Austin Hale [Austin Douglas Hale] was arrested in May 2024 during an anti-Israel sit-in at Hadley Hall on the New Mexico State University (NMSU) campus.
The profilee's activism occurred during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which Israel launched after the October 7, 2023, terror attacks when Hamas murdered nearly 1,200 Israelis, injured thousands and kidnapped hundreds.
On May 9, 2024, Austin Hale was reportedly arrested and charged with "criminal trespass and resisting or obstructing" at the sit-in, which took place in the wake of NMSU’s pro-Hamas encampment.
As of August 2025, Hale's Instagram bio said he went by the name "Axel Hale" and was a "...NMSU CMI major..."
As of the same date, Hale's Threads bio said: "...F**k the police, Free Palestine."
“Free Palestine!” is a chant used to call for Israel's destruction, acting as a shorter version of "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!" It was shouted during multiple deadly attacks on pro-Israel activists in 2025 in America. It has been used to vandalize synagogues and other Jewish buildings, and has been described as a "battle cry for the death of Jews.”
NMSU is located in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
On May 9, 2024, 11 people were arrested at NMSU’s Hadley Hall after a group of "pro-Palestinian demonstrators" staged a sit-in and refused to leave the building after hours. Charges for those arrested included felony battery on a peace officer, felony criminal damage to property, misdemeanor resisting/obstructing an officer and misdemeanor criminal trespass. At least 4 of the 11 arrestees were or had been NMSU students. Hadley Hall sustained a broken window and graffiti on the outside of the building.
A self-described group of "activists from the NMSU Palestine Solidarity encampment," which had ended three days previously, had come to Hadley Hall to present a petition to NMSU's interim president Monica Torres demanding the university call for "a permanent ceasefire in Palestine...speak out against the genocide of Palestinians...and begin the process of divesting from companies and educational institutions" associated with Israel. Participants live-streamed the event, calling for others to join them.
Nearly 200 anti-Israel college encampments were set up in North America in spring 2024. Activists harassed Jews with antisemitic slurs, expressed their support [00:02:45] for Hamas terrorism and called [00:04:45] for Israel's destruction. They blocked Jews from campus facilities and limited access to those with special wristbands or who said they weren't a Zionist.
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.
BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.
The movement’s most notable achievement has been infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents and pro-terror activism on campus.
