Catherine Small

Over 2,750 U-M alumni signed a pro-BDS "Letter of Solidarity" in December 2023 that spread hatred of Israel during its war against Hamas in Gaza. The letter was organized by Alumni of UMICH for Palestine.

Israel launched the war after the October 7, 2023, terror attacks in which Hamas murdered nearly 1,200 Israelis, injured thousands, and kidnapped hundreds. The letter began by claiming that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was engaging in an "illegal occupation, apartheid, and genocide" in its war against Hamas.

For years before the 2023-2025 war, pro-terror activists routinely accused Israel of "genocide." On October 8, 2023, they continued using this "blood libel" to try to normalize it.

The letter labeled Israeli airstrikes against terrorist infrastructure as "horrific indiscriminate bombardment." It further alleged that Israel maintains a "system of colonization, military occupation, and apartheid."

One way anti-Israel activists spread antisemitism is to deny Jewish history and religious rights to the Land of Israel in order to portray Jews as foreign to the land. They do this to delegitimize restored Jewish sovereignty and terms they use include accusing Israel of "colonialism" and "imperialism."

The letter also accused Israel of enforcing a "16-year blockade on Gaza," claiming it was part of an "ethnic cleansing campaign."

The United Nations approved [pp. 39–41] the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza in 2011 as a security measure to stop Hamas from acquiring sophisticated rockets and missiles. Multiple flotillas have attempted to breach the blockade, with at least one initiating a violent confrontation with Israeli forces.

Following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the Israeli military discovered that Hamas went around the blockade by smuggling weaponry through tunnels under the Philadelphi corridor separating Gaza from Egypt.

The letter echoed the demands of the student groups Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) and the campus chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), known as JVP UMich. SAFE is the campus Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter. The groups have called for U-M end all trips to Israel, maintain an academic boycott against Israel, and divest from companies doing business with Israel.

The letter condemned U-M administration and campus police for their response to anti-Israel student protests and the occupation of administration buildings led by SAFE and JVP. It accused the university of "harassing, threatening, and disciplining students" and deploying "violent policing."

It further demanded that U-M divest from all companies associated with Israel, as well as "discontinue exchange programs and strategic partnerships with Israeli universities."

Finally, the letter's signatories pledged to "withhold donations and sever our ties to the University of Michigan until these demands are met."

On October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped 251 and wounded thousands. War crimes included various systematic sexual crimes like gang rape and genital mutilation. Men and women were violated, even after being murdered. Victims who survived that day, including hostages, endured forms of humiliation and torture.

Gazans working in the targeted Israeli villages provided intelligence to Hamas on which families to kill and torture, including long-time employers. Many Palestinian civilians joined in and celebrated the attacks. Hamas livestreamed their crimes on social media, including to victims’ accounts for families to see. To learn more, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.

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.