he has been deeply involved with combating the problems of campus antisemitism, the ‘boycott, divestment and sanctions' movement against Israel, and in educating Jews and others about threats to Israel and the West. His current projects include a biography of a British World War II general and several novels. He and his family reside near New York City.


Read all stories by Alex Joffe

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