Introduction.
With the academic year concluded the focus of anti-Israel activity has shifted to street protests against individuals and institutions deemed ‘Zionist.’ There is no longer a clear distinction made between ‘Zionist’ and ‘Jew,’ with the former term thrown at anyone deemed supportive of Israel. The central place of ‘Palestine’ in far left politics makes the elimination of Israel the linchpin of anti-Westernism and anti-capitalism, pursued by anarchist, communist, and Muslim groups alike. The hints of a pushback against these politics from universities trying to regain control of campuses and narratives, and voters rejecting at least some progressive candidates are hopeful signs, as are splits between extremist groups who now deem progressives as insufficiently radical about Israel and Jews. But deep domination by anti-Israel activism of educational institutions and staff levels makes a return to centrist politics difficult.
Analysis.
Protests.
Street protests targeting Jews and Jewish institutions, and institutions deemed supportive of Israel, escalated in June and were characterized by threats of violence and antisemitic rhetoric. Among the most notable incidents was a Los Angeles march by keffiyah clad and masked protestors organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement and Code Pink which surrounded a local synagogue hosting an Israel real estate fair. After a standoff the protestors attacked journalists and Jews who had mobilized to protect the synagogue.
The confrontations spilled over into the surrounding Jewish neighborhood where a number of Jews were beaten and sprayed with mace. Reports indicate Los Angeles police, who had been warned about the event, were initially instructed to stand down and then protected protestors and prohibited Jews from entering the synagogue. Several injuries and one arrest were reported. The protest was the second outside a Los Angeles synagogue in a week. Pro-Hamas protests in Jewish neighborhoods and synagogues have become routine in Toronto and throughout Britain.
President Biden condemned the Los Angeles attack without naming the perpetrators as did Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass and other local politicians including governor Gavin Newsom, all within a 30 minute period. The protests were defended by anti-israel activists and the ACLU on the grounds that the real estate fair was “political activity.”.
In another egregious example, protestors from the communist/Islamist group Within Our Lifetime in New York City besieged an exhibition about the Nova music festival massacre of October 7. Police rushed the waiting viewers into the exhibition space while protestors lit flares and shouted ‘long live intifada’ and “Israel go to hell.” The march began in Union Square where protestors unfurled “the Zionists are not Jews and not humans” and “Long live October 7th” banners and forcibly evicted a journalist identified as a “Zionist” from the site.
After the protest participants swarmed a subway car with one demanding ‘Zionists’ identify themselves. The protests were condemned by local and national politicians including mayor Eric Adams, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, and by deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates, who called the protests “horrifying behavior.”.
In Los Angeles another violent protest was held outside a theater showing a documentary on the October 7 massacre and protestors also attempted to disrupt a Biden fundraiser attended by notables including former president Obama and other celebrities.
In another pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah protest, a two mile long group organized by the People’s Forum, Palestinian Youth Movement, and the Answer Coalition encircled the White House. Protestors shouted “We don’t want no two states, we’re taking back 48” and “kill another Zionist now” while vandalizing local monuments with slogans including “Death to Amerikkka,” “Death to Israel,” “Death to Zionists,” and “Al-Qasam make us proud. Kill another soldier now.” No arrests were made and mainstream media reported only slogans such as ‘free Palestine.”.
Other public events have been co-opted by anti-Israel protests, notable gay pride parades. In Philadelphia the pride parade was blocked by anti-Israel protestors who shouted “Now, Now, Now, Now, Burn Israel to the ground.” The Washington D.C. and Denver pride parades were similarly disrupted. The Oklahoma Pride Alliance’s support for ‘free Palestine,’ however, caused a number of organizations to withdraw their sponsorships, which is an explicit goal of LGBTQ supporters of ‘Palestine.’.
In contrast, New York’s annual Israel Day parade saw record attendance, no violence, and muted anti-Israel protests.
Pro-Hamas activists continue to target private individuals, especially Jews, with allegations they support ‘genocide.’ In one June incident the homes of Brooklyn Museum trustees were vandalized by WOL activists with red paint, red triangles symbolizing Hamas targets and the words “blood is on your hands.” The home of the head of the board, Anne Pasternak, was painted with the words “White Supremacist Zionist.” The museum has been targeted repeatedly by pro-Hamas protestors, who have now attacked the institution for permitting arrests of protestors who took over part of the building.
Local politicians condemned the incident but a variety of commentators defending the vandalism as being not antisemitic and in coverage of the event the Associated Press excised the red triangles from their story and photographs. Unsurprisingly, far left publications including The New Republic denied the vandalism was antisemitic and condemned President Biden’s comments.
In another incident showing that left wing Democrats are becoming targets of pro-Hamas protests, the Queens home of Rep. Gregory Meeks was vandalized with red triangles and slogans including ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘blood on your hands.’.
As if to demonstrate the antisemitic motivation several synagogues were vandalized with ‘free Palestine’ including in New York while protestors outside of Los Angeles synagogues chanted ‘intifada,’ intifada.’ At least fifty in Florida synagogues received bomb threats while in Montreal shots were fired at several Jewish schools and businesses.
Among the official responses to escalating pro-Hamas violence have been calls to reinstate mask bans which had been aimed at the Ku Klux Klan. New York State governor Kathy Hochul, New York City mayor Eric Adams, and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass spoke in favor, while the ACLU and ‘civil liberties’ advocates expressed opposition.
The identification of all Jewish institutions with Israel and ‘Zionist’ with ‘Jew’ reveals the antisemitic logic behind anti-Israel protests. The association of Jews with capitalism also partially explains the position of communist and Antifa support for Hamas. The role of groups like Amnesty which have been shown to hire individuals for anti-Israel protests, suggests that a broad swarth of the NGO sector is institutionally biased against Jews and Israel.
Students.
With the semester ended student protests on campus have receded significantly but in some cases violence has escalated sharply. Most notably a group calling itself “Marilyn’s Daughters” took credit for three firebombings on the University of California at Berkeley campus in “in retaliation for UCPD’s violent assaults on vulnerable student demonstrators and to punish the university of kkkalifornia system for supporting the genocidal Zionist-Israel entity.” The Columbia University Jewish Voice for Peace chapter expressed support for the perpetrator.
Two construction sites and a police car were burned. An Antifa-connected Northwestern graduate with a Ph.D. was arrested in connection with the attacks. He had been previously arrested for assault at a women’s rights event in 2023 along with other Antifa and transgender activists. The university has been riled by protests over Israel and local construction projects. Anarchist protests also claimed another arson attempt against the Oakland Federal Building.
Efforts were made to disrupt remaining campus activities. At Columbia University an encampment was set up to harass attendees at alumni weekend. At Stanford University a some 300 students walked out of commencement. This was after protestors occupied and vandalized the Stanford president’s office and 13 arrests were made. At Cambridge University the Senate House was splattered with red paint to protest the university’s ‘inaction on genocide.’.
Building takeovers also occurred at Cal State Los Angeles and Oregon State University. At Cal State the takeover trapped a number of staff members inside the building including the president and vandalism was widespread. In the aftermath the university president stated “I am committed to doing everything we can to ensure this will never be allowed to repeat. I cannot and would not protect anyone who is directly identified as having participated in last night’s illegal activities from being held accountable.” No arrests have been made.
University and local authorities continue to take little or no action against protestors. Notably, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg dropped almost all charges against students and others arrested for taking over a building at Columbia University. His office claimed that since students were masked and had covered video cameras that it was difficult to determine who was responsible for the extensive vandalism of the building. Charges were also dropped against students and others arrested at a City University of New York protest.
Harassment of Jewish students and campus organizations remained steady in June. The University of Southern California Chabad house and the University of Minnesota Hillel building were vandalized. Student for Justice in Palestine (SJP) remains at the forefront of targeting Jews on campus. At the University of Pittsburgh the SJP chapter demanded among other things that the Hillel chapter be banned from campus for its support of ‘Zionism’ and that the university eschew the IHRA definition and adopt BDS.
Direct SJP protests were also held at the Baruch College Hillel which included banners stating “Hillel stands with genocide,” “It is right to rebel, Hillel go to hell,” and “Synagogue of Satan.” The masked protestors also wore Hamas and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) headbands.
Direct action against universities over their stances on Israel also continued in June. The strike by the UAW associated union representing 48,000 University of California graduate students was halted by a Superior Court judge. The union went on strike in ‘solidarity with Palestine’ and student encampments and demanded the university divest from Israel. The union claimed the restraining order quashed free speech rights while the university claimed the disruption over political issues violated the terms of the union contract.
Federal action against pro-Hamas protestors on campus has been limited to Department of Education investigations. In one recent case an investigation of Chapman University was launched after a complaint regarding death threats against Jewish students made by SJP members. In another the department announced that it had entered agreements with the University of Michigan and City University of New York after investigations showed they failed to address complaints of discrimination from Jewish and Muslim students. Both schools announced that they would be ‘updating policies’ and undertaking ‘trainings.’.
The reputations of many educational institutions have been tarnished by anti-Israel and antisemitic protests, leading to demographic and economic impacts. In response to the harassment and intimidation, reports now indicate that Jewish students have begun to transfer out of institutions including Columbia University, Northwestern University, and Occidental College. Transfers into Yeshiva University have also increased tremendously.
A sharp decline in enrollment at Emerson College, where pro-Hamas protestors clashed violently with police, will also reportedly cause staff and faculty to be laid off. Pro-Hamas students nevertheless promise to expand their ‘activism’ in the fall semester which will coincide with the US presidential election. The centrality of ‘Palestine’ as a unifying ideology for the anti-Israel and anti-American movement and its support for terrorism or ‘armed resistance’ and marxist revolution suggests that the fall semester will be disrupted by violence.
At the same time, arrested students have routinely demanded that criminal and administrative charges be dropped. Observers have warned that white collar employers such as law firms are likely to look askance on extremism disguised as ‘activism.’ Reports also show that pro-Hamas students have tried to cast ‘activism’ as an asset and have a proven record entering the legal profession, especially at the local level, and the NGO pipeline.
Administrations.
University administrations remain under pressure from encampments and takeovers but some are showing signs of changing course to limit the damage caused by pro-Hamas protests.
One indication has been quietly walking back commitments to explore divestment from Israel as it became understood that the move would be difficult and painful for American universities. The outgoing president of Cornell University, Martha Pollack, rejected student demands for divestment and a ceasefire referendum, as did Interim University of Pennsylvania president Larry Jameson, the University of Massachusetts trustees reneged on a promise to discuss divestment, while the Amherst College and Occidental College trustees rejected divestment outright. Meanwhile the Simon Fraser University administration agreed to discuss divestment with students, and anti-Israel students were permitted to make a presentation on divestment to Brown University trustees.
Another indication of administrations changing course are formal announcements of institutional neutrality policies which would forestall controversies over statements in favor or against particular political situations. The Harvard University administration and Stanford University faculty senate adopted institutional neutrality policies in June. These follow statements from Vanderbilt University, Purdue University, Syracuse University, the University of North Carolina and other institutions.
Predictably, anti-Israel commentators have cast institutional neutrality as a defense of a status quo where universities profit from Israel’s “genocide.” Observers have also noted that universities continue to take stances on LGBTQ issues in apparent contravention of institutional neutrality policies. The moves towards institutional neutrality also come as more universities and states dismantle their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts that have been central to propelling campus antisemitism. Recent examples include Harvard University and the University of North Carolina system.
Several universities have also revised policies regarding encampments and vowed ‘zero tolerance’ for future disruptions. The University of Waterloo has also sued encampment participants for $1.5 million for damage “trespass, damage to property, intimidation, and ejectment.”.
The embarrassment caused by campus disruptions and by Congressional hearings has been cited as key prompts for changes in university policies. The University of Arizona Regents are also considering barring student groups from funding “foreign terrorist organizations,” a move that is appears aimed at Students for Justice in Palestine, while the University of Colorado regents condemned protests outside the homes of two member and hate speech including “globalize the intifada.”.
Punishment of students who participated in illegal encampments and other activities also emerged in June. Harvard University put ten graduate students on probation, and the University of Texas has initiated disciplinary proceedings against dozens of students and will be withholding transcripts in the interim.
University embarrassment was compounded in June by reports from the antisemitism and ‘Islamophobia’ task forces at Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia University.
The Stanford task force detailed the overt and subtle hostility facing Jewish students from faculty and students alike and noted “The most common manifestation of antisemitism in student life the imposition of a unique social burden on Jewish students to openly denounce Israel and renounce any ties to it.” A parallel report on campus Islamophobia, however, criticized the university’s alleged restrictions on free speech, opposed calls for civil discourse as being unfair, demanded more Muslim, Arab and Palestinian students and faculty, and expressed support for anti-Zionist Jews.
The Harvard University task force similarly found pervasive discrimination against Israeli and Jewish students, lack of action by the administration, and that “extracurricular student life is now characterized by political litmus tests.” The recommendations, however, were anodyne and including ‘training,’ ‘constructive dialogue,’ and kosher hot lunches. The Islamophobia task force recommended dedicated prayer spaces and “changing the task force’s name to include anti-Palestinian bias.” Jewish students, alums and others expressed disappointment that the recommendations did not address faculty involvement in anti-Israel bias.
The Columbia task force has not issued a formal report but an informal statement and news reports indicate a pattern of abuse directed at Jewish and Israeli students which intensified after October 7 including physical and verbal harassment, overt hostility from faculty members expressed in the classroom, and the deliberate blurring of ‘Zionist’ with ‘Jew.’ The task force noted that ‘Zionists’ were routinely excluded from campus life, meaning that Jews had to repudiate part of their identity as the price for participation.
A final embarrassment were reports that three Columbia University administrators had texted each other obnoxious and disrespectful comments such as “lol” and vomit emojis during a campus panel on antisemitism. The three administrators were later put on leave. Their insensitive behavior, which had the misfortune to be observed by a journalist, provides some context to Harvard Dean of Science Lawrence Bobo’s much ridiculed opinion piece which stated “A faculty member’s right to free speech does not amount to a blank check to engage in behaviors that plainly incite external actors — be it the media, alumni, donors, federal agencies, or the government — to intervene in Harvard’s affairs.”.
A number of signs in June indicate the donor class remains unconvinced that universities have changed course. Former University of Pennsylvania donor David Magerman has gifted $1 million to the Jerusalem College of Technology with the promise to give to other Israeli institutions. An anonymous Columbia University graduate also gave $260 million to Bar Ilan University. Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and former Columbia University donor, has given $1 million to Yeshiva University for a program aimed at students transferring into the institution.
Whether universities will receive the message from Jewish donors or from students remains unclear. A new report showing that since 1980 American universities have received over $13 billion in Arab funding, the purpose of which is mostly unknown, suggests that direct leverage by American donors may be limited.
European and other foreign universities, however, continue to yield to anti-Israel students and faculty. At University College Cork BDS supporters have demanded the university bar an Israeli company from a research project while the faculty senate at the University of Palermo suspended an exchange program with Israeli universities and committed to not undertaking new projects. The move was criticized by Italian politicians. A Dutch art school also cut ties with an Israeli institution after student protests.
The University of Helsinki announced it was suspending all student exchange programs with Israeli universities, while the Vrije Universiteit Brussels announced a partial boycott. The University of Sydney reached an agreement with a Muslim student group to review investments in Israel and to expand support for Palestinian students and scholars. In a sign that some universities have reached their breaking point, however, the pro-Hamas encampment at Oxford University was abruptly dismantled.
Faculty.
Faculty members continue to lead the anti-Israel movement on campus. Collective statements of support for BDS, such as at Kings College London, continued as did individual expressions of antipathy toward Israel, such as the signature of Harvard University’s ‘Islamophobia task force’ head on a statement supporting the “Palestinian liberation struggle.” An attempted boycott of an Israeli scholar by the journal Cultural Critique was reported, in contravention of university and state regulations, reports emerged in June of attempts to shape faculties against Israel through appointments and dismissals.
In one strange incident a job offer was extended and then revoked by the University of Minnesota to Raz Segal, an anti-Israel professor and activist who had accused Israel of committing “a textbook case of genocide,” to head a ‘holocaust and genocide studies center.’ It appears that he will still be appointed to the faculty.
In another incident the University of California at Irvine fired an adjunct who had taught a popular course on Jewish texts and hired two full time faculty for the History Department and Jewish Studies program who are supporters of Israel boycotts. After a public outcry the humanities dean denounced the ‘misinformation campaign’ surrounding the appointments. The Irvine campus has been the scene of repeated antisemitic incidents with students singling out the History department as a center for anti-Israel bias.
Faculty support for anti-Israel students was highlighted by the events surrounding publication of a tendentious and absurd paper by the Columbia Law Review that alleged ‘nakba’ should be a new category in international law. After secretly soliciting and then circumventing the normal review process the paper was accepted. The board of directors then asked the student editors to delay posting the piece online leading to accusations of ‘censorship.’.
The student editors then published the piece and leaked the story to the media while the directors shut down the website. The piece was later published with a board disclaimer regarding the irregular process. The incident illustrated how student activists have helped subvert international law by controlling law reviews and surrounding discourse.
K-12.
As the K-12 school year ends attention remains focused on the centrality of ‘Palestine’ to teachers and teachers unions and to Arab, Muslim and left wing funding networks that have pushed it as part of ‘ethnic studies’ and other racialized concepts. Reports continue to show that a teachers group that has organized pro-Palestine walkouts in New York City schools is supported by the Tides Foundation and is closely aligned with anti-Israel and anti-policing groups. Other groups helping organize the school walkouts include NYC Educators for Palestine, the Palestine Youth Movement, Al-AWDA NY, Movement of MORE Rank-&-File Educators, and Desis Rising Up and Moving.
Similar walkouts were organized in San Francisco schools by the Tides-supported Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) and featured chants of “From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go,” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and “When Palestine is under attack, what do we do? (Stand up! Fight back). AROC has been an organizer of numerous anti-Israel activities in the region including port blockades and is a key supporter of the California ‘liberated ethnic studies’ curriculum which casts Jews as villains and Israelis as colonizers.
The direct support of anti-Israel activities by the New York City Department of Education was also shown by the fact that it had hired prominent BDS activist Debbie Almontaser to conduct ‘workshops’ on the Gaza war for teachers. Jewish teachers complained that the materials presented were deeply anti-Israel. Almontaser had resigned as principal of an Arab-focused city high school in 2007 and is the president of the Muslim Community Network which has helped organize pro-Hamas protests in the city.
The predictable targeting of Jews by teachers and parents reached its peak in June at a fifth grade commencement ceremony in Brooklyn when a Jewish family was physically attacked by an Arabic-speaking family shouting “Free Palestine!” “Gaza is Ours!” and “Death to Israel.”.
Criticism of antisemitic propaganda in K-12 education has been widespread and has occasionally forced teachers, unions and schools to cover up their activities. In one case the Portland Association of Teachers was forced to remove materials, including a coloring book which called Zionists ‘bullies’ and calls for students to pray for Palestine, from their website. The depth of anti-Israel materials, and the centrality of ‘Palestine’ in a matrix of all-pervasive oppression, from pre-K levels onward is stunning. The Portland materials include the themes of decolonization and settler colonialism, police abolition, and renewable energy.
More frequently criticism has come after anti-Israel events, as in the case of a Toronto Catholic high school where students were made to attend an assembly about Gaza featuring a Muslim physician who presented atrocity photos and asked about Gazan children, “When these children grow up, how do you expect them not to hate Israel?”.
A presentation made by teachers to high school students in the Fort Lee (NJ) Public School District which described Hamas as ‘armed resistance,’ the “Nakba” as “the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and near destruction of Palestinian society,” and the Gaza war as “genocide,” is another event criticized after the fact. The tendentiousness of the presentation was explicitly recognized by the teachers who confiscated students’ cellphones and warned in advance that it was “biased.”.
Fallout from anti-Israel and antisemitic presentations to elite private school students has forced the resignation of the head of the Collegiate School in New York, after he derided Jewish parents’ concerns. Similar problems have been noted at New York’s Ethical Culture Fieldston School and Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School – where students received a presentation on the Gaza war and Ukraine from the far left Peoples Forum – demonstrated that anti-Israel bias and antisemitism are pervasive in the private school industry.
In contrast, in response to rare expressions of support for Israel, schools have been accused of ‘white supremacy.’ In the case of the Cambridge (MA) Public Schools after the district issued an anodyne acknowledgment of the Hamas massacres in October, at least one teacher complained that this was support for “white supremacy over human rights.” This incident highlights the training of teachers at institutions such as Columbia University’s Teachers College which is completely shaped by DEI ideology that casts the world into binary terms of oppressors and oppressed and ‘anti-racism’ and which is promulgated by local and national organizations.
Critics of anti-Israel policies have also been targeted directly. In Manhattan a school critic, Maud Maron, was removed from a parents council by the system chancellor on the pretext that her comments on a pro-Hamas piece in a high school newspaper was “derogatory and offensive.” Maron has been a sharp critic of the city’s anti-Israel and pro-transgender policies. In contrast, anti-Israel teachers and consultants have been ignored or even rewarded, for example in the New York City public school system.
Most egregiously, efforts are being made by schools to institutionalize anti-Israel bias and Palestinian narratives in the guise of outlawing ‘anti-Palestinian racism.’ In the Toronto District School Board proposals were adopted in June to outlaw ‘anti-Palestinian racism.’ While the Toronto proposal was vague, other cases indicate that objecting to the Palestinian narrative of the ‘nakba,’ Palestinian descriptions of Zionist as ‘racism,’ and demands for Israel to be erased, are examples of ‘anti-Palestinian racism.’ In addition to now standard accusations of Islamophobia, recent complaints to the US Department of Education by Islamist groups against the Berkeley (CA) school district imply similar privileging of Palestinian students and the Palestinian narrative.
.
Politics.
The June primaries showed the pivotal place of Israel and antisemitism at all levels of American politics. In the most closely observed race in New York Westchester County Executive George Latimer defeated Squad member Rep. Jamaal Bowman by a large margin. Bowman had galvanized the Jewish community’s opposition with criticism of Israel including accusations of ‘genocide’ and support for BDS. Bowman had been targeted by AIPAC which reported spent $14.5 million to defeat him.
Latimer, an experienced Democratic centrist, ran on his long record and support for Israel while Bowman ran an indifferent campaign and railed against AIPAC. Bowman’s defeat suggests that the majority of Democratic voters regard unbridled opposition to Israel as a privileged class issue and a net negative for candidates. Far left advocates, however, continue to demand that ‘Palestine’ be placed at the center of all politics.
Another key test will come in August when Rep. Cori Bush faces a primary challenge in Missouri, and Rep. Debbie Wasserstein-Schultz (D-FL) is facing a challenge from a Jewish anti-Zionist. Squad member, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, however, who had campaigned with Bowman, won her primary easily.
Bowman’s defeat was welcomed by Democrats and Republicans alike. But the lead up to the primaries was also characterized by a split between progressives like Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez and communist/Islamist supporters, notably Nerdeen Kiswani and Within Our Lifetime (WOL), over their criticism of that organization’s antisemitic harassment of Jews at the Nova festival exhibition in New York City. Kiswani even reprimanded BDS group IfNotNow as well as Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who had stated that Hamas committed sexual violence in the 7 October attacks, with Kiswani saying the allegations were “lies used to manufacture consent for genocide.”.
The unbridled defenses of Hamas and attacks on progressive politicians who had leveraged support from now largely bankrupt Justice Democrats and the Democratic Socialists of America suggests groups like WOL have put ideological purity first and themselves beyond the pale for otherwise supportive politicians. These splits on the left may herald the return of centrist politics to the Democratic Party but for the continued domination of oppressor-oppressed ideology and Third Worldism within the American educational system as a whole.
The alliance of former Klan leader David Duke with white supremacist Nick Fuentes indicates that a new generation of far right antisemites has also solidified. Their expulsion from a Turning Points USA conference, however, suggests that their influence on right wing factions within the Republican Party is remains limited.
Anti-Israel politics at the local level continue to be pushed by staffers. In one example New York City Council staffers with the Association of Legislative Employees union issued a statement calling for the body to vote for a ceasefire. The union also endorsed another call for the city to divest from Israel Bonds and companies doing business with Israel. After pressure from Democratic Party officials action on the ceasefire resolution was indefinitely postponed.
In another example a Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives, Washington State Sen. Emily Randall, fired her campaign manager whose support for Hamas on social media was exposed.
A measure in the New York State legislature to ban donations to Israeli charities funding entities in the West Bank has wide support from Democratic Socialists of America backed state politicians as well as Squad member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
One measure of the increasing hostility towards Jews in local politics is that a debate in the New Jersey legislature on adopting the IHRA definition was canceled due to “safety concerns.”.
Internationally Israel will be a key issue in the upcoming British elections in which the Labour Party is highly favored. Labour leader Keir Starmer’s wavering promises to recognize Palestine if Labour is elected, and more unequivocally, numerous Labour and Green candidates running on platforms of support for ‘Gaza,’ demonstrate how Arab street politics, where ‘Palestine’ is tool to deflect criticism and rally support, has permeated Britain. These politics are also reflected in a massive upswing in violence directed against Israeli associated companies, with over 170 destructive vandalism efforts documented in a three year period.
Also in the international sphere the Maldives announced that it was banning Israelis from entering. After an outcry and calls for a boycott of the country by the Jewish community the Maldive government announced it was reconsidering. One consideration was apparently the fact that the edict as written banned Arab citizens of Israel in addition to Jews.
After Israel was rebuked by French president Macron a court ruled that Israeli exhibitors and individuals would be barred from an annual arms fair. This was quickly overturned by a higher court. Fears that Israel is being excluded from the international arms industry are belied by record setting exports in 2023 and backlogged orders.
Fears that Israel is becoming an international pariah in high tech, however, continue to be expressed even as outside investment remains steady. Google in particular continues to be targeted by activists including its own employees for its contract with the Israeli government but the company has now announced it will lease extensive new office space in Tel Aviv. Other companies have also leased extensive office space in tel Aviv.
Arts and Culture.
Anti-Israel bias continues to dominate and divide the various communities in the arts, with attacks from Palestinian supporters leading to sudden revocation of corporate support for festivals and other events. In Britain, Barclays has dropped support for music festivals after protests from artists regarding the firm’s alleged business relationship with Israel. Several festivals boycotted Barclays, which has been long targeted by the anti-Israel movement including recently vandalizing of branches around Britain.
Similarly, the investment firm Baillie Gifford ended its support for all book festivals in Britain after being attacked for its minor business links with Israel and alleged relationship with ‘fossil fuel.’ Critics note that continued attacks on corporate sponsors will undermine arts funding in Britain and jeopardize the existence of book festivals. A similar process is emerging in the US where the South by Southwest festival announced it would no longer accept support from the US Army or weapons companies after boycott threats from various bands.
The politicization of the literary world and overt hostility towards Israel is paralleled in the news media. Reports have shown that six members of the Washington Post’s foreign desk previously wrote for the Qatari propaganda outlet Al Jazeera and were among those responsible for the successful effort to thwart the incoming editor team and pressure owner Jeff Bezos.
The Post’s relentless hostile coverage of Israel and neglect of campus and broader antisemitism should be set against the background of the newspaper’s collapsing circulation and financial peril. The anti-Israel activism of the New York Times’ labor union head has attracted similar attention.
The politicization of Wikipedia, where a handful of anti-Israel editors have now elected to ban the ADL as a source, parallels that of media, albeit behind the fig leaves of anonymity and decentralization. The use of Wikipedia as a source for generative artificial intelligence training promises to expand and cement anti-Israel bias and antisemitism.
Elsewhere in the entertainment world more direct exclusions of Jews have emerged, such as the “Crit Award” gaming event which announced that “Individuals who identify as Zionists, promote Zionist material, or engage in activities that without a doubt support Zionism are not eligible for nomination.” The unknown group “Writers Against the War On Gaza” also announced a campaign to boycott the New York Times’ daily Wordle stating “we’re asking you to think of the Times as a cog in the American war machine, and of Games as a tooth on the cog. By breaking one tooth, we can impair the function of the whole machine.” The award event was later canceled.
Despite these and other efforts to dominate arts and culture for ‘Palestine’ a variety of incidents suggest these are soundly rejected by the public. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s ruthless and crowd pleasing putdown of protestors at an Australian performance and loud hostility of Baltimore Orioles fans to pro-Hamas protestors unfurling a flag at a game indicate that normal people are offended by the Palestinian domination of public space.
