Hillel in the crosshairs as students return to campus

The Hillel Foundation for Jewish Campus Life has come under the crosshairs of anti-Israel activists as students are returning to campus, with protests against the organization at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), Temple University, and Hunter College over the weekend.

Anti-Israel TMU activists chanted for "Intifada" and demanded the adoption of anti-Israel policies opposite the TMU Hillel clubs fair booth on Friday.

"Zionists off our campus," read a banner held by activists, according to a TMU Apartheid Divest Instagram account.

Activists called for the disclosure of and divestment from any business ties between the university and Israel, Israelis, or any company with financial ties to the Jewish state.

Hillel paralyzed by anti-Israel agency 

"Independent students and faculty came together to disrupt orientation at TMU and remind administration that the pressure for BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) will not stop," said TMU Apartheid Divest.

TMU Hillel said that the anti-Israel activists had not just disrupted their presentation of the organization to new students, but also the entire atmosphere of orientation.

"This is antisemitism," the Jewish campus life organizations said in a statement. "Hillel TMU will not be intimidated in this face of this harassment — we belong here."

Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather said on X that such protests targeted Jews and scared students away from the Hillel table.

A Thursday Hunter College protest saw activists with a banner proclaiming that “it is right to rebel, Hillel go to hell” next to another banner with the silhouette of a Kalashnikov rifle calling to "bring the war home."

The activists brought pots, pans, and drums to create noise to notify the City University of New York administration that they would continue their activism in the new academic year.

"For as long as CUNY funds and supports the genocide against Palestinians, we will continue to disrupt and take action against our administrations," Palestine Solidarity Alliance Hunter College said on Instagram last Monday ahead of the protest. "There is no back to school in Gaza."

New York Congressman Ritchie Torres said that the banners and rhetoric at the demonstration were calls for violence against Jews.

"CUNY should have zero tolerance for antisemitic incitement," Torres said on social media on Friday.

Thursday also saw a "dis-orientation" day rally and march at Temple University that eventually migrated to the Temple University Hillel's office at The Rosen Center, according to Temple University President Richard Englert.

"Targeting a group of individuals because of their Jewish identity is not acceptable and intimidation and harassment tactics like those seen today will not be tolerated," said Englert. "Temple’s Division of Student Affairs is now actively investigating the incident. If students or student organizations are found to be involved, they will be subject to disciplinary action under the Student Conduct Code."

Not anti-Jewish, but anti-Zionist

Temple Students for Justice in Palestine denied that they targeted Hillel because of a group's Jewish identity, but to " highlight Hillel’s hand in sponsoring and legitimizing the Zionist Entity, an apartheid state that has killed countless friends and family members of Palestinian students at Temple University."

The group posted a transcript of a speech made at the building, accusing Hillel of supporting Israel through connection to programs like Birthright and placing Israel as central to Jewish identity.

A New York Revolutionary Youth protest at Baruch College last Sunday saw the carrying of the "Hillel go to hell" banner, according to Students, Alumni, and Faculty for Equality on Campus.

"Let the intifada pave the way for people's war," read another banner with a hammer and sickle, according to NYC Revolutionary' Youth's Instagram. The "bring the war home" rifle banner could also be seen in the photographs published by the group.

The protest had been held to call for law enforcement off CUNY campuses and to tell CUNY leadership "that business will not go as usual this upcoming fall semester."

On June 5, multiple anti-Israel groups had rallied against Baruch Hillel's Hillel on Base program in which participants could volunteer on an IDF base.

"Divest from Hillel International for their direct complicity in the genocide in Gaza," CUNY Jewish Antizionist Collective said on Instagram on June 12.

Amidst the protests, Hillel drew the attention and ire of online anti-Israel activists. Activist Anna Rajapogal wrote on Instagram on Saturday that Hillel chapters "exist as directly oppositional to SJP chapters, with intention and purpose" and was a "Zionist organization that operates as a political entity in service of the state of Israel."

'Racist, violent, repressive, right wing organization'

Palestinian-American writer Remi Kanazi said on X in response to Hillel's collaboration with Secure Community Network to protect campus Jewish sites that the Jewish campus life group was a "racist, violent, repressive, right wing organization" that was "actively complicit in affirming Israeli genocide and settler colonialism."

The University of Pittsburgh saw a violent incident against Jewish students on Friday when a group walking from a Hillel event to a Hillel shabbat dinner was attacked by a suspect with a bottle. The University said in a statement that two students were treated at the scene.

Hillel JUC described the incident as "unimaginable" and said that the "safety of our Jewish students remains our top priority, and we will continue to be a home away from home for them."

The previous academic year saw multiple acts of vandalism targeting Hillel buildings at various universities, such as the spraying of a swastika outside the University of Michigan Hillel in March.

After the October 7 Massacre, Hillel had been the periodic subject of anti-Israel activism, such as a May call by Santa Cruz Students for Justice in Palestine for the university to cut ties with Hillel.