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Anti-Israel Boycotts in Defense, Economics, and the Arts Are Gaining Ground
A pro-BDS demonstration. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Attacks against individual Jews and Jewish institutions have become so numerous, that only a sample may be listed here.
A few notable examples include:
- In Venice, visibly Jewish tourists were attacked by a large group of Muslim migrants who chased them and shouted “free Palestine.” One tourist was attacked by a dog belonging to the migrants;
- In Athens, an Israeli brother and sister were attacked by Palestinians and then arrested. The pro-Hamas Hind Rajab Foundation has demanded the brother be investigated on charges of “war crimes”;
- In Sydney, several hundred pro-Hamas protestors attempted to take over a beach in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Bondi Beach for a demonstration, but were met by pro-Israel counter-demonstrators. A brawl ensued but no arrests were made;
- Jewish facilities including synagogues were vandalized in London, Chile, Halifax, Chicago, and Princeton and Tenafly, NJ, In Philadelphia, the Weitzman National Museum of Jewish History was vandalized twice in one week;
- In Los Angeles, an Israeli was attacked after pro-Hamas protestors heard him speaking Hebrew;
- In Italy, widespread disruptions and rioting were organized by left-wing labor unions, attributed to the government’s refusal to recognize “Palestine.” Rioters in Milan, Bologna, and Rome blocked major train stations and roads, while in Genoa, dockworkers blocked access to the port;
- In New York City, a mass protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s appearance at the UN brought thousands of people from around the country. The protest was organized in part by the Chinese Communist Party backed People’s Forum.
Universities continue to complain about the settlements reached by Brown, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania over allegations of antisemitism and systematic discrimination, with insiders describing these as shakedowns
Momentum toward a settlement with Harvard has slowed, with the Federal government stating in September that the university has not complied with requests for data regarding race-based admission. Some reports have also indicated the question of third party monitors, such as that agreed on by Columbia, is a major sticking point.
With student protests growing, universities find themselves needing to act. Cognizant of the new levels of Federal and public scrutiny, Columbia and New York University announced anti-discrimination investigations in response to early semester incidents of antisemitic vandalism. Regulations regarding the time, place, and manner of demonstrations have also been put into place at many universities, along with complex speech rules.
In one such development, Harvard’s new guidelines noted that calling someone a “terrorist sympathizer” could violate its anti-discrimination policy.
A more systematic form of control was revealed by a House Committee on Education and Workforce investigation, which included an interview with now ousted Northwestern University president Michael Schill. Committee staff members revealed the agreement between Northwestern and the Qatar Foundation regarding the university’s campus in Qatar, which stipulates “NU, NU-Q, and their respective employees, students, faculty, families, contractors and agents, shall be subject to the applicable laws and regulations of the State of Qatar, and shall respect the cultural, religious and social customs of the State of Qatar.”
A small number of faculty members took the lead in berating Charlie Kirk and applauding his murder. This echoed the extremist stances of faculty regarding Israel.
Similarly, a new study of Jewish faculty points to the central role of anti-Israel faculty in driving campus antisemitism. The study noted that on 77% of campuses with a Faculty for Justice in Palestine chapters, faculty were engaged in anti-Israel programming, 80% helped organize anti-Israel demonstrations, and 85% endorsed BDS campaigns.
Overall, 73% of Jewish faculty reported witnessing anti-Jewish activities or statements from faculty, administrators or staff. The intense outpourings of anti-Israel and antisemitic hatred from pro-Palestinian faculty cannot be explained as mere political beliefs, but suggest deeper devotion to a secular religious cause.
The full implications of faculty hatred of Israel as both a foundational pedagogical structure and basis for personal behavior was demonstrated at Cornell University, where a noted anti-Israel professor, Eric Chayfetz, was suspended for allegedly prohibiting an Israeli student from participating in a class on Gaza.
Cheyfitz, formerly a faculty advisor to the school’s Jewish Voice for Peace chapter, taught the class “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance,” in the spring.
Student protests have also escalated on campus. Examples include picketing at job fairs at the University of Louisville, Cornell University, and the University of Massachusetts, where corporations accused of “complicity” with Israel were present, such as GE Aerospace, Raytheon Technologies, L3Harris, and Toyota.
At the University of Pisa, pro-Hamas students stormed a classroom of a professor they accused of being Zionist, beating students and waving flags. The professor had criticized the university’s decision to cut ties with Israeli institutions.
At the Polytechnic University of Turin, students stormed a lecture being given by an Israeli faculty member who defended the war in Gaza and the Israeli military. The faculty member was then suspended by the university.
A BDS resolution proposed in the University of Connecticut student government failed. The University of Maryland student government voted overwhelmingly to demand that the school “formally and publicly acknowledge the ongoing situation in Gaza as a genocide” and “issue a public statement urging for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.” A vote on a BDS resolution originally scheduled for Rosh Hashanah, but after protests was rescheduled for Yom Kippur approved.
In another example of anger regarding university responses to the post-October 7th campus environment, the group Northwestern Graduate Workers for Palestine protested required antisemitism and “Islamophobia” bias training. Some 300 students have been prohibited from registering for classes and may lose financial aid and access to campus housing.
In a rare acknowledgment that arms embargoes were impacting Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel might have to become an “autarkic characteristics” which he described as a “super-Sparta.”
Other moves to isolate Israel economically expanded in September. The exclusion of Israeli state owned assets from the Danish sovereign wealth fund on the basis of “international humanitarian principles” and human rights. This followed the August decision by the Norwegian fund to exclude Israeli companies, which became an issue in the September elections, where far left parties demanded the Labor Party expand Israeli boycott as a condition for joining a coalition. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also added 68 companies to its blacklist of firms doing business in the West Bank.
In a move long sought by the BDS movement, Microsoft disabled Israeli military access to its Azure cloud computing platform. An internal investigation showed that data obtained from surveillance of Palestinian civilian communications was being stored on the platform and that AI services were being used. The company stated this violated its policies regarding privacy and mass surveillance.
Efforts to boycott and isolate Israel have come as European defense industries struggle to scale up production against growing Russian threats. Fear of competitors, above all Israel and the US, motivate policies even as the need for Israeli and American products and technologies grows.
One example are European plans for continental anti-missile defenses which would integrate Israeli systems, acquisition of which is now threatened by boycott efforts. Another example is Morocco’s continued shift away from French arms to Israeli suppliers, which undermines French political influence in North Africa. Domestic political pressure, including from Muslim populations, however, has motivated the Philippines to terminate an arms contract with Israel. Greece has also delayed a major arms deal with Israel.
These economic challenges provide some of the backdrop for the British decision to ban official Israeli representation from the DSEI UK 2025 arms fair. Israeli companies were permitted to exhibit. Dubai also banned Israeli representation at the UAE air show, ostensibly over comments from Israeli ministers regarding annexation of the West Bank.
The Scottish Parliament’s vote in favor of a full boycott of Israel included demands that the British government adopt a full arms embargo, banned the import of Israeli “settlement goods,” and removed subsidies for Scottish firms accused of involvement in Israeli “genocide.”
Having taken the lead in accusing Israel of genocide, Spain announced a total arms embargo on Israel and canceled three major defense contracts. Shipments of arms to Israel will also be banned, a decision that brought criticism from the US State Department. The Spanish decision jeopardizes use of American military bases in Spain as transshipment points for resupplying Israel.
Efforts continue in the arts and cultural sphere to expel Israelis, Jews, and those who do not explicitly support the Palestinian cause.
In one notable incident, Israeli conductor Lahav Shani was scheduled to conduct the Munich Philharmonic at the Flanders Festival Ghent in Belgium. The invitation was revoked when as organizers determined that “in the light of his role as the chief conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, we are unable to provide sufficient clarity about his attitude to the genocidal regime in Tel Aviv.”
The orchestra and city of Munich condemned the Belgian decision, as did German and Belgian politicians including Prime Minister Bart De Wever.
The demand that Shani clarify his stance on “genocide” is paralleled by those being placed on Israeli pop artists throughout Europe, including signed statements and videos, especially by venue organizers and owners.
Other efforts continue to exclude Israel from international cultural life. Though the next Eurovision song contest will not be held until 2026, Spain, Slovenia, Iceland, Ireland, and the Netherlands have pledged to withdraw if Israel is allowed to participate.
Reports indicate Eurovision organizers have floated the idea that Israeli could be permitted to perform but without their flag or other identification. The sponsoring body, the European Broadcasting Union, has now called for an extraordinary meeting in November at which member broadcasters will vote on Israeli participation.
The hostility toward Israel also took several notable turns in the film industry. At the Cannes Film Festival the film The Voice of Hind Rajab about a Palestinian girl in Gaza who was killed during the Israeli counterattack received an unprecedented 22 minute ovation.
The award was followed by an open letter signed by some 4000 film industry members pledging to boycott the Israeli film industry. The group which promoted the original letter, Film Workers for Palestine, is closely aligned with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Similarly, at the Emmy Awards, a number of actors appeared with “ceasefire now” and other pro-Hamas regalia including pins representing bloody hands, a Palestinian symbol depicting the bloody hands of a Palestinian who had just murdered two Israeli soldiers.
Actor Hannah Einbinder won an award and during her speech stated “Go Birds, f**k ICE and free Palestine,” adding later that “I feel like it is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the State of Israel, because our religion and our culture is such an important and long standing institution that is really separate to this sort of ethno-nationalist state.”
In contrast, an Israeli documentary on October 7th that organizers had tried to bar won a popular award at the Toronto Film Festival.
Organizers had ludicrously claimed that filmmakers had not obtained permission from Hamas to include video footage shot by terrorists during the attack.
Anti-Israel protests also continue to plague sports. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez reiterated his demand that Israel be banned from all international sports. The call came after pro-Hamas protestors wrecked the end of the Vuelta a España cycling race by blocking the final stages into Madrid.
Sánchez expressed his admiration for protestors who disrupted the race but Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida condemned both the protestors and Sánchez, as did race organizers.
The impact of the attack, however, prompted the Israeli team’s sponsor, Factor Bikes, to demand the team compete under a different flag. The company’s founder stated “There’s just a certain amount of controversy we can’t afford regarding the brand.” The Israeli team was then not invited to a competition in Italy after threats of violence prompted “safety concerns.”
The author is a contributor to SPME, where a completely different version of this article was published.
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Anti-Israel US Lawmakers Largely Silent Amid Release of Final Living Hostages From Gaza
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses attendees as she takes part in a protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, US, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis
Several of the US Congress’s most outspoken critics of Israel have remained notably silent following the release of the remaining living Israeli hostages from Gaza on Monday.
Progressive lawmakers such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) have not issued statements acknowledging or reacting to the agreement as of this writing, nor have conservative critics of Israel such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY).
Two lawmakers who often castigate Israel, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), did end up issuing statements that seemed to focus more on the damage caused by the Israeli military campaign in Gaza than the hostages.
“Seven weeks ago I met with families in Hostages Square and I am relieved their long nightmare has finally come to an end with the return of the remaining living hostages,” Van Hollen posted on social media. “I also witnessed the utter devastation in Gaza and am relieved by the ceasefire & surge of humanitarian aid to civilians there.”
Meanwhile, Sanders in a statement lambasted what he described as Israel’s “barbaric campaign” in Gaza and described US support for the Israeli campaign to target Hamas as an “extremely dark chapter.” He briefly mentioned the hostages in one sentence.
“Today, we welcome the long overdue release of the 20 remaining Israelis held by Hamas and the freeing of almost 2,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails,” Sanders said. The senator appeared to be comparing Israelis kidnapped by invading Hamas fighters to Palestinian security prisoners, inclduing hundreds of convicted terrorists serving life sentences.
The silence of many US lawmakers is striking given their frequent, vocal demands for an immediate ceasefire while condemning Israel’s conduct in Gaza and calling attention to alleged human rights abuses. Many of these lawmakers, including Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Pressley, Sanders, and Greene, have accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza. Massie has accused Israel of indiscriminately targeting civilian infrastructure, and Van Hollen has accused Israel of deliberately starving civilians.
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication.
Another challenge for Israel has been Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
None of the lawmakers responded to The Algemeiner‘s requests for comment on the hostage release, which came as part of the US-brokered ceasefire to halt fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
However, some pro-Israel lawmakers were quick to release statements marking the release of the hostages. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), one of the most vocal allies of Israel in Congress, praised the “great American leadership” of US President Donald Trump in securing the release of the hostages. He urged the Hamas terrorist group to “lay down their weapons and step away from all governing responsibilities” in the Gaza enclave.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), another strident supporter of the Jewish state, praised the resilience of the surviving hostages.
“Those who were taken on October 7th will outlast the terrorist organization that tore them from their families and homes and unleashed a war of untold suffering,” Torres wrote, referring to Hamas’s Oct. 7, invasion of southern Israel during which the hostages were kidnapped.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote on X that “we will never again allow Hamas to threaten the United States and our friends.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) added, “Today is a victory for Israel, President Trump, and peace.” However, Cruz cautioned that “Hamas remains incredibly dangerous” and will likely attempt to attack Israel again in the future.
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‘Death to Zionism’: Students for Justice in Palestine Parrots Hamas Propaganda as Civil War Looms in Gaza
Hamas fighters on Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: Majdi Fathi via Reuters Connect
National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), a primary organ of the student anti-Zionist movement in the US, has appeared to call for executing Muslim “collaborators” working with Israel in retaliation for the death of Palestinian influencer Saleh Al-Jafarawi during a brewing conflict between the Hamas terrorist group and a rival clan, Doghmush, in Gaza City on Sunday.
“Saleh’s martyrdom is a testament to the fact that the fight against Zionism in all its manifestations — from the [Israel Defense Forces] to its collaborators — must continue,” the group said in a statement posted on social media. “In the face of hundreds of thousands of martyred Palestinians these past two years alone, collaborators and informants maintain their spineless disposition as objects of Zionist influence against their own people.”
The statement went on to volley a series of unfounded charges alleging that anti-Hamas forces are “exploiting Gaza’s youth for money” and pilfering “desperately needed aid to the killing of their own people in service of Zionism.” NSJP concluded, “Death to the occupation. Death to Zionism. Death to all collaborators.”
Despite NSJP’s characterization of Doghmush as a “collaborator” of Israel, sources from Gaza have reportedly denied any affiliation. The group has for years held ties with radical Islamist groups, including allies of al-Qaeda, and has participated in anti-Western terrorism. However, it has also clashed with Hamas within Gaza.
Hostilities escalated as Hamas began implementing components of a ceasefire with Israel over the weekend, when Doghmush members allegedly killed two Hamas fighters. The incident, according to the BBC, prompted the deployment of Hamas fighters into the streets of Gaza, some of whom concealed their identities by appearing in civilian clothing.
Reporting of the Hamas-Doghmush conflict suggests that the issue between the groups is not about support for Israel as NSJP argued but over the future of the governance of Gaza, of which Hamas terrorists forcibly seized control nearly two decades ago. Experts told the BBC that the situation is ripe for civil war, a possibility for which Hamas is preparing by proactively waging a propaganda campaign which depicts Doghmush as advancing Israeli security objectives in the region.
“We cannot leave Gaza at the mercy of thieves and militias backed by the Israeli occupation,” Hamas told the outlet in a statement. “Our weapons are legitimate … to resist occupation, and they will remain as long as the occupation continues.”
NSJP later parroted Hamas’s characterization of Doghmush, a point which social media users pointed to as cause for a federal investigation.
“Why is this group operating in the US?” wrote Documenting Jew Hatred on Campus at Columbia, a nonprofit advocacy group, on the X social media platform. “They love Hamas and want anyone who opposes them dead.”
As The Algemeiner has previously reported, NSJP, which has been linked to Islamist terrorist organizations, has publicly discussed its strategy of using the anti-Zionist student movement as a weapon for destroying the US.
“Divestment [from Israel] is not an incrementalist goal. True divestment necessitates nothing short of the total collapse of the university structure and American empire itself,” the organization said in September 2024. “It is not possible for imperial spoils to remain so heavily concentrated in the metropole and its high-cultural repositories without the continuous suppression of populations that resist the empire’s expansion; to divest from this is to undermine and eradicate America as we know it.”
The tweet was the latest in a series of revelations of SJP’s revolutionary goals and its apparent plans to amass armies of students and young people for a long campaign of subversion against US institutions, including the economy, military, and higher education. Like past anti-American movements, SJP has also been fixated on the presence and prominence of Jews in American life and the US’s alliance with Israel, the world’s only Jewish state.
On the same day the tweet was posted, Columbia University’s most strident pro-Hamas organization was reported to be distributing literature calling on students to join the Palestinian terrorist group’s movement to destroy Israel during the school’s convocation ceremony.
“This booklet is part of a coordinated and intentional effort to uphold the principles of the thawabit and the Palestinian resistance movement overall by transmitting the words of the resistance directly,” said a pamphlet distributed by Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), an SJP spinoff, to incoming freshmen. “This material aims to build popular support for the Palestinian war of national liberation, a war which is waged through armed struggle.”
Other sections of the pamphlet were explicitly Islamist, invoking the name of “Allah, the most gracious” and referring to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Proclaiming, “Glory to Gaza that gave hope to the oppressed, that humiliated the ‘invincible’ Zionist army,” it said its purpose is to build an army of Muslims worldwide.
“We call upon the masses of our Arab and Islamic nations, its scholars, men, institutions, and active forces to come out in roaring crowds tomorrow,” it added, referring to an event which took place the previous December. “We also renew our invitation to the free people and those with living consciences around the world to continue and escalate their global public movement, rejecting the occupation’s crimes, in solidarity with our people and their just cause and legitimate struggle.”
Middle East experts have long suspected that foreign agents are conspiring with SJP chapters.
In July 2024, then-US National Intelligence Director Avril Haines issued a statement outlining how Iran has encouraged and provided financial support to the anti-Israel campus protest movement and explaining that it is part of a larger plan to “undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.” Haines also confirmed that US intelligence agencies have “observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Chelsea Film Festival to Open in NYC With Seven Titles From Israeli Filmmakers
A scene from Remnants. Photo: Provided
The 13th annual Chelsea Film Festival is opening in New York City this week and will feature seven titles from Israeli filmmakers that include short films, animations, and world premieres.
“Not My Weekend,” directed by Rona Segal, is a 19-minute short film making its international debut at the Chelsea Film Festival. The drama from Israel takes place during a single night and follows Sharon, a divorced woman in her 40s, who gets invited to a rave party on her free night, but when her ex-husband stands her up, she must find someone to watch her child if she wants to attend the party. The film stars Liat Tamari, Tamar Reinhertz, Meir Swissa, and Sahron Shaha.
From director Ronald Geronimo, “Not Supposed to Happen” is a short film starring Itay Greenberg and Almog Michaelson as a couple who try to spend an intimate evening together at one of their parents’ houses, while hiding their sexual identity and relationship. “The pressure from distractions and interruptions by the family outside the room forces the couple to confront the real issues between them,” according to a synopsis of the film provided by the Chelsea Film Festival. The film is making its world premiere at the festival.
Making its New York City premiere is “Remnants,” directed by Roman Shumunov. Fourteen-year-old Rona struggles to cope with the loss of her sister, who is violently killed in the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and as her school prepares for the National Memorial Day ceremony, Rona is worried about her sister’s memory fading. “In response, she decides to take an extreme course of action, according to a synopsis of the film. “In that moment, she meets Oren, who, much like her, wrestles with grief after his father was killed when he was a little boy; but unlike her, Oren guards a hidden truth: he has no recollection of his father.” Rona and Oren ultimately form a bond that forces them to confront their pain and families. The cast includes Achinoam Moyal, Barak Shmuel-Drechsel, Rita Shukrun, Yael Karpalov, Yali Akunis, Ohad Knoller, and Michal Yanai.
“Sunday” is a short film about an 84-year-old whose life is forever changed one Sunday by an unexpected guest. Directed by Elkie Leonie Hershberg, Tom Kouris, and Hani Dombe, the film stars Danielle Jadelyn, Steve Weizman, and Jamie Tuckett. “The Visits of the Tooth Fairy” is an 8-minute animation about a five-year-old on a quest to discover the truth about the Tooth Fairy, and “Underdog” is about a rebellious young woman who, during her community service, helps a rejected dog find a family and finds meaning in her life for the first time. “Out of Sleep,” from directors Elian Lazovsky and Yuval Erez, is a short film in which a divorced couple is forced to confront unresolved issues when their eight-year-old daughter disappears in the middle of the night while sleepwalking. “Out of Sleep” is making its international premiere at the Chelsea Film Festival, and the cast includes Riki Blich, Shlomi Tapiero, Ilanit Ben Yaakov, and Arieli Kats.
This year’s Chelsea Film Festival will present the seven Israeli films at Regal Theatres Union Square from Oct. 16-19 and online from Oct. 15-31.