College and University Monitor

Hannah Katz, a first year at Barnard, put it simply: “[BDS] is basically anti-Semitism in disguise as anti-Israel activity.”

Katz, on the other hand, felt that certain events hosted by Columbia/Barnard’s SJP and JVP chapters jeopardized her status as a Jewish student on campus. She recalled two events this year that resonated with her particularly — one asserting that “Zionists are racists,” and another called “‘I’ is for intifada,” as she described.“When I see somebody promoting BDS and participating in SJP and JVP’s activities, I feel personally targeted because they say that Zionists are racists and glorify the intifada,” she said of the occurences. “I personally don’t feel in danger, but I do think that BDS endangers pro-Israel students because it validates a movement that delegitimizes and denounces the only state of the Jewish people, which directly endangers Jews and pro-Israel students.”