Escalate Network (EN) is an anonymous activist organization that opposes the state of Israel and defends the actions of the terrorist group Hamas. The organization formed in the wake of campus protests concerning universities’ tacit support for Israel associated with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Its motto is, “Heed the call: Escalate for Gaza!” ¹

Background

The organization formed in the wake of campus protests concerning their universities’ tacit support for Israel, associated with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. As Escalate Network says, the first of these protests at dozens of campuses across the United States erupted on the campus of Columbia University in New York City on April 17, 2024. ²

EN’s motto is “Heed the call: Escalate for Gaza!” The group declares, “We are here to answer that call and help this movement ESCALATE. We want this movement to break out of the confines of universities, to spread throughout society, paralyzing the economy that is driving the genocide of the Palestinian people, and has made all of us complicit in decades of colonial war.” ³

Activities

Escalate Network calls for submissions to its online blog, encourages supporters to print out its materials, and offers itself as a counsel for activists with questions about the movement. ⁴ It has portals on its website for questions and for article submissions. ^{5 6}

Escalate Network hosts a virtual library of left-wing literature on its website. These include eBooks about activism and protest tactics, such as a study of tactics used by anarchists at the Standing Rock protests opposing Dakota Access Pipeline in February 2017, as well as multiple booklets on the “Stop Cop City/Defend the Forest” protests in Atlanta, Georgia. It also has a category of its library dedicated to studies on how to remove “obstacles movement escalation,” or, in other words, forces that impede the radicalization of the militant left. ⁷

One of its blog posts links to an eBook entitled The Do-It-Yourself Occupation Guide, which includes in-depth instructions on how to do things like create a makeshift shield out of a garbage can, barricade doors, and break into buildings. ⁸

In May 2024, Escalate Network wrote that the New York Times editorial board is “going to hell and it is up to all free people to send them there” in response to the Times’ defense of an Israeli bombing in Gaza. ⁹ That same month, the group affirmed a post calling for an armed uprising against the Israeli state and America’s support for it, adding: “yes, what we need is organized efforts capable of fomenting and sustaining an american intifada [sic].” ¹⁰

In August 2024, Escalate Network likened Israel to the process of desegregation in America, which it views in a negative light: “White America as a whole did not ever embrace abolition, or integration, or bussing. They were forced to accept them as a fait accompli. The dissolution of Israel will be exactly the same. We have to put an end to this,” it wrote. ¹¹

1. “About.” Escalate Network. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://escalatenetwork.org/.
2. “About.” Escalate Network. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://escalatenetwork.org/.
3. “About.” Escalate Network. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://escalatenetwork.org/.
4. “About.” Escalate Network. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://escalatenetwork.org/.
5. “Ask.” Escalate Network. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://escalatenetwork.org/ask.
6. “Submit.” Escalate Network. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://escalatenetwork.org/submit.
7. “Library.” Escalate Network. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://escalatenetwork.org/library.
8. “The Do-It-Yourself Occupation Guide 2024 Edition.” Internet Archive, April 23, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://archive.org/details/diy-occupation-guide-2024/DIY-Occupation-Guide-2024-PRINT/page/n9/mode/2up.
9. Post. Escalate Network – X, May 26, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://x.com/readytoescalate/status/1794892338642534430.
10. Post. Escalate Network – X. May 27, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://x.com/readytoescalate/status/1795151794277896324.
11.  Post. Escalate Network – X, August 20, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. https://x.com/readytoescalate/status/1826076497108439161.