BDS: Normalizing Antisemitism Beyond the Campus

February 05, 2020

For years, Jewish groups and pro-Israel allies have been protesting the delegitimization campaign’s satellite ‘student-led grassroots organizations’ on campus, namely because of the hostile climate that the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) student groups create for Jewish and pro-Israel students on campus.

The recently released, “The New Antisemites” report demonstrates that the same anti-Semitism that has been normalized on US college campuses in the past decade or so by the BDS movement is now being normalized increasingly beyond the college campuses. This includes in mainstream media outlets and forums of publicly elected officials, both locally and federally.

One of the primary student groups that promotes anti-Semitism alongside their delegitimization of the State of Israel on campus is National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP).

Recently, the University of Minnesota’s SJP (SJP UMN) chapter hosted the ninth-annual NSJP conference, which congregated hundreds of student activists and multiple BDS organizations for several days of activism training that included workshops, panels and other activities. The SJP UMN chapter is one of 200 SJP chapters nationwide. As a recent report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy reveals, NSJP, which launched in 2010, has multiple ties to terrorism. NSJP connections to terror include financial ties and the hosting of radical pro-Palestinian speakers during events and conferences, many of whom openly support terrorists or were convicted of terror themselves. 2019’s annual conference focused on how to capitalize on the new development of open support for the BDS movement among elected officials in the United States government.

In addition to its terror connections, NSJP provides a platform for antisemitism amongst the student population on multiple campuses. Below are some of the forms of Jew-hatred espoused and disseminated by NSJP chapters and their members:

The process of perpetuating antisemitism masked as ‘legitimate’ criticism of Israel affects not only the followers and sympathizers of the delegitimization campaign, but the overall discourse surrounding the local Jewish population as well. By flooding social media and public spaces with antisemitic language, imagery and tropes, antisemitism becomes the norm. Normalization of antisemitism leads to a radicalization of public discourse and hateful rhetoric, which in turn creates an unhealthy environment that fosters potential for violent attacks.  The string of attacks during Hanukkah on the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York (NY) area, unfortunately, attests to this phenomenon.

Months before the violent December surge in antisemitic attacks against the visibly Jewish orthodox communities of the New York metropolitan area, the Rockland County Republican Party (of NY) was slammed after producing and posting a campaign video targeting ultra-Orthodox Jewish residents, including Hasidic enclaves and legislators. The video features imagery of an incoming storm and rolling thunder warning that “a storm is brewing”, depicting the existence of the ultra-Orthodox communities as an attack on the local way of life. Moreover, it portrays the Jewish community as an ominous threat poised for a hostile takeover. The video also refers to the classic, age-old Jew-hating trope, alleging that Jews and their legislatures are ultimately hellbent on controlling access to water.

Later, in September 2019, two separate incidents occurred within weeks of each other. In both incidents, local council representatives in different cities of New Jersey openly used the expression, “Jew us down” at public city council meetings. In one such case, the slur was made by the President of the Trenton City Council and even defended by a fellow councilwoman, who later recanted her defense of the slur. Both Trenton and the City of Paterson, NJ are considered part of the New York metropolitan area, according to the Census Bureau.

Just before the Hanukkah attacks on the local Jewish communities of the NY metropolitan area, NY attorney general, Letitia James filed claims against officials in NY’s Orange county (which neighbors Rockland County) for systematically discriminating against Hassidic Jewish families by preventing them from moving there. It is important to note that Grafton Thomas, the alleged perpetrator in the Monsey Hanukkah stabbing, is a resident of Orange County.

In order to prevent the further deterioration and radicalization of public discourse, which result in violent and deadly attacks, the full institutional adoption of the working definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) of anti-Semitism is an in important first step. The IHRA working definition was intended to act as a yardstick for identifying and measuring the line between legitimate criticism of Israel and Jew hatred. As we are now witnessing in 21st century America, the blurring of this line is having deadly consequences.