Rosa Acevedo

On May 3, 2026, pro-BDS advocates signed an anti-Israel letter demanding that The New School defund the school's chapter of the Jewish student group Hillel, known as Hillel at TNS, because of its support for Israel and the IDF.

The letter claimed multiple times that Israel committed a "genocide" in Gaza during its war against Hamas, following the October 7, 2023 terror attacks against Israel. It also accused Israel of "apartheid" and Hillel International of promoting "pro-genocide propaganda on U.S. campuses."

The letter alleged that Hillel at TNS and Hillel International ran "three different programs that send students to volunteer in Israel on military bases to provide logistical support for the Israeli Occupation Forces as it wages a genocide in Gaza." The letter further said that Hillel at TNS members volunteered at an IDF base and "supported four IOF named units as recently as July 2024, nine months into the Israeli military’s genocide in Gaza."

Signatories joined the letter after The New School administration refused to defund Hillel at TNS, following a May 1, 2026 vote in The New School's University Student Senate (USS) to pull school funding for Hillel at TNS. Administrators said that USS was "distorting a qualified student organization” and that USS “is using its platform to target fellow students in a misguided attempt to hold those students responsible for the acts of governments.”

There were 44 anti-Israel activist groups and 336 individuals who signed the letter, including chapters and leaders of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

“IOF” means “Israeli Occupation Forces,” a term used by anti-Israel activists to demonize Israel’s army in place of its real name, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). "IOF" is used to allege that Israel’s existence is illegitimate by accusing Israeli Jews of illegitimately occupying the entire land.

Decolonize Palestine is a pro-BDS website that has promoted terrorism against Israel by celebrating "intifada" and arguing that Palestinians can "resist occupation by any means available to them." The website has also called for Israel's destruction by demanding the "liberation of Palestine.”

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.”

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.

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is America’s largest socialist organization. Its core ideology includes anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Western and abolitionist elements.

Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks against Israel, DSA condemned Israel, expressed support for Hamas, endorsed anti-Israel rallies and called for members to engage in anti-Israel activism. It condemned Israeli retaliatory attacks against the IRGC and Hezbollah, as well as the U.S. attacks against the Houthi terror organization, whose slogan reads: "...Death to America / Death to Israel / A Curse upon the Jews...”

DSA first endorsed the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement in 2017 and it has also condemned sanctions against countries like Iran and Cuba.

The group endorses far-left politicians on the local, state and federal levels. DSA also promotes anti-Israel agitators, including DSA members Rashida Tlaib, Zohran Mamdani and Linda Sarsour.

Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), DSA’s youth section active in high schools and colleges, has co-organized anti-Israel protests across the U.S. since October 7, 2023, particularly the April 2024 pro-terror encampments on university campuses.