Antisemitic, anti-Zionist attacks on US campuses almost doubled in 2023
The ADL’s latest report for the 2022-2023 academic year registered 665 anti-Israel incidents, marking a significant uptick from the previous year.
Anti-Israel incidents on US college campuses have almost doubled from the 2021-2022 academic year, with a new study from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) highlighting disturbing trends, including explicit promotion of violence against Israel and intensified rhetoric against Zionism and Zionists.
The ADL’s latest report for the 2022-2023 academic year, published on Wednesday, registered 665 anti-Israel incidents, marking a significant uptick from the previous year. These incidents included nine instances of vandalism, 24 cases of harassment, 303 events, 326 protests/actions, and three BDS resolutions. The report highlighted that while physical assaults declined from one to zero and vandalism cases dropped from 11 to 9, there was a noticeable increase in harassment cases, going up from 19 to 24.
This surge is attributed to several factors, primarily the continued growth of the anti-Israel movement. One alarming trend is the overt support for US State Department-designated terrorist organizations and a brazen call for Zionists and their associated institutions to be excluded or dismantled. This aggressive stance is often coined as "anti-normalization," a complete rejection of any association with those who accept or support Israel’s existence.
Antisemitic incidents in spotlight
Several key incidents spotlight the growing radical anti-Israel sentiment:- The Mapping Project, promoted by various Students for Justice Palestine (SJP) campus chapters, drew significant attention in June 2022. This online tool pinpoints the location of Boston-area Jewish organizations believed by the creators to be contributing to the "colonization of Palestine." Disturbingly, the site encourages the disruption of these organizations. ADL has since filed a lawsuit against the project's hosting service in Iceland.
- Jisr Collective, a social media channel and website, gained traction during summer 2022 among anti-Zionist activists. The platform openly rejected Israel’s existence, supported "armed resistance" from groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, and expressed a strong stance against "normalization."
According to the study, many SJP chapters embraced the narratives presented by RNN, Jisr Collective, and The Mapping Project. This suggests a growing acceptance of calls for violence against Israel and demands to eradicate Zionism within significant portions of the campus anti-Zionist movement.
A particularly disconcerting incident from August 2022 involved Berkeley Law SJP, which revealed that they had convinced various campus groups to adopt a bylaw refusing collaboration or sponsorship with anyone supporting Zionism. Such moves highlight a growing endorsement of anti-Zionist rhetoric across different sectors of the campus community.
Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO, emphasized in a statement, “Young Jewish students enter college hoping for acceptance. But the disturbing rise in anti-Israel incidents and the vilification of their Jewish identities challenge this sense of belonging. Universities must stand up against this tide.”