lecture presenting the “Jewish case for divestment”.12 In March 2016, JVP students at Vassar
College co-sponsored a BDS referendum. As a member of the Vassar BDS Coalition, JVP Vassar
publicly endorsed the resolution and held promotional events with its anti-Israel partners.
These developments represented fundamental changes in JVP’s campus advocacy efforts. Before
the 2015-2016 school year, JVP students played a marginal role in BDS campaigns, focusing on
solidarity with anti-Israel causes. For several years, JVP students offered only passive support to
SJP chapters, whose members advanced the majority of anti-Israel initiatives. In 2015-2016, JVP
emerged as SJP’s equal partner, drafting BDS measures and providing resources to anti-Israel
student groups. Moreover, JVP’s rise legitimized SJP’s efforts by demonstrating Jewish support
for anti-Zionist sentiment. The perceived credibility of a Jewish anti-Israel organization, combined
with its endorsement of SJP, enabled detractors to refute allegations of anti-Semitism. Taken
together, these developments shifted the Israel debate on some campuses, presenting new
challenges for pro-Israel activists.
JVP members and chapters have benefited from an array of professional resources. In April
2015, the group hired a campus organizer, the first JVP staff member dedicated to coordinating
anti-Israel activism on college campuses. Students assumed independent responsibility for
anti-Israel activities, establishing youth-led chapters with autonomous leadership structures.
Through their public support for BDS, JVP-affiliated students distinguished themselves from
members of the broader JVP community. While JVP supports BDS in principle, its off-campus
community activism has focused minimally on divestment efforts. By contrast, JVP students have
championed BDS initiatives, taking a radical stance relative to their community counterparts.
Similarly, whereas community members have engaged in quiet forms of activism – such as smallscale events and meetings in private homes – student activists have embraced the aggressive
tactics popular among campus agitators. As with SJP and other detractor groups, JVP chapters
seek attention for their efforts, aiming to increase the visibility of demonstrations, disruptions,
rallies, and other public activities.
Intersectionality and the Black Lives Matter Movement
Throughout the school year, anti-Israel groups continued to build coalitions with fellow campus
activist organizations, growing and developing partnerships formed during previous years. These
collaborative efforts sparked a number of major campaigns during the 2015-2016 academic year,
during which time SJP and other anti-Israel groups inserted themselves into the programs, conferences, and activities of various social justice organizations.
This growing collaboration is based on the principle of ‘intersectionality,’ which was first formulated in the 1980s and which had a renaissance on college campuses during the past academic
year. Intersectionality postulates that all systems of oppression are interrelated, and should
therefore be fought against under the same banner. This trend has enabled anti-Israel activists to
12. https://www.facebook.com/events/1597052520621380/
11
www.israelcc.org