Jane Henderson Burnham

In May 2024, 370 faculty, staff, students, and alumni of The Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis signed an anti-Israel open letter that also endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The “Open Letter from Brown School Students” was published in response to Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists. Israel launched the war after the October 7, 2023, terror attacks, in which Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis, took over 250 hostages, and injured thousands.

On multiple occasions, the letter accused [pp. 1-3] Israel of "genocide" during its war against Hamas.

The letter further supported [p. 3] the "demands" of anti-Israel, pro-BDS campus group Resist WashU "for divestment from Boeing [which has technical partnerships with Israel], cutting ties with educational institutions in Israel...and [WashU's] condemnation of the ongoing genocide in Palestine."

Likewise, the letter demanded [p. 2] that The Brown School and its dean, Dorian Traube, "bring an end to their silence on the ongoing genocide of Palestinians."

The Brown School open letter also supported the April 2024 anti-Israel encampment at WashU, which resulted in approximately 100 arrests, including many activists unaffiliated with WashU. Among those reportedly arrested and banned from campus were 23 WashU students, including five Brown School students and at least four employees. All arrestees faced criminal charges for trespassing, with some also facing charges of resisting arrest and assault.

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, thousands of heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation.

Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”

Many Palestinian civilians, including women and children, participated in and supported the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks. Gazans who worked in the targeted Israeli communities gave intelligence to Hamas on which homes to strike.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas raped both women and men. Some were raped and murdered or mutilated. Hamas terrorists said they were given explicit orders to carry out those atrocities on both live victims and corpses.

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.