Why is anti-Israel activism growing?

Background

Anti-Israel activism in the United States has grown significantly since Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel's subsequent military campaign in Gaza. On college campuses, the Anti-Defamation League documented a rapid expansion of protest activity, including encampments, sit-ins, hunger strikes, and divestment campaigns, with faculty-led networks such as Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine expanding to more than 130 affiliated groups nationwide. Beyond campuses, the shift is reflected in broader public opinion. Gallup's February 2026 polling found that for the first time in over two decades of tracking, more Americans said they sympathized with the Palestinians than with the Israelis, a reversal driven largely by independents and younger adults. This growing activism has also entered electoral politics, with opposition to pro-Israel positions becoming a visible theme in Democratic primary campaigns and some populist-right voices increasingly questioning the U.S.-Israel alliance.

Those who support anti-Israel activism describe it as a human rights and international law movement, arguing that the scale of civilian casualties and displacement in Gaza demands accountability and that U.S. military aid to Israel implicates American taxpayers. The Palestinian solidarity movement frames its goals around self-determination, ending military occupation, and applying the same human rights standards to Israel as to other nations. On the other side, critics — including the ADL, the American Enterprise Institute, and Israeli government officials — argue that much of this activism crosses from legitimate policy criticism into antisemitism. The Fall 2025 Yale Youth Poll, analyzed by AEI scholars, found that respondents who opposed Israel's right to exist were significantly more likely to endorse classic antisemitic tropes. The ADL's 2025 annual audit recorded 6,274 antisemitic incidents, down from a record high but still the third-highest year since tracking began in 1979, with physical assaults rising 4 percent. Organizations such as J Street have argued that the polarized debate leaves little room for nuanced positions, noting that many students feel caught between what they see as two extreme choices.

What is at stake extends across civil liberties, campus safety, foreign policy, and community cohesion. Jewish students and organizations report increased harassment and intimidation, while pro-Palestinian activists and civil liberties groups, including the International Federation for Human Rights, warn that overly broad definitions of antisemitism are being used to suppress legitimate political speech. The debate is reshaping American politics: a 2025 survey by the Jewish Federation of North America found that 15 percent of American Jews now identify as anti-Zionist or non-Zionist, even as 88 percent affirm Israel's right to exist. How institutions, lawmakers, and communities navigate this tension — between protecting vulnerable groups from hate and preserving space for political dissent — will shape campus culture, U.S. foreign policy debates, and democratic norms for years to come.