Claire Hedberg

On May 1, 2024, anti-Israel activists and Dartmouth students and faculty gathered on Dartmouth Green for a rally to protest Israel’s war against Hamas and to set up a pro-Hamas and pro-BDS encampment.

Encampment participants demanded Dartmouth divest from companies that support Israel.

The encampment was organized by local anti-Israel activist groups including Dartmouth Palestine Solidarity Coalition (Dartmouth PSC), Dartmouth Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP Dartmouth) and Jewish Voice for Peace Vermont and New Hampshire (JVP VTNH). JVP VTNH is a chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

At the encampment, protestors chanted: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!” The chant is used to call for the elimination of the State of Israel.

Encampment participants also chanted: “Divest! Don’t arrest!” and “This is what democracy looks like!”

Officers from Dartmouth’s Department of Safety and Security warned the protesters on the day of the encampment that they were “in violation of College policy” after students set up five tents on the Green.

Later that night, when the tents were still on the Green, Safety and Security, Hanover Police, Lebanon Police and New Hampshire state troopers arrested 89 students, faculty and community members. They also dismantled the encampment and dispersed hundreds of people from the streets.

There were over 200 pro-Hamas and anti-Israel college encampments set up in North America, and over 20 more globally, in the spring of 2024. The first began on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University. The encampments were unofficially known as the “student intifada,” borrowing a term associated with terrorist violence.

Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and shouted anti-Semitic slogans. They occupied campus grounds, in many cases illegally, caused property damage, violently took over buildings, celebrated terrorism and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Activists set up encampments to oppose Israel’s right to wage war against the Hamas terror group following October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 people, including 32 American and 8 Canadian citizens. Hamas also kidnapped 252 people, including 11 Americans and the bodies of 2 murdered Canadians.

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.