Jews Against Zionism is an anti-Israel Jewish student group at New York University. The group has been involved with anti-Israel protests, is one of the organizations that formed the NYU Palestine Solidarity Coalition, and helped organize anti-Israel demonstrations at NYU in April 2024, including setting up an encampment at the university. Jews Against Zionism was one of the organizing groups of an anti-Israel protest at Hunter College that called for “Zionist donors and financiers” to get “out of Jewish campus life,” and claimed that Hillel International, a Jewish community group focused on college campuses, “played a critical role in indoctrinating Jewish youths into Zionism and distorting values of Jewish community.” ^{1 2 3}

Background

Jews Against Zionism is a “collective of anti-Zionist Jews” at New York University that affirms that “Israel is a settler colonial state.” The student group claims that there is a “false conflation between Jewish identity and Zionism,” adding that Jews Against Zionism “stand unwaveringly alongside our Palestinian siblings for their liberation by any means necessary.” ⁴

Activities

Jews Against Zionism was one of the organizations that formed the NYU Palestine Solidarity Coalition in 2024. The NYU Palestine Solidarity Coalition is comprised of groups including Jews Against Zionism, Students for Justice in Palestine, Faculty for Justice in Palestine, Law Students for Justice in Palestine, and Shut it Down NYU. ⁵

The NYU Palestine Solidarity Coalition organized anti-Israel demonstrations at NYU in April 2024, including setting up an encampment at the university, which led to the arrests of protesters. ⁶

Jews Against Zionism was one of the organizers of an anti-Israel protest at Hunter College, part of the City University of New York system, in March 2024. The protest called for “Zionist donors and financiers” to get “out of Jewish campus life,” and claimed that Hillel International, a Jewish community group focused on college campuses, “played a critical role in indoctrinating Jewish youths into Zionism and distorting values of Jewish community.” The organization also called for “divesting from Zionism, standing in solidarity with Palestine, and building new Jewish campus spaces free from racist violence.” ⁷

1. “Jews Against Zionism.” Instagram. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://www.instagram.com/p/CzIHumRuUET/?img_index=2.
2. Staff, Al Jazeera. “Columbia, NYU, Yale on the boil over Israel’s war on Gaza: What’s going on?.” Al Jazeera. April 22, 2024. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/22/columbia-university-on-edge-over-gaza-whats-going-on.
3. “Targeting Hillel, Antisemites and Anti-Israel Activists Push to Undermine Jewish Life on Campus.” Anti-Defamation League. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/targeting-hillel-antisemites-and-anti-israel-activists-push-undermine-jewish-life.
4. “Jews Against Zionism.” Instagram. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://www.instagram.com/p/CzIHumRuUET/?img_index=2
5. Staff, Al Jazeera. “Columbia, NYU, Yale on the boil over Israel’s war on Gaza: What’s going on?.” Al Jazeera. April 22, 2024. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/22/columbia-university-on-edge-over-gaza-whats-going-on.
6. Staff, Al Jazeera. “Columbia, NYU, Yale on the boil over Israel’s war on Gaza: What’s going on?.” Al Jazeera. April 22, 2024. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/22/columbia-university-on-edge-over-gaza-whats-going-on.
7. “Targeting Hillel, Antisemites and Anti-Israel Activists Push to Undermine Jewish Life on Campus.” Anti-Defamation League. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/targeting-hillel-antisemites-and-anti-israel-activists-push-undermine-jewish-life.