What The New York Times Really Thinks About Anti-Israel College Encampments

Summer is not over yet, but somehow The New York Times can’t remember what truly happened on college campuses this past spring.

Last week, the Times reported that many charges against college campus protestors have been dropped. But their reporting minimizes the causes of the arrests, actively dismissing the underlying violence and antisemitism at the recent demonstrations.

The article terms the encampments as “pro-Palestinian,” neglecting to acknowledge the pro-terror sentiment that was often present.

For example, students at Stanford were seen wearing green headbands with Hamas symbols. At Princeton, Hezbollah flags were waved at a “Gaza solidarity encampment.” Across the country, protestors chanted “Globalize the Intifada” — an international call for targeted terror attacks and violence against Israelis and Jews.

Aside from the actual violence that took place, many of the “peaceful” protestors chanting things like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” were actually calling for violence against Jews and Israelis.

By ignoring these facts, the Times is complicit in downplaying the dangerous antisemitic and anti-Zionist ideologies that were present.

The article first quotes Delia Garza, a prosecutor who dropped charges against more than 100 students arrested at the University of Texas at Austin. She claimed the arrests were for “minor and non-violent offenses,” and that “students protesting on their own campus were simply exercising First Amendment rights.”

In reality, these protests were laden with hateful antisemitic speech and rhetoric. These were not peaceful expressions of free speech, but aggressive campaigns to instill fear and hatred in Jewish students.

At UCLA, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) erected a deeply antisemitic papier-mâché caricature of a pig holding a bag of money in front of an Israeli flag to protest a Board of Regents meeting.

Students were actively prevented from entering campus and going to class, and others were threatened. When that happens, it is no longer speech — but violent action and punishable offenses.

UCLA: A figure depicting Jews as pigs suggesting Jews “prioritize money over lives”.

Remember, it’s “Anti-Zionism” only, definitely not Antisemitism…. pic.twitter.com/8LXktYzhks

— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) March 21, 2024

At UMass Amherst, a Jewish student was punched and spat on by another student for waving an Israeli flag.

At Florida International University (FIU), protestors prevented Jewish students from attending Shabbat services as they stood outside the FIU Hillel building.

In many cases, Jewish students were blocked from entering certain areas of campus, libraries, and even classrooms. This harassment and intimidation was seen across dozens of campuses in America.

Once again, The New York Times has failed in its journalistic duty to portray a full and accurate picture of events. In an entire discussion of the campus protest arrests, it does not make a single mention of the extreme antisemitism present at these demonstrations.

Garza’s sentiment that student protesters were simply exercising free speech trivializes their actions and enforces the idea that they do not deserve any consequences for them.

Hermann Walz, a defense lawyer in Austin, Texas, and former prosecutor, claims in the article that “the goal [of these arrests] isn’t to punish people. It’s to clear the streets.” This dangerous statement absolves the protesters of any wrongdoing. It implies that their actions were merely an issue of occupying space on campus, when in reality, the problem is much more significant.

The New York Times’ selective memory of spring’s campus unrest sends a dangerous message that hate-fueled actions against Jews and Zionists are excused and forgotten.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

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