Jonathan Ben-Menachem

Close to 200 anti-Israel college encampments were set up in North America in the spring of 2024. The first took place at Columbia University. Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities, used anti-Semitic language in their activism, promoted BDS and protested Israel’s war against Hamas.

On April 23, 2024, Ben-Menachem wrote in an article for Zeteo that on April 22 he had “joined hundreds of…fellow student workers for a walk-out in solidarity with the [Columbia] encampment.”

On April 22, 2024, Columbia faculty members held a “‘Faculty Walkout’ rally…to support Palestine and Liberated Zone Encampment.” The event was held in support of the students arrested by the New York Police Department (NYPD) and suspended by the university.

Faculty members carrying signs that said [00:00:35]: “END STUDENT SUSPENSIONS NOW” and “HANDS OFF OUR STUDENTS” walked out of their classrooms and made their way to the steps of the library facing the encampment. A crowd gathered and chanted: “Disclose! Divest! We will not stop, we will not rest!” Many walkout participants addressed [00:00:14] the crowd, expressing faculty support for their students and the encampment.

In a May 28 episode of The End of Sport podcast, Ben-Menachem said he [00:13:48] “visited [the Columbia encampment] many times.” He also said [00:36:53] that on April 29, after the students were handed notices calling for them to evict the encampment, he “helped…organize…a mobilization wave.”

The encampment was also in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Columbia is located in New York, New York.

Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia University

On April 17, 2024, Columbia students and anti-Israel activists set up a pro-Hamas “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the university's main lawn. Many participants were arrested and the encampment featured multiple violent incidents, including taking over a campus building and taking a university worker hostage.

Activists protested Israel’s war against Hamas and demanded that Columbia “divest from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation…”

The action had reportedly been planned for months and was organized by the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition. The encampment was also organized by Columbia’s banned pro-Hamas activist group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the university chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Activists reportedly received training from National SJP and other anti-Israel organizations.

Among the encampment leaders was Columbia student Khymani James who had said [00:00:25]: “Zionists…They are nazis!... They’re supporters of genocide! Why would we want people who are supporters of genocide to live?... Be glad, be grateful that I am not just going out and murdering Zionists.” Aidan Parisi, another encampment leader, responded to Columbia’s demand to disband the encampment by declaring online that: “COLUMBIA WILL BURN.”

The encampment was forcibly dismantled at the directive of Columbia’s president and administration. The NYPD [New York Police Department] entered the area, cleared the encampment and arrested more than 100 protestors, approximately 80 of whom were Columbia students. The students were charged with trespassing and suspended from Columbia indefinitely.

The next day, activists created a new encampment. When divestment negotiations with Columbia failed, protesters illegally forced their way into the university’s Hamilton Hall on April 30, 2024. They smashed [00:00:55] through a glass-paneled door, broke security cameras, threw university property out of the windows and unfurled [00:00:01] a banner in the building’s wall that read: “INTIFADA,” a term in Arabic for uprising or insurrection that carries the connotation of violence.

While barricading themselves in the building, agitators kept three Columbia custodians hostage and stopped them from leaving. When the NYPD raided and dismantled the encampment a second time, they arrested more than 100 students, nearly half of whom were reportedly not affiliated with Columbia.

NYPD shared on Twitter photos of objects the police found in Hamilton Hall. These included knives, hammers, gas masks, ropes and a pamphlet that read [video 1]: “...DISRUPT/RECLAIM/DESTROY zionist business interests everywhere! DEATH TO ISRAELI REAL STATE! DEATH TO AMERICA!...LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA!”

Just outside the encampment area, Jewish students were called [slide 2]: “Uncultured a** b**ches!” and were told to “Go back to Europe!” Activists also said [slide 3] to them: “Yahoodim [Jews], yahoodi [Jew], f**k you!” and “Stop killing children!” as they walked from campus to their dorm rooms.

Also just outside the encampment area, anti-Israel activists chanted [slide 5]: “Ya Hamas, ya habib, odrob, odrob Tel Aviv! [Oh Hamas, oh loved one, strike, strike Tel Aviv!]”, a chant that celebrates Hamas rocket attacks against Israel.

An activist just outside the encampment area held [photo 4] a sign that said, referring to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing: “AL-QASAM’S NEXT TARGETS.” Her sign contained an arrow pointing to a pro-Israel crowd.

On May 31, 2024, Columbia SJP announced that its activists had set up a third encampment at the university. At the encampment, protesters reportedly displayed on a big screen a video that portrayed Hamas as a peace-seeking organization and made a sign that contained an inverted red triangle, a symbol in support of Hamas.

Background on Pro-Hamas Encampments

The encampment was one of over 140 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. As of May 26, 2024, 125 hostages remained in Hamas captivity.

Jonathan Ben-Menachem’s Anti-Semitism

On May 29, 2024, Ben-Menachem posted on X a screenshot from an article about a Jewish student who had been feeling unsafe on campus and was relieved that police arrested protesters. Ben-Menachem wrote: “...White Jews are using police violence against political enemies.”

On May 18, 2024, Ben-Menachem posted on X: “until the past few months i really didn’t realize how far the zionist lawyer stuff goes.” In the same thread, he posted: “Have recently come to understand that the legal profession as a whole is quite intensely Zionist.”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture. Zionism is a core part of the identity of most Jews.

On May 7, 2024, Ben-Menachem posted on X: “Police violence on campus is not a matter of police ‘failing to protect’ students. Violence is precisely what we expect of police, Nazis, and Zionists…”

On May 4, 2024, Ben-Menachem posted on X, referring to the New York City Police Department (NYPD): “NYPD ZiosNazis.”

The term "Zio" is a common derogatory reference to Zionists, as well as an often-used anti-Semitic slur among white supremacists.

On May 2, 2024, Ben-Menachem posted on X: “NYPD openly contributing to Nazi Zio dox campaign.”

Jonathan Ben-Menachem’s Support for Hamas Terrorism

On October 7, 2023, Ben-Menachem posted on X: “Apparently terrorism is when you hit someone and they hit you back.” His post was in response to a statement by the White House condemning Hamas’s terror attacks and murder of 1,200 Israelis that day.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped hundreds and wounded thousands. War crimes included mass rape and torture. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” For more information, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.

On May 27, 2024, Ben-Menachem posted on X a screenshot from an article that said, referring to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 terror attacks: “...The appetite for the most grotesque images of violence against Israelis is so ravenous-leading to the repetition of dubious claims of mass beheading and rape that have the appearance of blood libels…”

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.

Denial of the Hamas war crimes of October 7, 2023, among anti-Israel activists has been likened to Holocaust denial among neo-Nazis.

Jonathan Ben-Menachem’s Anti-Israel Activism, Work and Education

Jonathan Ben-Menachem is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

As of May 2024, Ben-Menachem was an organizer [00:33:30] for CUAD.

As of October 2024, Ben-Menachem was listed on the Columbia website as a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology.

As of the same date, Ben-Menachem’s LinkedIn profile said he was located in New York, New York.