NYU says activists can’t swap ‘Jews’ for Zionists to avoid antisemitism charges

It arrives on the cusp of a new academic year and amid concerns that widespread pro-Palestine protests will return to college campuses. At such protests, the term “Zionist” has been used to isolate students who support Israel in any capacity, with many pro-Palestine activists claiming that targeting “Zionists” is not antisemitic because not all Jews identify as such. But the term has been used interchangeably with “Jews” in protest settings, and many Jewish leaders have argued that support for the existence of a Jewish homeland is foundational to the value system of many diaspora Jews.

NYU’s statement alludes to this isolation of Zionist-identifying Jews, noting examples of when protesters have called for the death of Zionists, excluded them from open events, applied a “no Zionist” litmus test for participation in any NYU activity, made broad statements disseminating conspiracies about Zionists such as “Zionists control the media”, or invoked Holocaust imagery or symbols to harass or discriminate.

The NYU chapter of Jewish on Campus, a national antisemitism watchdog group, applauded the updated policy, posted on Instagram that it “makes it abundantly clear: Zionism is a core component of Jewish identity.”

The statement also addressed campus protests, noting that “encampments and overnight demonstrations are never permitted, indoors or outdoors.”

NYU was one of the many US colleges overtaken by pro-Palestine campus protests last spring, a national movement which forced many schools to reckon with subsequent violence and campus antisemitism. Last month, the university settled a discrimination lawsuit brought by Jewish students who claimed that other students at NYU burned an Israeli flag, made throat-slitting gestures and yelled “Gas the Jews” at a group of students participating in a vigil with the campus organisation Students Supporting Israel.