Nick Wilson
Overview
Nick Wilson was arrested while participating in a pro-Hamas encampment at Cornell University (Cornell) in March 2024.Nick Wilson is a Cornell student who was arrested for criminal trespass on March 21, 2024 after he refused to leave a sit-in demonstration in a Cornell administration building, demanding divestment from Israel.
Wilson was suspended from Cornell in April 2024 for his role as a leader of the anti-Israel encampment, after being charged with “unauthorized use of University property…failure to comply with University directives to remove the unauthorized encampment, unreasonably loud chants and behavior, and failure to disperse…after the deadline given by administrators.”
Nick Wilson also demonized Israel during and after the sit-in, the encampment, his arrest and his suspension.
On April 25, 2024, the Ithaca Voice news site reported that Wilson was “one of the organizers” of the encampment, carried out by Cornell’s Coalition for Mutual Liberation (CML), a pro-Palestinian coalition of over forty organizations.
As of November 2024, Wilson’s X account bio said he served as co-chair of the anti-Israel Cornell chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (cornellydsa), part of CML.
The encampment was also in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Wilson’s activism occurred during Israel’s war against Hamas, called “Swords of Iron.” Israel launched the war after a series of Hamas terror attacks and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023. The attacks left approximately 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
As of November 2024, Wilson’s LinkedIn profile said he was a student at Cornell pursuing a bachelor’s degree in industrial and labor relations, slated to graduate in May 2026.
Also as of the same date, Wilson’s LinkedIn said he was located in Ithaca, New York.
April 2024 - Hatred of Israel at the Cornell Anti-Israel Encampment
On April 25, 2024, the first day of the Cornell encampment, the Cornell Daily Sun reported that Wilson spoke to the encampment protesters.On April 26, 2024, the Cornell Daily Sun reported that Wilson was suspended by Cornell. The report said that Wilson was charged with “unauthorized use of University property by engaging in or facilitating outdoor camping on the Arts Quad without approval, failure to comply with University directives to remove the unauthorized encampment, unreasonably loud chants and behavior, failure to disperse from the Arts Quad and staying past 8 p.m. on April 25 — the initial deadline to leave given by administrators.”
Following Wilson’s suspension, which was reportedly “effective immediately, pending a resolution of the underlying conduct action,” he spoke at the encampment where he said [00:01:48]: “Cornell University's decision to suspend just four students reflects a fundamental misapprehension of what we're building here!”
Wilson also said [00:12:33]: “The suspension of four students will be like cutting off one head and having 10 million spawn in its place.”
Wilson concluded his speech by leading [00:13:28] the chant: “Free, free Palestine! Free, free Palestine!”
On April 26, 2024, Spectrum News reported that Wilson said about the encampment: “This is the liberated zone at Cornell.”
Wilson also said: “And here at Cornell, we're calling for that after a student referendum where almost 70% of students called on the university to divest from 10 weapons manufacturers complicit in the genocide in Israel.”
Demonizing Israel
On April 27, 2024, Wilson published an article in the Cornell Daily Sun in which he wrote: “The first protest I ever attended—the first real one, where I felt that our actions represented a meaningful threat to those in power–was in Chicago in May of 2021, after Israel’s violent raid on peaceful worshippers in Al-Aqsa mosque.”Wilson also wrote: “While marching…I found myself…leading the crowd in chants…Often I was chanting in Arabic (a language I did not understand)...It was the first time I truly realized that my voice had power…”
In May 2021, violent clashes broke out between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa compound following claims the Al-Aqsa Mosque was in danger. The subsequent incitement was a leading factor in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza into Israel later that month. Israel responded by launching “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza. Allegations of Jews “threatening” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque have been a traditional pretext for Arab attacks on Jews predating the State of Israel.
On April 26, 2024, Wilson published an article in the Cornell Daily Sun, referring to Israel’s war against Hamas: “We are now well over a year into the most documented genocide in history…The Israeli ethno-state continues its regime of settler-colonial expansion…”
On September 18, 2024, the Cornell Sun reported that CML organized a “disruption” of a students’ Career Fair featuring “representatives of Boeing and L3Harris, two of the manufacturing companies listed” in a student government referendum, as “supporting the ongoing war in Gaza.” The report said that CML members “spoke in support of Palestinian resistance amid Israel’s military bombardment of Gaza and condemned Cornell’s investment in weapons manufacturers.”
The Cornell Sun article included an image of Wilson marching with CML members towards the career fair held at The Statler Hotel. The report said the disruption “involved shoving police officers, making guests of the University feel threatened and denying student the opportunity to experience the career fair.” The University issued a statement saying: “This behavior is unacceptable, a violation of University policy and illegal” and said “Cornell Police are working to identify protesters…for disciplinary actions” and possible criminal charges.
On September 19, 2024, Wilson wrote an op-ed titled: “Necessary Discomfort: On the Sept. 18 Career Fair Disruption” in which he claimed: “...American missiles are being used in one of the most repugnant acts of ethnic cleansing in human history…”
Cornell Encampment April and May 2024
On April 25, 2024, Cornell students set up a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the lawn of the university’s Art Quad. The encampment was organized by CML.Encampment participants demanded [slide 4] that Cornell divest from companies and institutions linked with Israel and called [slide 5] for an “unconditional, permanent ceasefire in Gaza.”
Protesters also demanded [slide 6] the establishment of a Palestinian studies program with representatives from the Cornell chapter of the anti-Israel campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) serving on the “committees that oversee the hiring of the program’s faculty.” They also demanded [slide 7] public acknowledgment and protection of “anti-Zionist speech, viewpoints, and histories in both religious and academic contexts.”
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 September 18, 2024, the Cornell Chapter of YDSA, posted on X: “...@Cornell has refused to re-register Cornell SJP, our coalition partners in @cmlcornell…” as a student organization. The post said: “This prevents SJP from receiving club funding, registering new members, and…from registering events…”
On April 25, 2024, a Cornell administrator met [00:00:15] with students and told them they did not have permission to set the encampment. The Ithaca Voice reported that Cornell set up a deadline for protesters to dismantle the encampment by night facing the risk of arrest. Students reacted [00:00:36] by forming a human chain surrounding the encampment.
During the encampment, anti-Israel protesters chanted [00:00:01]: “Disclose! Divest! We will not stop! We will not rest!” Among the speakers [photo 4] at the encampment was anti-Israel professor Russell Rickford, who called the Hamas’ October 7, 2023 terror attack against Israel “exhilarating…energizing!”
One large sign that was part of the encampment’s boundary also accused [photo 2] Israel of committing “genocide” in its war against Hamas. The Cornell Daily Sun reported that protesters “continuously chanted, ‘Israel bombs, Cornell pays, how many kids did you kill today?”
The Cornell Daily Sun reported that some students had their classes canceled “in face [sic] of the student protests, with some professors joining the encampment.”
On May 13, 2024, the Cornell encampment ended on the students’ initiative.
BDS
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true.
One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”
Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”
In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”
The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.
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 the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.
Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.
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 on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100078476812892X:https://x.com/unionnick
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-wilson-122029256/
