Here We Go Again: Anti-Israel Protestors Plan Campus Disruptions This Fall

There has been unceasing tension between Palestine and Israel supporters since the terrorist organization Hamas attacked on October 7. In the U.S., the pro-Israel marches that have taken place have been collected and tame. The pro-Palestinian protests, by contrast, have been full of anger, violence, and all sorts of chaos.

The most recent anti-Israel mob to walk the streets of Washington D.C. left Union Station, a popular city landmark, full of vandalism and the ashes of the American flag they burned. At this protest, police officers were attacked by some of the thousands that surrounded them. 

And any pro-Israel counter-protestor that dared to face the tsunami of Hamas sympathizers was, at the very least, met with intense verbal harassment. This demonstration was by no means the first of its kind, and presumably, it will not be the last. However, college students across the nation are gearing up to make a statement notably different than those that have taken place.

The anti-Israel protests that occurred on college campuses in the spring and throughout the first part of summer were utter pandemonium. Encampments sprang up, Jewish students were harassed, and campus buildings were broken into and seized by the terrorist enthusiasts. 

This fall, however, the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) is organizing "a nationwide strike to demand universities divest from Israel." And while there is no set date for when this next wave of protest will commence, it's reportedly designed to encourage students to "disrupt campus life" by cutting class.

"Palestine and the current political moment around it is the most important movement in our lifetimes," the YSDA resolution stated. "Students across the country are organizing for their schools to divest from Israel in the largest anti-war movement since 2003." It went on to describe the "moment" as "exciting" and one that cannot be allowed to be "self-contained or fade away."

Allegedly, the purpose of this adjusted strategy is to keep up the "momentum" regarding these pro-Palestinian protests. According to YDSA National Coordinating Committee member Erin Lawson, "No one can ignore large swathes of empty classrooms. ... We need disruption -- and a strike does just that. When students refuse to go to class, the university cannot function." But the question remains: will these fall class strikes produce different results than the spring campus encampments? David Closson, director of Family Research Council's Center for Biblical Worldview, doesn't believe so.

It's unlikely "this latest call to skip class will prompt any meaningful movement on the part of campus administrators," he shared with The Washington Stand. "This call is just the latest in a decades-long movement known as the BDS movement -- Boycott, Divest, and Sanction -- that has been going on now for years." It stands to reason that "those sympathetic with the Palestinian cause have sought to leverage influence for years against the state of Israel, with little to no effect." As such, he speculated "these agitators are simply trying another technique that likely will inconvenience campus life, but prompt very little practical effect."

But what Closson described as "a lamentable fact of American life" is how, as evidenced by the spring campus protests, there "are very few consequences for holding patently anti-Semitic viewpoints or engaging in conduct that threatens the lives of Jewish students." And Closson predicted that the same will be true of whatever unfolds in the upcoming fall semester.

Ultimately, he argued, "It seems that anti-Semitism is one of the few remaining racist ideologies that people are allowed to hold and get away with." And "for those who have tracked these issues for many years, the BDS movement is not new." And yet, "It does increasingly appear that anti-Israel agitators are becoming more aggressive in their advocacy and in their demonstrations against Israel."

However, Closson noted that Christians shouldn't be surprised by these developments. As he put it, "Anti-Semitism, whether in the pronouncements of Haman or Hitler, does not seem to ever truly die. I'm under no illusion that the late spring protests we witnessed at the conclusion of the most recent school year will continue in some form on American college campuses, particularly elite college campuses."

But according to Closson, there is a biblical response to this. "Christians should expect anti-Israel, anti-Jewish protests," he said. At the same time, "while we recognize that every person, including protesters, are made in God's image, Christians ought to be the people that speak the truth in love and condemn anti-Semitism wherever it may be found." 

He concluded that "we should also be the people that look to stand in solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters, letting them know that the Christian community stands squarely with them as their very identity is threatened and called into question."

Over in Australia, things are already in full swing and are a preview of what to expect here:

More than 500 students at the University of Sydney voted to reject a motion to condemn Hamas's barbaric attack on Oct. 7, drawing international criticism.

The Student General Meeting (SGM) of the Student Representative Council (SRC) on Aug. 8 featured only two pro-Israel speakers, who were heckled and ridiculed by the crowd, with one reportedly spat on by students in the front row.

The defeated motion to "condemn the attacks of October 7th and condemn the genocidal terrorist organization Hamas," was introduced by university student Satvik Sharma, reported the university's weekly student newspaper Honi Soit.

"You guys have just voted against condemning the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust," Sharma said.

The students overwhelmingly passed two anti-Israel resolutions: one calling for the school to "cut ties with the genocide in Gaza" and divest from weapons makers and institutions of higher education in Israel, and a second supporting a Palestinian state and the Palestinians' "right to resist," i.e. to engage in violent attack.

After the two anti-Israel motions were passed, "a large contingent" of students marched to the vice chancellor's office chanting, "Divest, divest your many, many billions. Your profits are covered in the blood of Palestinians," the student paper reported. 

In an Aug. 9 interview with Sky News Australia, Leach was asked by host Rita Panahi, "How do we get to a situation where the majority of students vote against a motion to condemn Hamas?"

"I am in disbelief as much as you are. I think we all knew campuses were toxic. We all knew that the levels of antisemitism we're seeing are unacceptable. But I think what last night showed is these people are not just anti-Israel. They're actually pro Hamas. They're pro terrorism," Leach said.

Describing the atmosphere in the room, Leach recalled students laughing at her when she talked about the rape of Israeli women, the treatment of queer people by Hamas and the importance of human rights.

"I had one girl screaming 'Allahu Akbar' in my face. They don't see you as human anymore," Leach said. "Campuses have always been hotbeds for political activism and debate, and that's how it should be. But now this is not activism. It is actually just hate. And it's all about spreading hate and shutting down anybody that disagrees with you and dehumanizing them."

Originally published at Washington Stand/JNS