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Protestors Bring Violence, Vandalism, and More to College Campuses
Law enforcement clash with pro-Hamas demonstrators at the University of Michigan on Aug. 28, 2024. Photo: Brendan Gutenschwager/X
Violent anti-Israel protests continued in September, as new FBI statistics show that Jews were the most frequent targets of hate crimes in the US in 2023.
In Australia, pro-Hamas demonstrators including Students for Palestine, Extinction Rebellion, and Disrupt Wars fought with police outside a Melbourne arms fair; they also attacked police horses with acid and rocks, resulting in multiple injuries and arrests.
Thousands of protestors marched through Lower Manhattan in what organizers called “Flood NYC for Gaza,” waving Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian, and Syrian flags. The White House condemned the appearance of Hamas flags.
Other anti-Israel protests took place in New York City, in one case ostensibly in connection with the shooting of a knife wielding criminal on a subway platform, and with the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before his address to the United Nations.
In London and Edinburgh Barclays Bank branches were vandalized as was a Berlin Holocaust memorial with the words “Jews are committing genocide.”
In response to an April protest that shut down Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and delayed travelers, a public interest law firm filed a class action lawsuit against a variety of anti-Israel organizations including Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. BDS funders such as the Tides Center, its Community Justice Exchange, National Students for Justice in Palestine, American Muslims for Palestine, AJP Education Foundation, Inc., and the WESPAC Foundation, were included in the lawsuit.
On campus, the semester opened with a variety of anti-Israel protests and vandalism at schools across the country.
The most serious incident was an assault on a Jewish student at the University of Michigan, who was approached by a group, asked whether he was a Jew, and then beaten. T
The university president condemned the incident, but no suspects have been apprehended. A series of other assaults on Jewish students and a Jewish fraternity at the school occurred, but their motives are unclear. Two Jewish students were also attacked near the University of Pittsburgh campus.
Student anti-Israel protests were also held in Chicago and Bay Area universities, Columbia University, McGill University, and elsewhere. A number of protestors at the University of Michigan were arrested and will be prosecuted by the state.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) accused Democratic State Attorney General Dana Nessel of doing so because she is Jewish.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer initially declined to support the Attorney General’s decision, but later reversed course — and a group of House Democrats did so, apparently without naming Tlaib.
Elsewhere the Drexel University Chabad house was vandalized with “free Palestine” propaganda, while a mezuzah was torn down at Harvard from the door of a Jewish student.
Overall the ADL reports a 2,000% increase in antisemitic incidents on California campuses alone.
In a significant incident, members of the Baruch College Hillel were harassed by SJP members outside a midtown Manhattan restaurant, who shouted “Back to Brooklyn, out the Middle East” and “Where’s Hersh you ugly ass b***h?”
At Harvard University, Jewish and Israel-related events are now patrolled frequently by university police.
Across the country, vandalism of university property has become routine:
Pro-Hamas students vandalized a statue of Benjamin Franklin at the University of Pennsylvania, stating it was “a symbol of imperial violence and colonialism.”
A lawn at McGill University, which had been destroyed by anti-Israel protestors in the spring, was again torn up.
The ROTC building at the University of North Carolina was vandalized, and a Palestinian flag was raised.
George Washington University trustees’ homes were vandalized by the Student Coalition for Palestine.
Various landmarks at Georgetown University were vandalized, including with the Hamas triangle symbol.
A building at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities was vandalized with slogans including “Zionists off campus,” “Intifada is here,” and “glory to the resistance.”
Direct student harassment of Jewish faculty also renewed in September, including at the UC Berkeley law school, where students handed out flyers condemning a ‘Zionist’ professor outside of his class.
At MIT, pro-Hamas students harassed a talk by an Israeli professor and stole food provided for the event.
Students also resumed harassment of administrators, as at Pomona College, where dozens of protestors screamed outside the president’s house late at night.
Students arrested during a sit-in at Wesleyan University, whose president had written an op-ed praising campus protests, held a protest outside of his house. The Cornell University “Coalition for Mutual Liberation” disrupted a job fair and chanted “We will work, we will fight. No more jobs in genocide” and “F*** you Boeing.”
Anti-Israel students and faculty at the University of Minnesota marched in protest against that institution’s recently announced neutrality policy.
As has long been the case Students for Justice in Palestine is taking the lead in organizing anti-Israel and pro-Hamas protests on campus:
The National SJP announced a Week of Rage would begin on October 7.
The Rutgers University SJP chapter protested its suspension in front of an administration building, stating menacingly that it was “Strike Three” for the university.
At William and Mary College, the SJP chapter led a walkout and chanted “intifada revolution” and “we don’t want two states, take us back to ‘48.”
At the University of Minnesota, SJP protestors along with students from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), UMN Divest, and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) disrupted the inauguration of the school’s new president.
The Columbia University Apartheid Divest coalition released a statement praising the Houthi missile attack on Israel, noting the support for the attack from Hamas, the PFLP, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and ending with “Glory to the resistance.”
Student governments also remain at the center of organizing campuses against Israel. At the University of Michigan, the student government voted again to hold the budget for various student groups hostage until the administration adopts BDS.
The UCLA student government also passed a resolution demanding the administration revoke its ban on encampments. The University of California at Santa Cruz voted to adopt a BDS policy with its own funds but delayed implementation when it discovered the move would violate state and Federal laws. In contrast, the McGill University Student Union revoked the club status of the Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights group. The Cornell University SJP chapter was also denied recognition by the administration, as was the University of Illinois SJP chapter.
These positive steps were counterbalanced, however, by the restoration of the University of Wisconsin’s and Harvard’s pro-Hamas student groups.
Columbia University’s new president, Katrina Armstrong, also apologized to anti-Israel students who were “hurt” after New York police were forced to clear spaces they occupied during the spring semester. The refusal of New York University’s anti-Israel groups to participate in anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training sets up a confrontation with the administration.
After protests aimed against campus Hillel by SJP members, Baruch College attempted to block a campus Rosh Hashanah celebration. The Hillel director stated “We were told by the administration that the campus can’t guarantee the safety of Jewish students because of other agitators who want to hurt, intimidate or harass them.” The decision was reversed only after political pressure, including from Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY). The university denied the allegation.
After criticism, University of Maryland administrators denied the school’s SJP permission to erect an October 7th “commemoration of martyrs” on the school’s main plaza. CAIR and Palestine Legal have sued the university, claiming First Amendment rights have been violated.
Faculty members continue to take leading roles in anti-Israel protests, typically claiming they are there to protect their students and “defend free speech.”
A new report highlights the growing role of Faculty for Justice in Palestine chapters in organizing campus protests. It notes that campuses with chapters were far more likely to have faculty helping students write statements and cosponsor events, in addition to producing anti-Israel and pro-Hamas statements from academic departments.
At Columbia, the second investigative report on antisemitism detailing incidents on campus was also met with hostility by faculty who claimed it was poorly researched and, more importantly, that the effort was in “bad faith” and “conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism.”
For their part, University of Pennsylvania faculty joined anti-Israel students protesting outside the presidential debate held in Philadelphia last month.
The deep embedding of anti-Israel bias by faculty into courses through the selection of topics or readings remains difficult to perceive or counter. Challenges to overtly political and one-sided courses are invariably met with charges of censorship and that “academic freedom” is being defied.
The participation of faculty in straightforward indoctrination sessions held outside the classroom was exemplified by the “The People’s Conference For Palestinian Solidarity” at the University of Geulph, which included sessions aimed at high schoolers.
In another example, a faculty member at Wilfred Laurier University offered students extra credit for attending a pro-Hamas protest and drove students to the rally.
The sheer loathing for Israel embodied by some faculty was reflected in the appearance at Brown University’s Center for Middle East Studies of United Nations special rapporteur and global antisemite Francesca Albanese. She reiterated her stance that the October 7 massacre was “legitimate resistance,” that Israel is a “military dictatorship,” and that Israeli operations are “genocidal.”
K-12 Students
One of the most notable developments in the new school year is lawfare from CAIR and its partners directed against antisemitism training.
The San Francisco Unified School District was forced to reschedule antisemitism training for teachers after anti-Israel groups including CAIR, and Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area (JVP), as well as the BDS supporting union, United Educators of San Francisco, objected to the involvement of the ADL, American Jewish Committee, and the local Jewish community.
Evidence also continues to emerge of teachers conspiring to evade oversight and directly indoctrinate students against Israel.
Video emerged of Los Angeles teachers discussing methods to bring “pro-Palestine” content into lessons, transport students to rallies, and avoid getting fired.
Teachers also continue to manipulate students into participating in anti-Israel activities.
In Toronto, middle school students were forced to participate in a march for “Palestine” after being told they were going to “observe” an event having to do with Canada’s First Nations.
Jewish students were also told to wear blue in order to identify themselves as “colonizers.” A Jewish student who expressed discomfort was told, “You’ll get over it” by a teacher.
The author is a contributor to SPME, where a significantly different version of this article was first published.
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Columbia University Newspaper Endorses Mamdani for New York City Mayor
Candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a Democratic New York City mayoral primary debate, June 4, 2025, in New York, US. Photo: Yuki Iwamura/Pool via REUTERS
Columbia University’s flagship newspaper, The Columbia Daily Spectator, has endorsed a far-left New York City mayoral candidate who has been accused of antisemitism and made anti-Israel activism a cornerstone of his political career.
The Spectator’s editorial board issued the endorsement of Zohran Mamdani, a representative in the New York State Assembly, in a rare moment of summer activity, as most of the university’s student body is on holiday. It comes as the university’s leadership is reportedly taking steps to deal with a surge of campus antisemitism that captured national attention and led the Trump administration to pull federal funding over the school’s alleged failure to combat the crisis.
“Our endorsements reflect the consensus opinion of the editorial board, but we recognize that voters may weigh these issues differently,” the paper said on Tuesday. “As Spectator‘s editorial board, we endorse Zohran Mamdani as our top choice for New York City Mayor. Currently ranked second in most polls, the New York State Assembly member and his campaign have resonated with New Yorkers who have been repeatedly disappointed by the current administration.”
It added, “The Democratic Socialist has grounded his campaign in bread-and-butter issues such as universal child care, free public transportation, and affordable housing, echoing Sen. Bernie Sanders’ brand of economic populism.”
The paper’s choice of Mamdani prompted a slew of responses on social media. A native of Uganda born to parents from India, one of whom is an Oscar nominated filmmaker, Mamdani has refused to recognize the Jewish state of Israel, advocated adoption of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, and suggested that New York City — home to the world’s largest Jewish community outside of Israel — will divest from the country if he is elected.
Earlier this month, he refused to distance himself from the phrase “globalize the intifada,” a slogan that is believed to have inspired a wave of anti-Jewish violence which culminated in the murder of two young Israeli diplomats outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC in May. The Democratic mayoral candidate went as far as comparing the phrase to the motivations behind the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, prompting a rebuke from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“I think what’s difficult is that the very word has been used by the Holocaust Museum when translating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic, because it’s a word that means struggle,” Mamdani said on the Bulwark podcast. “And as a Muslim man who grew up post-9/11, I’m too familiar in the way in which Arabic words can be twisted, can be distorted, can be used to justify any kind of meaning.”
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was an effort by Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland to fight back as they were set to be deported to concentration camps and killed during the Holocaust. In contrast, the slogan “globalize the intifada” references previous periods of sustained Palestinian terrorism against Jews and Israels known as intifadas, or uprisings.
On another occasion, years before he emerged as a candidate for mayor, Mamdani appeared to threaten that a “third intifada” was forthcoming.
Following the Spectator’s declaration of support for his campaign, Columbia University professor Shai Davidai charged that the paper had violated laws which prevent nonprofit entities, such as the Spectator, from entering the fray of electoral politics.
“The Columbia Spectator has just breached its non-profit status by endorsing a political candidate,” Davidai said. “Please join me in filing a formal complaint with the IRS against the Spectator Publishing Company. It’s time to make our colleges a partisan-free space for education.”
Elisha Baker, who studies Middle East History at Columbia University, said in a statement shared with The Algemeiner and other outlets that the Spectator is essentially throwing its support behind a surge of antisemitic violence called for by anti-Zionists of Mamdani’s mold.
“Zohran Mamdani is a threat to Jews in NYC and Americans everywhere. He marches with the antisemitic and anti-American mob,” Baker said. “A vote for Mamdani is a vote for antisemitism and continued pro-terror chaos on our streets. Especially since the tragic attacks in DC and Boulder, a vote for Mamdani is nothing short of a vote for Jews to stay inside.”
New York City will ultimately determine the merit of the case against the mayoral candidate, who would be the favorite to win the November general election if he prevails over his Democratic opponents, including former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, during Tuesday’s primary.
During the campaign, Cuomo criticized Mamdani’s links to the anti-Zionist movement.
“Yesterday when Zohran Mamdani was asked a direct question about what he thought of the phrase ‘globalize the intifada,’ he dismissed it as ‘language’ ‘that is subject to interpretation,’ Cuomo said in a statement earlier this month. “That is not only wrong – it is dangerous. At a time when we are seeing antisemitism on the rise and in fact witnessing once again violence against Jews resulting in their deaths in Washington DC or their burning in Denver – we know all too well that words matter. They fuel hate. They fuel murder. As the US Holocaust Museum so aptly said, all leaders or those running for office must condemn the use of this battle cry. There are no two sides here.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Calls for UN to Condemn Attacks on Aid Workers, Collaborate Amid Mass ‘Disinformation’
Palestinians collect aid supplies from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has called on the United Nations to publicly condemn the killing of aid workers in Gaza and to collaborate in order to provide relief to the enclave’s population, accusing the UN of perpetuating a “vast disinformation campaign” aimed at tarnishing the US- and Israel-backed foundation’s image.
In a letter sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, GHF executive chairman Rev. Johnnie Moore defended the foundation’s efforts to distribute aid to the civilians of Gaza, the Palestinian enclave that has been ruled by the Hamas terrorist group for nearly two decades.
“Nearly 40 million meals have been distributed in our first month of operations from our Secure Distribution Sites,” Moore wrote, adding that the program has successfully distributed emergency aid to Palestinians in “desperate need” despite constantly operating “under grave threat.”
Moore also criticized the UN, saying that the GHF has “shared our data and our logistical approach” with the global body in hopes of forging a collaboration effort between the two entities. He lamented that the UN has “neither partnered with GHF nor even acknowledged our operational successes.”
“Our work has continued with normal operations amidst an expanding regional conflict, and also a vast disinformation campaign which has sought to stop us from feeding people from the moment we started,” Moore continued. “We regret that your own office has been a victim of this disinformation campaign which has only threatened to further harm the Gazan people.”
The GHF was created because Hamas routinely steals humanitarian aid, leaving civilians facing severe shortages. Documents released by the Israeli military earlier this month showed that Hamas operatives violently took control of approximately 25 percent of incoming aid shipments, which they then resold to civilians at inflated prices.
The GHF operates independently from UN-backed mechanisms, which Hamas has sought to reinstate, arguing that these frameworks are more neutral. Israeli and American officials have rejected those calls, saying Hamas previously exploited UN-run systems to siphon aid for its war effort. The UN has denied those allegations while expressing concerns that the GHF’s approach forces civilians to risk their safety by traveling long distances across active conflict zones to reach food distribution points.
Since the GHF launched operations in late May, there have been reports of Palestinians being shot near distribution sites. In specific cases, Israel has acknowledged targeting what it believed to be armed Hamas operatives using civilians as cover.
In his letter, Moore also criticized the UN for staying “absolutely silent in the wake of a targeted killing of GHF personnel nearly two weeks ago.”
“Their murder was not only a violation of international law, it was an affront to the very principles the UN purports to defend,” the GHF chairman added. He called on the UN to “publicly condemn the targeting of humanitarian workers in Gaza, and to denounce the obstruction of aid by Hamas and other armed factions.”
Moore’s letter came about two weeks after the GHF said that, on the night of June 11, several of its aid workers were killed when Hamas gunmen attacked a bus transporting local staffers.
The group said the vehicle was targeted as it carried more than 20 workers to a distribution site near the city of Khan Younis. In a statement Thursday, GHF said that at least people people were killed and several more were injured.
The bus attack followed days of threats from Hamas directed at the foundation and its workers.
According to Moore, the UN can help the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by working directly with GHD to help distribute aid “at scale” to needy civilians while bypassing “intermediaries.”
“The only credible response to food insecurity is food delivery. Anything less is a deferral of responsibility. We are ready to work with other humanitarian providers to deliver food straight to the Palestinian people and restore order to a system plagued by desperation and disorder,” Moore wrote.
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Netanyahu Declares Historic Win, Says Israel Removed Iran’s Nuclear Threat in 12-Day War
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel in its 12 days of war with Iran had removed the threat of nuclear annihilation and was determined to thwart any attempt by Tehran to revive its program.
“We have removed two immediate existential threats to us – the threat of nuclear annihilation and the threat of annihilation by 20,000 ballistic missiles,” he said in video remarks issued by his office.
“If anyone in Iran tries to revive this project, we will work with the same determination and strength to thwart any such attempt. I repeat, Iran will not have nuclear weapons.”
Netanyahu called it a historic victory that would stand for generations.
He said Israel never had a better friend in the White House than President Donald Trump, whose US military had dropped massive bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s underground nuclear sites in an attack over the weekend.
“Our friend President Trump has rallied to our side in an unprecedented way. Under his direction, the United States military destroyed the underground enrichment site at Fordow,” Netanyahu said.
He spoke hours after Trump directed stinging criticism at Israel over the scale of strikes Trump said had violated a truce with Iran negotiated by Washington, Israel‘s closest ally.
Netanyahu said Israel‘s work was unfinished. He cited the war against Iran’s ally Hamas in Gaza, where 50 hostages remain in captivity since the Palestinian terrorist group carried out a surprise attack on October 7, 2023.
About 20 are believed to be alive.
“We must complete the campaign against the Iranian axis, defeat Hamas, and bring about the release of all the hostages, both living and dead,” he said.
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