Introduction

As the summer ends the landscape for Israel hatred and antisemitism has been reshaped. Thousands of protestors voiced their hatred of Israel on the streets of Chicago during the Democratic National Convention, their students counterparts have begun new campus disruptions, and faculty have seen their personal animosities validated as ‘academic freedom’ as the American Association of University Professors endorsed the concept of boycotts. Against the background of the continued wars against Israel and the presidential campaign, the classical “Jewish Question” of what Jews must give up, or be made to give up, in order to have a place in Western society, is front and center once again.

Analysis

BDS and anti-Israel activities continued throughout August.

Protests

Anti-Israel protests continued to escalate throughout August. Pro-Hamas protestors blocked the I-405 freeway in Los Angeles, vandalized AIPAC headquarters in Washington, D.C., vandalized elementary schools in Stamford (CT), and Bethesda (MD), and smashed the windows of a Ralph Lauren store in Manhattan. Patrons attending a showing of Fiddler on the Roof in London were harassed, as were children at a science museum in south London, the home of the executive editor of the New York Times, and Hezbollah and Hamas flags were waved at various demonstrations including those mourning Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Sporadic demonstrations against Israel were also held at the Paris Olympics.

Most seriously, an Israeli owned factory in Britain was again vandalized and a Jewish man in Brooklyn was stabbed by an individual yelling “free Palestine.” The individual was charged with attempted murder and a hate crime.

Another early sign of the contempt held by protestors for the current leadership of the Democratic Party was on display at a New York City fundraiser and afterparty for Vice President Kamala Harris attended by prominent city and state Democrats, which was disrupted by Within Our Lifetime and other anti-Israel groups. Protestors stormed the restaurant and were driven back by by riot police

The centerpiece of August protests were those held in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention by a coalition of hundreds of Islamic, Arab-American, Palestinian American, communist, anarchist, anti-American and other groups. They expressed strong support for Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis, as well as past and present totalitarian regimes including North Korea and Albania.

The Marxist-Leninist and Iran-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is a lynchpin to the coalition, which appeared to be organized by the US Palestinian Community Network and the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR). Other important organizers included BDS stalwarts including the PFLP aligned Samidoun, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), American Muslims for Palestine, Code Pink, the American Friends Service Committee, and the National Lawyers Guild.

Among the key funders are the Arab American Action Network, which is directed by USPCN leader Hatem Abudayyeh, the Arab American Institute, in addition to the Tides Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and other anti-Israel groups. The organizers praised the City of Chicago for facilitating permits for marches. In contrast, Jewish protestors were denied permits to march and were forced to assemble in a small private area.

Thousands of protestors were bused into Chicago for the convention. On the first full day barriers were torn down but the number of protestors appeared far below the tens of thousands anticipated. Bomb threats were the called in to hotels hosting delegates, American and Israeli flags were burned, the Israeli consulate was picketed, and dozens of arrests were made.

In contrast to other groups, Jewish groups were made to keep their locations secret. A session held by an Orthodox group was nevertheless disrupted by pro-Hamas protestors. A ‘Hostage Square’ was also set up on a private lots close to the convention site after being denied permits to use public space.

Overall the numbers and impact of the protestors were highly limited and far below expectations, in part by vigorous policing of the sort that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson had promised to eschew. This simultaneously demonstrated that policing pro-Hamas protests is possible, despite official denials after the summer’s earlier pro-Hamas rampages that featured violence and vandalism, and that convention organizers were acutely aware of the bad optics that would result from the promised 1968 style disruptions.

The eliminationist goals espoused by the protestors, along with their fundamental anti-American and anti-Western ideologies, form a fundamental challenge to the Democratic Party. Press accounts, however, emphasized the minimal turnout and bizarreness of the coalition and underplayed the seriousness of the messages and the movement.

At the same time media accounts presented the “Uncommitted” coalition – meaning Arab and Muslim voters – as having been disregarded by the Democratic Party. Whether the diminished numbers of protestors was a result of a quiet deal between organizers and the party is unknown. Concessions to the ‘uncommitted’ vote appear likely.

In Britain, which has been roiled by populist unrest against unrestricted immigration, Islamist imams blamed ‘Zionists’ for instigating what the government has called ‘right wing rioting.’ Despite widespread arrests of individuals for participating in the unrest and even for commenting on social media, no imams have been arrested, intensifying the growing accusations of two tier policing by the Labour government. 

Faculty

In the faculty sphere the most important anti-Israel development was a statement by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) endorsing academic boycotts. Without mentioning Israel the statement claimed:

• when faculty members choose to support academic boycotts, they can legitimately seek to protect and advance the academic freedom and fundamental rights of  colleagues and students who are living and working under circumstances that violate that freedom and one or more of those rights. In such contexts, academic  boycotts are not in themselves violations of academic freedom; rather, they can be considered legitimate tactical responses to conditions that are fundamentally  incompatible with the mission of higher education.

In this Orwellian logic boycotts that explicitly deprive others of their academic freedom are declared expressions of academic freedom or ‘neutrality.’ The statement goes on to claim that this right is unassailable:

• individual faculty members and students should be free to weigh, assess, and  debate the specific circumstances giving rise to calls for systematic academic  boycotts and to make their own choices regarding their participation in them. To  do otherwise contravenes academic freedom. Faculty members’ choices to support or oppose academic boycotts should not themselves be the basis of formal reprisal. While such choices may be criticized and debated, faculty members and students should not face institutional or governmental censorship or discipline for participating in academic boycotts, for declining to do so, or for criticizing and    debating the choices of those with whom they disagree.

By endorsing an individual and collective ‘right’ to boycott without consequences the statement fundamentally reshapes the role of faculty in American universities, deeming discrimination ethical.

Proponents claim that the previous statement was outdated and ineffective. The move was harshly criticized by supporters of academic freedom who pointed among other things to the organization’s growing role as a national faculty labor union and conversion into a left-wing advocacy group rather than defender of principles. More than 1000 academics have signed an open letter opposing the AAUP’s position. A new study shows that the AAUP’s move was consistent with the majority of academic organizations representing various disciplines which routinely espouse left wing positions.

An early indicator of faculty involvement in the semester’s anti-Israel activities was a call on social media for Columbia and Barnard’s faculty to appear at the institutions’ gates to ‘protect’ pro-Hamas protestors who were disrupting students moving into their dorms. Threats from New York University’s ‘Faculty for Justice in Palestine’ to “withhold their labor” represent another level of coercion against the institution, as well as fellow faculty and students.

Administrations

The most notable administration related event of August was the sudden and unexpected resignation of Columbia University president Minouche Shafik, who will leave the US and return to Britain for a position in the Labour Party led Foreign Office. Her tenure of 13 months is the shortest in Columbia’s history.

Shafik is the third Ivy League president to resign after Claudine Gay and Elizabeth McGill. Katrina Armstrong, CEO of Columbia’s Irving Medical Center and executive vice president for Health and Biomedical Sciences, will serve as interim president. Shafik’s resignation came after the resignation of three Columbia deans who had been observed texted one another during an event with dismissive and bigoted comments regarding Jews.

Shafik’s handling of the post-October 7 campus crisis had been harshly criticized on all sides. For their part Columbia’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter stated “any future president who does not pay heed to the Columbia student body’s overwhelming demand for divestment will end up exactly as President Shafik did.” Columbia’s Jewish Voice for Peace chapter commented “The students of Columbia will never forget the sheer violence unleashed upon us by Minouche Shafik, and we will not be placated by her removal as the university’s repression of the pro-Palestinian student movement continues.”

Legal action in response to the 2023-2024 school year continues to play out. In one notable case a Federal judge issued a ruling that excoriated UCLA for permitting pro-Hamas protestors to shut down portions of campus to Jewish students who identified as ‘Zionists’ saying “In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the State of California, in the City of Los Angeles, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith.” The university had argued that it bore no responsibility “because the exclusion was engineered by third-party protesters.” The judge instructed the university to present a plan to address the issue or prepare to shut down operations entirely. Observers suggest that the ruling will motivate other universities to take steps to protect Jewish students from harassment and abuse. 

A Massachusetts court also permitted a lawsuit under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against Harvard University to proceed. The suit alleges the university permitted antisemitic harassment against Jewish students to proceed unchecked. A similar suit against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was dismissed by the same judge who ruled the university at least took steps to restore “civil order and discourse to its campus.”

In another suit, a Federal court ruled Jewish MIT students did not have to pay dues to the graduate student union which had endorsed BDS. The students had claimed the union’s decision violated their religious beliefs and freedom of association. Graduate unions, frequently affiliated with the United Auto Workers or United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America, have become a notable target for the BDS movement. Additional lawsuits are pending including at the University of Chicago.

In general universities have spent the summer revising policies regarding protests, access, encampments, masking, and various ‘expressive activities’ such as signage and departmental statements, to avoid the breakdowns seen in the 2023-2024 school year. Institutions with specific guidelines and prohibitions include the University of California system, the California State University, and University of Texas systems.

In a particularly specific example, New York University issued new guidelines that mentioned “code words” like “Zionist:”

• Using code words, like “Zionist,” does not eliminate the possibility that your speech violates the NDAH Policy. For many Jewish people, Zionism is a part of their Jewish identity.  Speech and conduct that would violate the NDAH if targeting Jewish or Israeli people can also violate the NDAH if directed toward Zionists.  For example, excluding Zionists from an open event, calling for the death of Zionists, applying a “no Zionist” litmus test for participation in any NYU    activity, using or disseminating tropes, stereotypes, and conspiracies about Zionists (e.g., “Zionists control the media”), demanding a person who is or is perceived to be Jewish or Israeli to state a position on Israel or Zionism, minimizing or denying the Holocaust, or invoking Holocaust imagery or symbols to harass or discriminate.

In some cases, such as Columbia, faculty involved in anti-Israel protests are involved in creating new guidelines. The AAUP has also condemned new guidelines, calling them “overly restrictive” and a threat to democracy. Institutions have also mandated civic dialogue and antisemitism and ‘Islamophobia’ training programs. Jewish faculty and students have expressed concerns that the fall semester will repeat or intensify the disruptions of the past year.

Another significant policy change are the increasingly widespread adoption of ‘institutional neutrality’ in which universities refrain from issuing statements regarding situations that do not directly effect it. Institutions adopting such policies now include Harvard University, Cornell University, the University of Texas system, the University of South Carolina, the University of Colorado at Boulder, Johns Hopkins University, Emerson College, and Purdue University. The University of Minnesota’s institutional neutrality policy extends to its investments.

Institutions have also quietly announced that divestment from Israel will not be considered. This was made clear in a long statement from the Oberlin College trustees and a short statement from the head of the University of Pennsylvania trustees, who also condemned the BDS movement. San Francisco State University, however, announced that it was divesting from four American companies including Lockheed Martin and Caterpillar as part of a deal with protestors. The move was specifically described as a move away from companies involved in “weapons manufacturing” rather than Israel.

At the same time, however, many universities and District Attorneys have quietly dropped disciplinary cases against students who disrupted campuses in the previous school year including at the University of Chicago and Cal State Humboldt. In the latter case protestors did several million dollars damage to a building. Columbia University students who had been arrested during the May building takeover nearly all remain in good standing and will return this fall. Suspended students from several universities have filed lawsuits to have punishments lifted.

George Washington University administrators, however, have urged local authorities not to drop charges against students and have barred several from campus, even as they (and the University of Vermont, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Ohio State University, and Rutgers University) have barred SJP from campus for the fall.

Pushback against administration efforts to control pro-Hamas protests expanded in August. The Islamist group CAIR has labeled George Washington, UCLA and Emory University as institutions of “particular” concern,” alleging that they failed to protect Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students from threats and ‘Islamophobia.’ Leaders of the Stanford University ‘Islamophobia’ task force similarly charged that the university was insensitive to “numerous incidents of anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab bias intersecting sharply with Islamophobia” and that its neutrality stance effectively suppressed pro-Palestinian speech. Rutgers SJP leaders charged that anti-bias training presented to students contained ‘anti-Palestinian racism’ since it “allegedly framed October 7 in the context of religious bias, rather than historical events.”

In a sign of changing Jewish attitudes towards the Ivy League, a report notes that the Ramaz school in Manhattan will not send any students to Columbia for the first time in its history. Another sign are sharp rises in new enrollments and transfers at Yeshiva University, Brandeis University, and Touro University.

Students

Reports accumulated over the summer that pro-Hamas students had participated in training sessions held at various campuses. Reports indicated that the training emphasized organizing tactics as well as Marxist-Leninist and jihadist ideologies. Evidence also emerged of students conspiring with outsiders and discussing how to fabricate allegations against Jewish faculty members, specifically Shai Davidai of Columbia University.

The tone of pronouncements from various SJP chapters was frank regarding planned disruptions and revolutionary intent. The University of North Carolina SJP chapter stated its “support for the right to resistance, not only in Palestine, but also here in the imperial core,” and condoned “all forms of principled action, including armed rebellion, necessary to stop Israel’s genocide and apartheid, and to dismantle imperialism and capitalism more broadly.”

Columbia University’s SJP issued a statement claiming that “We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization” and that “Our intifada is an internationalist one-we are fighting for nothing less that the liberation of all people. We reject every genocidal, eugenicist regime that seeks to undermine the personhood of the colonized.” The University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University SJPs also issued an Instagram image with red Hamas targeting triangles above President Biden and Vice President Harris.

Jewish organizations on campus have also been targeted by pro-Hamas demonstrators.  Protestors outside of the Baruch College Hillel called to “bring the war home” and carried signs saying “Let the intifada pave the way for people’s war.” Masked protestors also waved Palestinian flags outside the Temple University Hillel and the Toronto Metropolitan University Hillel.

In response, at the end of the month the Columbia SJP’s Instagram account was permanently deleted, as was that of the New York University SJP. A spokesperson for Meta, owner of Instagram, stated that Columbia SJP’s “account was disabled for repeated violations of Meta’s dangerous organizations and individuals policies.”

The use of the encrypted messaging app Telegram by student and Chicago protest organizers pointed to a high level of organization and security. The inclusion of pro-Hamas and pro-Iran ‘Resistance News Network’ content on various Telegram channels also suggested outside facilitation or sponsorship of pro-Hamas protests. Social media platforms and private messaging have also been important to quickly ostracizing individual faculty and students who are labeled “Zionist” in order to undermine class enrollments and destroy personal relationships.

Jewish students continued to express fear regarding disruptions and personal safety and skepticism about university willingness to reign in pro-Hamas protests. City University of New York police expressed similar fears regarding the semester and pointed to the institutions’s depolicing approach adopted since 2020. Hillel International and the Secure Community Network announced an initiative to continually monitor campuses and consult with local law enforcement while developing safety plans.

Early campus disruptions included Columbia University, where even before the semester began the Chief Operating Officer’s apartment building was vandalized, while at the beginning of school new students moving in were harassed and the convocation was disrupted.

With the beginning of the semester disruptions sharply increased:

·        At George Washington University, a large scale protest initiated what pro-Hamas demonstrators have called a ‘year of struggle.’

·        At Cornell University a protest was held in an academic building and an administrative building was vandalized.

·        A mock Israeli checkpoint was created to harass students on the campus of Sonoma State University.

·        At the University of Michigan four demonstrators disrupting a moving in day festival were arrested. Some protestors wore PFLP headbands and keffiyehs.

·        A building at Purchase College SUNY was vandalized with the phrase “curb stomp Israel Zionists go home” and a red invested triangle.

·        Masked pro-Hamas protestors shut down access to Pomona College’s convocation ceremony.

·        Students entering lecture halls at MIT were handed flyers accusing Israel of ‘colonialism’ and ‘apartheid.’ The flyers presented the ‘Mapping Project’ which targeted hundreds of New England Jewish institutions and were condemned by MIT’s President Sally Kornbluth. The flyers were then handed out in classes by MIT faculty.

Student governments will remain a focal point for anti-Israel agitation. At the University of Michigan and the New School the pro-Hamas leadership of the student governments voted to freeze all funding of student groups until the administrations gave in to their demands for divestment. These are efforts to leverage student bodies against administrations even at the risk of backlash against themselves. The move quickly backfired when New School administration transferred funding responsibility from the student government to itself. The Michigan administration has announced a similar move.

Elsewhere, by an overwhelming margin the University of Sydney’s student government voted against a motion condemning Hamas. The university downplayed the vote and chastised students for “inappropriate behavior” during the meeting, referring to verbal harassment of the one pro-Israel student who spoke out. 

A new survey suggests that the long term impacts of antisemitic agitation on campus are being felt. Some 15% of students agreed with the statement “Israel does not have a right to exist” while at the same time professed no hostility toward Jews. Another 16% had strong hostility towards Jews including support for Hamas, but only 2% agreed with all nine of the negative questions about Jews.

In another poll more than 80% of respondents said they or someone they knew had received harassing messages for being Jewish, with 50% of respondents saying they knew or knew of someone who had been harassed for being Jewish. Overall 44% responded they did not feel safe admitting they were Jewish. Yet another poll indicates that while most college students reject the rule breaking and harassment that typify pro-Hamas protests on campus, the most left leaning tolerate or approve of these tactics.

These figures help describe the scale of conditions on campuses where repudiation of Israel is explicitly the price of admission to progressive spaces.

K-12

As the new school year approaches ‘liberated ethnic studies,’ government mandated and faculty developed curriculums which feature racialized and power-centric narratives, have become widespread. The synergy between ‘liberated ethnic studies’ and overt antisemitism is inherent. One example has emerged in the Santa Ana Unified School District (CA) where a lawsuit alleges that school officials and outside consultants conspired to keep Jewish parents in the dark and to “address the Jewish question.”

Documents revealed that officials conspired to hold hearings on “Passover to get all new courses approved” and that committee members held that Jews are “white supremacists” and that the district should “only support the oppressed, and Jews are the oppressors.” Teacher resources claimed that “Israel is the main contemporary example of settler-conquerors” and “the Palestinian cause is decidedly proletarian in its tone, seeing its oppressor as an exploiting and colonial Israel — backed up by American imperialism.”

A similar ‘liberated ethnic studies’ curriculum was mandated for all Minnesota public schools. The legislation, signed by Gov. Tim Walz in 2023, gave activists responsibility for designing a curriculum which calls for fourth graders to “identify the processes and impacts of colonization and examine how discrimination and the oppression of various racial and ethnic groups have produced resistance movements.” High schoolers are told to “develop an analysis of racial capitalism” and “anti-Blackness” and view themselves as members of “racialized hierarchies.” The group charged with writing the curriculum has a long history of anti-Israel bias and helped organize school walkouts in October 2023.

Similar mandates are pending in California where legislators have suspended work on a bill designed to prevent the introduction of antisemitism into the curriculum. The bill was opposed by the California Teachers Association and the California Faculty Association, both of which are major donors to the state Democratic Party, as well as by ‘Jewish Voice for Peace.’

‘Liberated ethnic studies” curriculums are paralleled in private schools by the continued problems of anti-Israel and antisemitic pedagogy by ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ (DEI) bureaucracies and initiated independently by progressive teachers, who marginalize both students and parents.

Politics

In the political sphere the focus in August remained on the Democratic Party and its fraught relationship with far left elements. The rejection of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris came after weeks of harsh criticism of Shapiro’s stances on Israel and Gaza from pro-Hamas elements including from the Jewish wing of the BDS movement. Loud party denials notwithstanding, anti-Israel forces themselves made clear that Shapiro’s stances on Israel and Jewish identity represented too much of a threat to “party unity.” At the same time articles regarding her husband, Doug Emhoff, repeatedly lauded his Jewish identity and role as titular face of the administration’s efforts to combat antisemitism.

Allied media touted Walz’s putatively moderate politics and folksy demeanor but covered up both decades of prevarication regarding his military service and his close relationships with Minnesota’s growing Islamist factions. Reports also indicate that Harris campaign official had met with Muslim and Arab representatives in Michigan including a variety of Hamas defenders to sway the large ‘uncommitted’ vote back to the Democrats.

Warnings regarding the party’s trajectory were indicated by former Democratic official and CNN commentator Van Jones, who commented on the Shapiro situation that Harris “caved” to anti-Israel elements and that “You also have anti-Semitism that has gotten marbled into this party.” The racist nature of that ‘marbling” was reflected in former Democratic official James Carville’s comment that Republican supporters of Israel are drive by ‘misogyny’ and ‘racism’ since “most of these people who describe themselves as pro-Israel is because the Jews are whiter than the Palestinians.”

The carefully orchestrated Democratic National Convention to appoint Vice President Harris as the party’s candidate went to great efforts managing perceptions of Israel and Jews. Party statements emphasized the continuity of her approach to Israel and Jews with that of President Biden and her “Twenty year record of pro-Israel statements and actions.”

The ceremonial handover of power, however, included subtle equations of Israel and the Hamas. Remarks by Squad member Rep. Ocasio-Cortez on the first evening mentioned both Israeli and Gazan children while Biden’s valedictory remarks included the statement “Those protesters out in the streets, they have a point —a lot of people innocent people are being killed on both sides,” which whitewashed the eliminationist viewpoints of protestors.

The sensitivity of Israel as an issue was displayed when delegates were notified only 45 minutes before parents of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin spoke to the convention. The short notice was evidently a result of concern regarding pro-Palestinian protests on the convention floor. Goldberg-Polin’s parents passionate speech was received by the crowd responding “Bring them home! Bring them home!”

The appearance of the Goldberg-Polins resonated but the strategic rationale and a measure of relief was displayed in a social media posting by University of Michigan trustee Jordan Acker: “My verdict on tonight is the actions of our party, not the speakers on the stage, by chanting “bring them home,” made me feel seen as a member of this party for the first time since October 7. Our *delegates* showed there is room for Jews in our party tonight.”

The pro-Palestinian “Uncommitted” movement had demanded that Harris commit to an arms embargo on Israel and a speaking slot during prime time. Both demands were rejected but they were permitted to hold an officially sanctioned panel and additional informal meetings with staffers which featured presentations regarding Gaza by pro-Hamas representatives. Despite this concession, party delegates representing the movement began a sit-in outside the convention center to again demand a speaking slot and elements announced that they were renouncing their support for Harris.

The party’s platform, which had been the subject of much struggle between pro and anti-Israel delegates, included support for “Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state “with recognized borders and upholds the right of Palestinians to live in freedom and security in a viable state of their own.” It also included explicit opposition to “settlement expansion” and “settler violence,” opposed BDS while “protecting the Constitutional right of our citizens to free speech,” and pledged to “help rebuild Gaza in a manner that does not allow Hamas to re-arm.”

 Harris’ acceptance speech echoed these themes but offered few specifics. She stated “I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself. Because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that the terrorist organization Hamas caused on October 7.”

 She then added regarding Gaza “So many innocent lives lost, desperate hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.” Echoing the theme of continuity she concluded “President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”

 In the absence of clear policy statements regarding the Middle East or other issues the shape of a potential Harris administration is discernible only through personnel. The role of Harris’ foreign policy advisor Phil Gordon, an Obama veteran and architect of the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran, has come under enormous scrutiny. The appointments of Jewish liaison, Ilan Goldenberg, and Muslim liaison, Nasrina Bargzie, suggest that a Harris administration would be sharply tilted away from Israel and Jews. Bargzie is a former anti-Israeli campus activist and ACLU attorney while Goldenberg is leading Biden administration efforts to sanction ‘far right’ Israelis.

Harris’ Arab American liaison, Brenda Abdelall, reportedly once accused “Zionists” of controlling American politics while her faith outreach head, Rev. Jen Butler, promoted the ‘Jesus was a brown skinned Palestinian’ narrative in now deleted social media postings. Unconfirmed reports that Harris is consider appointing former SJP leader and current National Security Council chief coordinator for intelligence and defense policy Maher Bitar to a senior intelligence community position are even more problematic.

Anti-Israel politics continue to roil Congress. Senate Democrats including Sen. Chuck Schumer continue to block consideration of measures addressing antisemitism, including hearings, a situation that Republicans have promised to reverse should they regain control in November. A strong exception remains Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) who called on New York area universities to recognize that “Zionist” is a code word for “Jew” in the vernacular of the pro-Hamas movement.

Another subpoena issued to Columbia University by the House Education and Workforce Committee for documents related to antisemitism indicates that political pressure on universities will remain high. A letter to Brown University from Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin on behalf of 24 states also put the institution on notice that any adoption of BDS would trigger state laws requiring divestment from state pension funds and termination of state contracts.

 The August primary defeat of Squad member Cori Bush followed that of Jamaal Bowman. Bush responded by issuing threats against AIPAC and the Jewish community which had contributed and organized against her. In Minnesota, however, Ilhan Omar won her primary by a comfortable margin. AIPAC and major donors did not contribute to her opponent’s campaign, leading observers to ask whether, unlike the obviously unstable Bush and Bowman, Omar serves a purpose for the Democratic Party. At the local level anti-Israel New York City Council member Shahana Hanif, who had endorsed calls to ‘globalize the intifada,’ is facing a strong primary challenge in Brooklyn.

 Anti-Israel politics continue to disrupt local politics. In Pittsburgh a petition was launched to place a referendum on the November ballot that would bar the city from doing business with Israel until there is a ‘ceasefire’ in Gaza and would deny tax exemptions to an entity that does so. The referendum, supported by the local Democratic Socialists of America, would have violated Pennsylvania law and was opposed by Pennsylvania politicians including both Senators, the local Jewish community and the city controller. The measure was thrown out after a judge found the petition lacked the requisite signatures.

Another bill in New York State proposed by a DSA legislator, Zohran Mamdani of Queens, aims to halt donations to Israel by removing the charitable status of Jewish non-profits under the guise that tax-exemption supports ‘illegal settlements’ and ‘the displacement of Palestinians’ with what could be New York State tax revenues. This framework is aimed solely at Jewish charities and not pro-Palestinian and pro-Muslim entities that are supported by taxpayer funds channeled directly through local lawmakers.

Also at the local level, Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson declared that the Gaza war was “not only egregious, it is genocidal.” Johnson’s intervention was key to placing pro-Hamas protestors in close proximity to the Democratic National Convention site but his efforts to minimize police supervision were apparently overridden.

Israel will also be an issue in the upcoming New York City mayoral election. Incumbent Eric Adams has been a strong supporter of Israel especially since October 7th while progressive challengers including DSA supported comptroller Brad Lander have been critics. Other prospective candidates include former governor Andrew Cuomo, a strong supporter of Israel, and DSA State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani.

At a much broader level, however, reports continue to emerge regarding anger in the African American community regarding demands for support from the pro-Palestinian movement and the usurping of anti-racist and social equality agendas. Arab and Muslim anger towards the candidacy of Vice President Harris and demands that the Palestinian cause remain at the center of all politics has spilled over into vicious outbursts against African Americans.

In the international sphere Israel hatred continues to be a central issue in British, Scottish and Irish politics. In Scotland the Scottish National Party (SNP) demanded that External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson resign after meeting the Israeli deputy ambassador to Britain. Robertson later apologized for giving the impression that the Scottish government was “normalizing” relations with Israel and pledged not to meet with Israeli representatives again. Another SNP member is facing calls to resign for stating that Israel is not committing ‘genocide’ in Gaza. In the meantime the Scottish government has banned meetings with Israeli diplomats until “real progress” is made in Gaza peace talks.

In Britain evidence continues to accumulate that unelected officials are blocking arms exports to Israel, using the Labour government’s growing hostility as an excuse. British progressive and Islamist hostility toward Israel also continues to grow, with Islamists blaming the recent anti-illegal immigration protests on ‘Zionists.’ In contrast, Denmark has declined to join other European countries which have informally instituted arms boycotts against Israel.

Finally, outgoing European Union foreign affairs chief and noted opponent of Israel Josef Borrell has proposed sanctions on Israel government ministers, specifically Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a goal which Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called “unrealistic.”

Economics

In the economic sphere the Fitch ratings agency downgraded Israel over fears that the Gaza war will persist into 2025, rising deficits, and the continued inability of the Israeli government to agree on a budget. The concerns were echoed by four US banks which expressed skepticism regarding the Israeli government’s responses to economic conditions including inflation. The war, along with employment, budget and deficit uncertainties, have also contributed to slowdowns in exports as well as declines in GDP, domestic consumption, and rising interest rates.

Most international airlines have resumed flying to Israel but US carriers have stopped, citing security concerns. Rep. Ritchie Torres sharply criticized three US carriers, American, Delta, and United Airlines, for “effectively boycotting” Israel. Since the Federal Aviation Administration has not issued travel warnings regarding Israel, the US carriers’ decisions are difficult to explain. One result of the US carriers’ decision is that Israeli airline El Al has a North American monopoly and has reported record profits.

Economic data show contradictory trends, a pronounced slowdown produced by the war, with high levels of outside investment but drying up of investment in startups. The Israeli government’s decision to massively increase local defense production is boosting investment in firms such as Elbit, which are also experiencing record international orders even as major shareholders have sold large blocks. But warnings regarding brain drains have expanded from economic and academic leaders.

In Britain, a major pension fund, Universities Superannuation Scheme, sold significant holdings in Israeli firms after BDS inspired pressure. But despite even greater pressure, including repeated vandalizing of bank facilities by pro-Hamas protestors, Barclays will remain the primary British retailer of Israel government bonds.

Attacks against individual companies continue, such as the staff walkout at a Jewish-owned Detroit bagel shop and vandalism of Jewish restaurants in Berlin. More broadly antisemitism continues to expand within various professions such as psychotherapy, where blacklists of Jewish therapists have been disseminated. In the latter case the general ideology of politicizing doctor-patient relationships to project guilt for putatively evil societal conditions such as ‘whiteness’ or ‘Zionism’ is an especially perverse betrayal of therapeutic and professional principles.

Reports also show that the spread of pro-Hamas sentiments throughout the medical profession has put doctors and patients on edge. A harbinger of the treatment of Israel and Jews by the medical profession and its organizations in the future was seen as the International Federation of Medical Student Associations voted to expel the Federation of Israeli Medical Students.

The longstanding politicization of ancillary industries especially reproductive health was also on display by the decision of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England to divest from “companies that profit from violence and war, such as the devastating loss of life and sexual & gender-based violence happening in Gaza.”

Arts and Culture

Israel and Jews continue to be the focal point of hatred in various arts communities. A new report shows that the doxxing of several hundred Jewish creatives in Australia by anti-Israel activists was actually the result of a private WhatsApp group that fell into the hands of a New York Times reporter who then shared it. The resulting leak led to months of harassment and intimidation as well as job losses for Jewish creatives and may result in new anti-doxxing legislation.

The continual isolation of organizations with connections to Israel continued. One example was the debanking of the charity Yad Vashem UK by Britain’s NatWest Bank. After initially stating it would not explain or discuss the decision, pressure from Jewish groups resulted in an apology and reversal of the decision.

In an ironic and predictable twist, anti-Zionist writer Joshua Leifer’s appearance at a Brooklyn bookstore was canceled because the inclusion of a pro-Israel rabbi on the panel. The bookstore blamed a staffer and the speaker’s publicist. The event was rescheduled and held before a sellout crowd.

Finally, the European group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and 59 other organizations called on the European Union to suspend an Association Agreement with Israel and adopt targeted sanctions against those it alleges are responsible for the killing of journalists in Gaza. Research has shown that most of the journalists killed were members of Hamas or other terror groups.