Jewish students are 7.3 times more likely to face physical violence at universities with anti-Israel faculty groups

The surge in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses is particularly pronounced at schools that have Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) chapters, according to a new report that found Jewish students at those schools are over seven times more likely to face physical violence.

The report, released Thursday by the AMCHA Initiative, a nonpartisan organization that works to combat anti-Semitism, found that FJP chapters play a pivotal role in driving—and protecting—anti-Israel student activism. Universities with FJP chapters are 7.3 times more likely to experience physical violence directed at Jewish students than those without, the report found. Encampments at those schools, meanwhile, last 4.7 times longer, while anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) resolutions are 4.9 times more likely to pass.

The findings show that there’s more to anti-Israel and anti-Semitic protests at America’s top universities than radical student activists and outside agitators. Anti-Israel faculty members at schools such as Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania have also mobilized in the wake of Oct. 7, targeting the Jewish state in statements that accuse Israel of “colonialism,” “racism,” and “genocide” and rallying behind students who hold disruptive—and often illegal—protests.

AMCHA assessed the strength of FJP chapters at schools nationwide and found that Columbia and Penn house two of the most active. The school’s chapters have combined to issue 35 statements and host 32 events in the wake of Hamas’s terror attack on Israel.

In May, for example, professors with Columbia FJP went on strike in solidarity with anti-Israel student protesters who were arrested for violently occupying a campus building.

The Penn FJP chapter’s founding statement, meanwhile, calls Israel’s existence an “occupation” and blames Hamas terrorism on Israeli “state violence, colonialism, anti-Palestinian racism, and genocide.” The group also states that activists at Penn have never called for the “genocide of the Jewish people,” though Penn faculty members have defended Hamas terrorism. 

The Penn faculty group was also responsible for a January “die-in” protest that prevented students from entering Penn’s main campus building in violation of school rules. And on Wednesday, Penn FJP falsely accused Israel of a Beirut bombing that had no connection to the Jewish state. “This is what happens when the U.S. gives its precious ally a carte blanche,” the group wrote in a social media post that showed an explosion from 2020.

While FJP chapters were present at some American universities before Oct. 7, many were established in the wake of the attacks. There are now more than 100 nationwide. 

The call to organize those chapters originated from the U.S. branch of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding force behind the BDS movement with ties to organizations associated with Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both U.S.-designated terrorist groups.

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, director of AMCHA and a lead researcher on the report, cautioned in a press release that the situation would continue to deteriorate unless university administrators and policymakers take action.

“These faculty-led groups are inciting anti-Zionist activism among students, propelling academic boycotts, and actively fostering an environment where Jewish students are physically attacked and threatened. The correlation between these faculty groups and violent antisemitic acts cannot be ignored,” she said. “Without immediate intervention from university administrators and policymakers, the situation will only worsen, leaving Jewish students and faculty vulnerable to escalating violence.”

The Faculty for Justice in Palestine Network did not respond to a request for comment.