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 as a tool for historical documentation. Readers are reminded that a shortened version appears in The Algemeiner.

Introduction

The shape of BDS and antisemitism was changed again June by deadly attacks on Jews by ‘free Palestine’ terrorists, by the Israeli and American attack on Iranian nuclear and regime facilities, and by the victory of ‘democratic socialist’ BDS supporter Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. Taboos about nominal Israel support as a matter of local politics have been broken, as have taboos regarding overt expressions of antisemitic hatred in politics as well as culture. Performances at the annual Glastonbury music festival in the UK featured antisemitic performers already under sanction for waving Hezbollah and Hamas flags and now with chants of “Death to the IDF.” Expressing and excusing hatred of Israel and Jews, personified by the ‘IDF’ is also now a mandatory progressive mantra and means to exclude Jews from society. Antisemitic violence has also been normalized as a political expression, fomented if not licensed by politics in various cities, and to oppose it is deemed ‘Islamophobic.’ ‘Palestine’ now enables the various fusions of Communism and Islam that are bidding for political and cultural power in the West.

Attacks/Protests

BDS and antisemitism in June were dramatically reshaped by unfolding US-Israel war against Iran, and by expanding unrest in the US aimed at the Trump Administration’s enforcement of immigration laws. The US attack against Iranian nuclear sites raised fears of Iranian backed terrorism directed against Jews and Jewish institutions to even higher levels.

In the case of street protests over immigration enforcement and then Iran, the same networks which had mobilized against Israel in 2023-2024 have been focused against the Trump Administration. These include pro-Hamas organizations such as National Students for Justice in Palestine, the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and Within Our Lifetime, which have urged their members to join protests. Protests in Los Angeles and other cities against immigration enforcement prominently featured Mexican, Palestinian, Hamas and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine flags as well as slogans like “Death to the occupation, from the West Bank to LA.”

The near complete overlap between pro-Hamas, anti-Trump, and now pro-Iran protestors, in terms of street operatives and funders, also demonstrates the role of foreign backed networks such as the Party for Socialism and Liberation, ANSWER Coalition, and the Singham network which includes Code Pink and The People’s Forum.

The national ‘No Kings’ protests were funded in part by the Arabella Advisors network, a key component of a larger Democratic Party dark money operation along with funds provided to non-profits by the Environmental Protection Agency in the last days of the Biden Administration. Large scale protests in support of Iran were also reported in various cities such as London organized by the Iranian backed Islamic Human Rights Commission in association with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Individual attacks included:

• In Boulder (CO) an Egyptian illegal immigrant, Mohammed Sabry Soliman, shouted “death to Zionists” as he doused a group of elderly Jewish marchers with flammable liquid, setting several on fire;
• A brick with the words “Free Palestine” thrown through the window of a kosher supermarket in Brookline (MA);
• On Long Island (NY) three Jewish owned businesses were vandalized in one night and a Jewish center was vandalized with a banner reading “50,000 dead Gazan children”;
• The windows of a Jewish-owned cafe in San Francisco were smashed and vandalized with “Intifada,” “Death 2 Israel is a Promise” and “Die Zionist.” Several assaults of Jewish individuals were also reported in San Francisco;
• In Ohio Jewish Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) was the target of a driver who attempted to run him off the road while yelling ‘death to Israel’ and waving a Palestinian flag. “Northeast Ohio man” Feras Hamdan was arrested;
• In Britain terrorists from the Palestine Action group broke into an RAF base and vandalized aircraft. The organization, which is suspected of being Iranian-funded, was then finally proscribed as a terrorist group by the British government sparking massive and violent street demonstrations. A pro-Israel counter-protestor, whom the London police chief complained was “damned stupid,” was threatened with arrest;
• A Holocaust memorial and synagogue in Paris were vandalized as was a Holocaust memorial in Ottawa. An unnamed city employee was later arrested and charged;
• A Melbourne synagogue was vandalized twice in the same week with “Iran is da bomb” and “Free Palestine”;
• A group of more that 100 domestic terrorists attacked a Belgian defense factory and destroyed over $1 million of equipment thought intended for Israel. The equipment was actually intended for Ukraine.

A variety of incidents were reported on campuses including the destruction of a flower garden at the University of Michigan for which Pro-Hamas activists took responsibility, swastikas carved into the exterior of a building at Georgetown University, and spray-painted Hamas slogans at Williams College, the University of Portland, the University of Denver, and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

The conflict between Israel and Iran has also raised the potential of attacks against Americans and Jews. The FBI announced that it was increasing surveillance of of Iranian cells in the US over fears of attacks. The FBI also arrested 11 Iranian illegals on various charges including several with Hezbollah connections. In one case a pro-Israel summit in Dallas was canceled after organizers received “indirect and direct threats made by American, pro-Hamas, Jihadist groups, who issued calls to ‘target’ the Israel Summit and the private facility where the event was slated to be held.”

Underscoring the connections between Hamas and supporters in the West, freed hostage Shlomo Ziv reported that his captors had shown him images of protests at Columbia University and claimed that “You see, we have our own people everywhere,” and “that Hamas has an ‘army’ operating out of Gaza that focuses specifically on media and sending Hamas propaganda and messaging throughout America.”

Connections between Hamas and protestors at Columbia were also alleged in the Federal indictment of Tarek Bazrouk, who is being held on several charges of assault against Jewish individuals. Bazrouk is alleged to have been a member of a chat group that received updates from Hamas’s Al Qassam brigades spokesman.

Politics

The implications of Israel’s attack on the Iranian regime, and then the US destruction of Iranian nuclear sites, for global antisemitism and BDS are still being assessed. Prior to the US attack there was a large scale right wing messaging campaign from Qatari connected media figures such as former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, neo-Nazi influencers such as Nick Fuentes and Dave Smith, and organizations such as Defense Priorities which are associated with the Koch brothers. The messages of the campaign, ‘no war for Israel,’ ‘Israel has requested US help,’ and that US support for Israel’s attacks were a ‘betrayal of the MAGA movement,’ generated a mass of real and synthetic support on social media and elsewhere.

Officials criticized these claims, including President Trump himself in a message aimed directly at Carlson, who then explicitly advocated “dropping Israel.” The longer term impact on the ‘MAGA movement’ and on ‘isolationist’ factions of the broader Republican Party – if any– remains to be determined but splits appear increasingly unlikely.

Another influence campaign created a number of fake social media profiles, in one case an individual claiming to be an AIPAC lobbyist, which expressed cartoonishly overwrought support for Israel as a provocation against American Jews. The role of state actors, notably Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, and Qatar, in generating and funding antisemitism remains underappreciated.

Opposition to American participation in the campaign against Iran was also strongly expressed by the political left and progressives already inclined against Israel and the administration. Overall, an unusual alliance between the far left and far right has been engineered, both based on opposition to American involvement in foreign wars and by design, opposition to Israel itself.

Mainstream Democrats as a whole were restrained from expressing support for Israel and especially US action by their left wing who regarded action against Iran as “unconstitutional” and worthy of impeachment, albeit un unspecified grounds. This opposition contrasted with the wholehearted approval from major Jewish organizations which normally move in tandem with the party. Only a handful of Democrats such as Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) stood out for their willingness to express support for US action. Similarly, Democrats and far right Republicans including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) had split from Republicans over condemnation of the phrase “Free Palestine” in resolutions addressing the Boulder attack.

The problem of foreign students advocating for Hamas and other causes continues to dominate political discussions. A district judge in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction ruling that Harvard would be allowed to enroll foreign students. Columbia University pro-Hamas agitator Mahmoud Khalil was also ordered released by a federal judge over the objections of the government and before an immigration judge could rule on his case. In an indication where progressive Democrats stand on the issue, when Mamoud returned to New York City he was met by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Khalil returned immediately to anti-Israel agitation.

New State Department instructions also called for students’ social media to be scrutinized for “hostile attitudes toward our citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles.” Higher education industrial complex representatives complained this imposed a ‘political litmus test’ on foreign students and that it would slow vetting. A legal challenge to the policy was dismissed. The administration also instituted a ban on travel from twelve countries, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, with reports suggesting many more could be added.

In local politics, the landmark development was the victory of ‘democratic socialist’ Zohran Mamdani in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary. New York State assembly member Mamdani, son of an anti-Israel Columbia University professor and an Indian film director, former SJP organizer, and Democratic Socialist of America candidate, ran in the Democratic primary. The unusual ranked choice system asked voters to rank candidates, which included former New York State governor Andrew Cuomo and city comptroller Brad Lander.

Mamdani’s campaign had originally been regarded as a long-shot effort aimed primarily at invigorating the DSA. His victory had been predicted by a series of shock polls and the final results showed him relying heavily on white millennials, Muslims, and Asian voters while Cuomo performed well with black and Hispanic voters and those with less education.

Cuomo, widely unpopular for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and who resigned after sexual harassment scandals ran a “joyless and lackluster” campaign aimed at Trump. In contrast, Mamdani’s campaign was aimed at ‘affordability’ with promises to tax wealthy residents and corporations even more to pay for ‘free’ city services.

Mamdani’s support for ‘Palestine’ and BDS remained forthright throughout the campaign and demonstrated that the taboo of at least nominal Israel support from mayoral candidates has been broken. He had tried to reassure Jewish New Yorkers regarding claims that he would be a mayor for all residents.

But in the days prior to the election Mamdani’s support for ‘Palestine’ was expressed explicitly in his mendacious claim that “globalize the intifada” “is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights,” citing the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. This prompted condemnation from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

He had also expressed support for the BDS movement in remarks before the New York UJA Federation, calling it “consistent with my core of my politics, which is non-violence… in order to motivate that compliance at the state level, on an individual level,” claiming that Israel has a right to exist but not as an “ethnostate.” Mamdani has vowed to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he arrive in New York City and demanded that Cornell Tech, based on Roosevelt Island, should be boycotted because of its partnership with the Technion. Given his support for ‘defunding the police,’ platforms such as the Wall Street Journal have begun to openly question Mamadani’s potential commitment to using police to protect New York Jews.

Mamdani’s support from both millennials and Muslims was replete with overt antisemitism and reports indicated that his campaign had secretly received financial support from CAIR and out of state sources traced to the Muslim community in Dearborn (MI), as well as social media boosts from Qatari royal Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani.

But other statements show that Mamdani will now be subject to pressure from his own left wing. Pro-Hamas organizers such as Nerdeen Kiswani of Within Our Lifetime, complained that Mamdani had coopted part of the radical anti-Israel movement for his purposes. The Hamas group Unity of Fields also warned that Mamdani would betray his base and continue relations with Israel, saying “None of these campaign goals will materialize, and you all know it. There will be no rent freeze (lol). No fast busses, let alone free. Universal childcare, in NYC? Here’s what will happen: NYPD budget will go up. Entire blocks will be gentrified. And NYC will continue its investments and partnerships in israel. If you had memories longer than an election cycle you’d already know this.”

Nevertheless, Mamdani’s victory was hailed as being the specifically the product of his support for the ‘Palestine protest movement.’ The fact that Mamdani was success in heavily Jewish New York was also noted by Muslim leaders anxious to diminish Jewish political power. Nihad Awad, national executive director of CAIR, who posted in Arabic “A victory for Palestine and justice. Despite threats and Islamophobic campaigns, Zionist propaganda lost in its stronghold. Hope is renewed.” 

Pro-Hamas figures praised the victory with one stating “Consider the intifada globalized” while even more overt statements such as “Tomorrow we get the lists from Zohran and the round up begins” also appeared. BDS advocates praised his victory, claiming that it represented the defeat of the ‘pro-Israel machine’ and raising the possibility that his largely white and educated supporters saw this stance as a positive element of his candidacy, as well as the antisemitic street violence that has already skyrocketed in New York City. Conversely, criticism of Mamdani’s Muslim background and radical connections, as well as explicitly communist policies, is now automatically characterized as ‘Islamophobia’ including by mainstream media. 

The Mamdani candidacy proved that the red-green coalition of communists and Muslims is expanding in New York City and other urban areas, fueled by identity politics, generational and class resentment focused on precarious or downward social mobility (relative to credentials and self-expectations), and regards the Jewish community an impediment if not an enemy.

Breaking the taboo of at least nominal support for Israel from the presumptive mayor of the city with the world’s largest Jewish population is a watershed moment in American politics. ‘Anti-Zionism’ has now become acceptable and acts as a key class and generational symbol or ‘moral credential,’ licensed in part by Jewish anti-Zionism and explicitly highlighted and defended by mainstream platforms such as the New York Times.

The broader implications for the Democratic Party appears to be that it has failed at managing its radical left wing and will now be enticed to support insurgents. This appears to be occurring as leading New York Democrats like Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Sen. Chuck Schumer offered congratulations to Mamdani, while others, such as Reps. Ritchie Torres and George Latimer avoided comment.

Other senior New York Democrats expressed alarm at Mamdani’s explicitly anti-Israel ideology. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) called on Mamdani to denounce the slogan “globalize the intifada” while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) stated that “‘Globalizing the intifada,’ by way of example, is not an acceptable phrase, and he’s going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward.” Various editorial boards explicitly warned that Mamdani’s economic proposals were utterly unworkable with a few pointing out the local implications of his attitudes towards Israel. 

For his part incumbent Mayor Eric Adams – who will now run against Mamdani as an independent in November – signed an executive order adopting the IHRA definition and urged the far left City Council to make the definition law.

Nationally the Mamdani nomination will energize similar coalitions in urban areas already dominated by the Democratic Party and which have formally targeted Israel in city councils and school boards. The party’s increasing elderly national leadership, including minority leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, which has struggled to prevent local DSA takeovers will also be challenged. How these factors will translate into Republican gains remains to be seen. Most observers conclude, however, that progressive hostility to Israel and Jews will further undermine Jewish support for the Democratic Party. It is unclear if this is a concern for the party, particularly given the rapid rise of Muslims and ‘democratic socialists’ in American politics. 

The older leadership, still stinging from the Biden defeat, appears concerned that American Jews are expressing their misgivings. The extent to which Jews are being blamed for the travails of the Democratic Party was reflected in remarks from strategist James Carville, who stated that Jewish donors to institutions like Columbia who raised issues of antisemitism and the party’s lack of responses actually “just want your fucking tax cut.” In early 2024 Carville had preemptively blamed Israeli Prince Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a then possible Biden defeat. His comments were noted primarily by Jewish and conservative media, signaling that overtly antisemitic statements regarding Jewish perfidy and greed are becoming baseline notions on the left.

In the international sphere, the conflict with Iran has placed European leaders in a difficult situation of simultaneously opposing Iranian nuclear weapons and reflexive opposition to any Israeli action.

At one extreme German Chancellor Frederich Metz stated regarding Iran that it was ‘dirty work Israel is doing for all of us.’ At another extreme Dutch opposition leader and green/labor party leader Frans Timmermans stated that his country should launch a total arms embargo against Israel include Iron Dome components on the theory that since Israeli society democratically elected the Netanyahu government, it had lost the moral right to self-defense. Timmermans is a candidate for prime minister in October’s snap elections.

More broadly, a review by the European Union, based on the work of EU funded ‘human rights’ NGOs, claimed to find numerous Israeli breaches of human rights in Gaza. The finding has triggered calls for sanctions and suspension of trade and other agreements from a bloc led by Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, and others.

The extent of penalties are subject to agreement by European powers with Spain’s Socialist Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares asking the EU Council to suspend the European Union’s association agreement with Israel. Germany, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Lithuania, and Greece blocked the EU-wide measure leaving open the possibility of individual state sanctions.

Meanwhile, the Irish government introduced long-anticipated legislation to ban trade with Israeli ‘settlements.’ While direct trade is very low, the move brings into question Ireland’s relationship with multinational corporations which do business with Israel and with the US Government, which has indicated willingness to sanction states that boycott Israel. The Irish deputy premier also vowed to pressure other European countries to adopt similar bans. For its part, a Scottish Member of Parliament warned that an independent Scotland would sever all ties with Israel.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric announced a similar ban on ‘settlement’ goods and the withdrawal of that country’s military attache from Israel. Chile, which has the largest Palestinian population in Latin America, has realigned itself with left wing regimes in the hemisphere and with Iran.

The European efforts to punish Israel came after Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Norway sanctioned Israeli security minister Itamar Ben Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich in a coordinated effort. The US condemned the move which observers noted was largely performative. A French led effort to convene an international conference to declare support for a Palestinian state was also proposed and hastily canceled after US opposition.

In Britain Muslim activists agitating for ‘Palestine’ continue to reshape local and national politics through intimidation and violence. Weekly anti-Israel protests have proceeded every weekend since October 7th and center pro-Hamas, Islamic and now pro-Iran rhetoric. Structural changes to politics have also increased, such as the proposal to pair the London borough of Brent with the West Bank city of Nablus, which would entail propagandizing cultural exchanges.

Specific examples of violence also continue to expand. In one case a Labour Party parliamentarian, Luke Charters, was attacked by pro-Hamas protestors who threw canned goods at him in the street and yelled “Labour, Labour, genocide.” Protestors later blockaded his offices.

University Administrations

Universities and colleges continue to reel from the Trump Administration’s funding cutbacks and threatened restrictions of foreign students. The higher education industrial complex’s dependence on the twin supports of federal funding and foreign students, as the domestic supply of students begins to shrink, has exposed its fragility and many have announced sweeping budget cuts and layoffs as well as price increases. While state allocations to public universities have been cut, private universities have yet to face additional pressures such as increased endowment taxes. Among those announcing cuts and layoffs was Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government which been dominated by programs serving Chinese students – to the extent that Chinese Communist Party officials call it their “party school” – has created particularly bad publicity.

Many universities which provided bridge funding to researchers have now begun to scale back support. Efforts to solicit corporate and private funding have increased. In one case Harvard University has turned to a Turkish private equity firm to fund a lab while Georgetown University continues to expand its dependence on Qatari donations, which includes ownership and operation of the School of Foreign Service in Doha. Yale University reportedly has begun to sell of its holdings in private equity in order to raise cash.

Other universities and consortia have sued to have new indirect funding cuts revoked, and another court ruled that the National Institutes of Health must restore funding to a number of DEI and LGBTQ grants that had been terminated, calling the administration’s move “racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community.” Yet another judge ruled that the administration had no power to bar international students from Harvard.

Reports also suggest that the administration’ negotiations with both Harvard and Columbia are advancing. A series of comments from President Trump stating that a deal with Harvard was possible soon and similar remarks from Secretary of Education Linda McMahon regarding a consent decree with Columbia suggested that the enormous conflict could be resolved. The parameters of any deals remain unclear but it appears that with enormous financial pressure and reputational losses that universities are under unprecedented pressure. In another move, new proposals from a consortium of universities to Congress would increase transparency regarding non-research related costs previously covered under indirect costs which would be incorporated as fixed percentages of a research grant or project budget.

The administration’s losses in district courts over its ability to restrict foreign students and funding may also be pressuring it to compromise. Formal mechanisms to nominally protect Jewish students from harassment and intimidation are likely to be part of any agreement. How race and gender based discrimination in employment and research priorities might be handled is unclear. Harvard’s hiring practices are currently being investigated by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Consistent with the administration’s emphasis on antisemitism, universities continue to resolve outstanding suits brought by students. Columbia settled a case brought by a Jewish student against its school of social work, a particular hotbed of anti-Israel and antisemitism bias. The suit alleged that faculty had refused Sabbath observance accommodations for the student and ultimately pressured her to leave the school. Columbia’s settlement came as it released its third report on antisemitism which included data claiming that in 2023-2024 “a majority of our Jewish students felt they were not accepted here because of their religious identity.”

Elsewhere universities have been confronted to take action to prevent the appearance of supporting antisemitic protests. Goldsmiths, University of London, published a long-awaited report documenting the extent of antisemitic harassment aimed at students and faculty. The independent report took three years to complete and does not name individuals responsible but some indication was given when a number of organizations withdrew from engaging with the inquiry charging that it “marginalizes Palestinians.”

The University of Toronto Governing Council was presented with an irregular motion that proposed included banning encampments and adopting the IHRA definition. Members of the council overwhelmingly rejected the proposals. University representatives apologized for letting a culture of antisemitism develop.

Efforts to reign in anti-Israel faculty and academic units have also been mixed. At Brown University the notorious Center for Middle East Studies, a nexus of pro-Hamas activity and provider of K-12 resources, will become an independent unit. But at Harvard Divinity School the ‘Religion and Public Life’ program, equally notorious for its hostility toward Israel and enthusiasm for Hamas, has been dismantled.

In contrast to ambiguous moves on the part of American institutions, universities in Europe continue to embrace BDS and anti-Israeli politics. Queen’s University in Ireland announced that it was following the example of Trinity College Dublin and ending all investment in Israeli companies and academic ties with Israeli universities. Increasingly European academics point to the attendance of students who have served in the military at Israeli universities as a rationale for boycotts.

Faculty

With the summer break underway faculty members are assessing the extent of damage to their institutions and professions caused by the Trump Administration’s funding cuts and threats to foreign students. As key universities such as Harvard and Columbia inch toward concessions to administration demands, faculty members find themselves caught between their self-imposed cultural requirement to ‘resist’ Trump and the need to restore Federal funding.

Faculty members everywhere are now faced with the possibility of reduced influence as shared governance scaled back and as programs are cut. States have also begun to introduce post-tenure reviews or eliminate tenure altogether for faculty Manipulation of tenure committees by radical anti-Zionist faculty members has long been a method to undermine and the purge departments of pro-Israel scholars.

In a related development, a Federal court ruled that Columbia’s American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers chapter did not have standing to sue the Trump Administration over cuts to research funding.

More evidence also continues to emerge regarding both the overall faculty support for pro-Hamas protests as well as individual cases of harassment and intimidation. One new lawsuit alleges that well known Israel hater, MIT professor Michel DeGraff, targeted Israeli graduate students with social media and letter writing campaigns which resulted in the students being harassed by strangers.

The intensity of antisemitic hatred among some faculty, particularly Muslims, was illustrated in Britain where Middlesex University lecturer Tarek Younis demanded that “our work isn’t done until all Zionists are removed from our institutions and shamed, alongside all racists, into nothingness.” Younis also participated in a legal effort by Muslim lawyers to remove Hamas from the list of terror groups.

Another example came at the University of Sydney where biology instructor Fahad Ali was investigated by the police after stating on social media “Fuck sanctions, I want Zionists executed like we executed Nazis.” A class action lawsuit has also been filed against the University of Sydney over explicit support for Hamas from other faculty members.

In an American example, well-known Israel opponent Jonathan Brown, chair of Georgetown University’s Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies and Alwaleed bin Talal chair of Islamic Civilization in the School of Foreign Service, called on Iran to conduct a “symbolic strike” against American forces in the Gulf region. The university administration claimed it was “appalled” by the statement.

Students

BDS and anti-Israel activity on campus has diminished for the summer as activists participate in pro-Hamas, pro-Iran, and anti-Trump street protests. Several hunger strikes have ended including at Stanford University while others have been launched but the strategy attracted little attention this past academic year. As if to illustrate the intersectional nature of opposition, BDS and Mamdani supporter, actor Cynthia Nixon announced that her transgender child has begun a hunger strike “for Gaza” along with other members of ‘Jewish Voice for Peace.’ Nixon herself claims to have participated in a two day hunger strike in November 2023.

Student-led disruptions occurred at the UCLA commencement while at the MIT commencement Jewish students angrily walked out during the class president’s speech accusing Israel of ‘genocide.’ Students also protested outside a University of Illinois “The Sustainability and Research Innovation Congress” demanding divestment from fossil fuels and Israel and decrying ‘genocide.’

Legal efforts against student unions that support BDS and Hamas are also continuing. A suit filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Jewish Cornell University graduate students against the graduate student union and its United Electrical parent allege harassment after their claims that being forced to support the unions constituted religious discrimination.

Finally, responding to the strikes on Iran, and in another illustration that the ‘Palestinian cause’ is a stalking horse for broader anti-American and anti-Western movements, the National Students for Justice in Palestine attacked the US and Israel saying “The unprovoked attacks the US and the Zionist entity have launched against Iran prove only one thing: imperialism in the region will not stop at suffocating Palestine. From Iraq to Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and now Iran, the Empire [sic] demands constant expansion and destabilization.”

Economics/Professions

In the economic sphere, even prior to the Iran conflict Israeli defense firms were reporting record sales and profits. In parallel, with European rearmament underway, concerns have risen among European firms regarding regulations dictating local production which is challenged by Israeli competition. Observers noted that Israeli sales, which are expanding despite formal European boycotts, both give Israel leverage and set up potential confrontations with competitors.

It is against these backdrops, as well as that of the ongoing Gaza war, that France suddenly barred Israeli manufacturers from exhibiting “offensive” weapons at the Paris Air Show. Black partitions were suddenly erected around exhibitions overnight. A court had ruled against Palestinian groups which had demanded Israelis be barred from the show but the decision came from the General Secretariat for Defense and National Security, which is part of the Prime Minister’s remit. Another court rejected an Israeli appeal stating the question was exclusively a governmental decision. Israeli firms, however, reported the incident provided excellent publicity and that business was brisk.

The French move came after Spain abruptly canceled another arms deal with Israel and French dockworkers refused to unload a ship bound for Israel, alleging the cargo would contribute to ‘genocide’ in Gaza. Serbia also announced a halt to arms exports after the Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, possibly as a result of Iranian threats.

In the domestic sphere, a new report indicates that American Jews are experiencing a wave of workplace hostility, discrimination and layoffs in a variety of sectors including high tech and medicine. Many incidents result from complaints initiated by Muslim employees against Jewish colleagues. The reports complement others which note how psychological trauma after October 7th of Israeli expatriates and American Jews are invalidated by therapists who ignored and dismissed patients’ experiences or were mocked and told their feelings were wrong.  

Localized boycotts of Israeli goods were also instituted in Britain by the member owned Co-op Group supermarket along with goods from Russia, Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, Libya and Syria. An Italian Co-op chain also removed some Israeli products while Israeli exporters reported silent boycotts from German supermarket chains attributed to fear of protests over ‘Gaza.’

The question of Israel boycotts also reemerged in the Park Slope Food Co-op board of directors election where the “PSFC Members for Palestine” ran for two available seats. The organization has long been the target of ‘Palestine’ supporters and many reports of harassment and intimidation of pro-Israel members has resulted in Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) calling for a city investigation.

The increasing domination of the global medical profession by Muslim and left wing physicians whose primary concern is ‘Palestine’  is increasing. This was demonstrated at the British Medical Association’s annual meeting, where 45 motions out of 467 dealt with Gaza, Palestine or antisemitism, with none related to Sudan or Ukraine. Estimates suggested that the conference also spent 10% of its time discussing ‘Palestine.’ Resolutions accused Israel of ‘genocide’ and demanded the boycotting of Israeli institutions, individual physicians, economic sanctions, and a ‘tax rebellion’ against the British state for its ‘support’ of Israel.

As antisemitism within medical professions have been highlighted, pro-Hamas supporters in the West have complained that criticism of their tendentious and often ludicrous claims constitutes violations of ‘academic freedom.’

Culture

In the cultural sphere, the charge of ‘genocide’ continue to proliferate, having moved from far left to center left media such as New York Magazine. Efforts to highlight false narratives are paralleled in broader media parallel those stemming from pro-Hamas domination of Wikipedia editing. There, in addition to well-documented conspiracies to edit pages and distort Israeli and Zionist history, a new initiative was exposed which uses Wikipedia’s internal mechanisms to eliminate a page documenting Iran’s eliminationist policies towards Israel.

Another part of the echo chamber, social media accounts that endlessly repeat anti-Israel and anti-Western talking points was revealed when some dozens of pro-Scottish independence Twitter/X accounts suddenly went dark after the internet blackout caused by Israeli airstrikes on Iran. The accounts were responsible for hundreds of thousands of posts and at least 4% of social media discourse on Scottish independence in 2024. It is therefore certain that Iranian operations account for some of the greatly larger number of social media accounts opposed to Israel.

As has become common, another group of British celebrities has signed an open letter demanding that country halt arms sales to Israel.

Finally, in another sign that the music industry is a vanguard of fashionable anti-Israel sentiment, Irish rap group Kneecap headlined the annual Glastonbury music festival. A representative of Palestine Action was also given the opportunity to speak to the crowd during Kneecap’s Glastonbury performance. The lesser known band achieved notoriety when it projected messages such as “fuck Israel” during a New York performance and waved Hezbollah flags at performances in Britain, leading to police investigations. Festival organizers stated the group was welcome despite the controversy.

Immediately prior to Kneecap’s performance the punk duo ‘Bob Vylan’ led chants of “free free Palestine” and “Death to the IDF.” Unlike Kneecap, the duo was live-streamed by the BBC. Several other performers also mentioned ‘Palestine’ in their sets and accused Israel of genocide.

The political response to the performance was immediate, with local police promising that ‘video evidence would be examined’ and condemnations from various political figures. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the “appalling hate speech” and demanded explanations from the BBC.

The festival organizers issued an apology saying the chants had “Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.” The BBC noted that “Some of the comments made during Bob Vylan’s set were deeply offensive” and stated that the performance would not be available online.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting, however, condemned the performance as “appalling” and added:

• “I’d also say to the Israeli embassy, get your own house in order in terms of the  conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank.”So, you know, I  think there’s a serious point there by the Israeli embassy I take seriously. I wish  they’d take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously.”
• “But the way in which Israel’s conducting this war has made it extremely difficult for Israel’s allies around the world to stand by and justify. In fact, we’ve got to do   the opposite as an international community, which is to challenge and urge a  change, of course”.

In contrast, American rapper Azealia Banks stated that she had canceled performances in Britain after organizers pressured her to say “free Palestine.” Banks has taken a strong stance in support of Israel and criticized Palestine supporters for their endorsement of Muslim violence and racism saying “no black person should be supporting Palestine.” Israeli-Persian singer and actor Liraz Charhi also reported similar demands from international music promoters for “free Palestine” messaging.

The Glastonbury and Banks incidents demonstrate that taboos regarding calls for overt violence against Jews have been broken. Previously confined to campuses, the new form of progressive social cohesion based on ‘anti-Zionism,’ antisemitism, and threats of violence – founded on Holocaust inversion, racist accusations of ‘white privilege’ and a hierarchy of oppression, anti-colonialism, and intersectionality that demands “Palestine is the issue” to which loyalty must be pledged, especially by Jews, at the risk of being purged or incurring violence from ‘respectable’ society – has been fixed in broader culture and politics.