It's been a while since the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protests rocked American campuses following the October 7, 2023, terror attacks. Those attacks killed 1,200 people, and more than 240 were taken hostage. It was the deadliest terror attack in the history of Israel and the deadliest against Jews since the Holocaust.
One of the campuses that saw anti-Israel protests was Smith College, where the students were joined by other Leftist groups for a protest during which they made multiple demands of the school's administration.
BREAKING: Smith College protests for Palestine
— Massachusetts Peace Action (MAPA) (@masspeaceaction) October 19, 2023
Around 200 Smith students accompanied by the Raging Grannies, W MA Codepink, and other supporters, marched from the campus to downtown and back.
On campus the presented the administration with demands. pic.twitter.com/51nY0YRip6
A few short months later, following an incident of antisemitic vandalism on campus, Smith College said it would consider divesting its endowment from Israel at the request of the school's Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group.
A prestigious women’s liberal arts college, Smith College, says it will consider divesting its endowment from Israel after protests from the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a virulently anti-Israel group. https://t.co/WqfHID79S7
— The New York Sun (@NewYorkSun) March 16, 2024
As The New York Sun reported at the time, the school made the announcement after an antisemitic incident targeting the campus kosher kitchen, where a mezuzah was stolen, and swastikas were drawn. College President Sarah Willie-LeBreton sent an email about the vandalism, writing “We are disheartened by these unsettling events and reiterate in the strongest terms that there is no place for antisemitism, Islamophobia, or any form of hate at Smith College" before noting the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility was considering a divestment request.
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That divestment never happened, which led to a two-week campus takeover by anti-Israel activists.
And now the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility is considering another divestment proposal from SJP.
The Board of Trustees' Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility at @smithcollege is considering an antisemitic proposal from SJP demanding the college divest from companies that do business with Israel. Urge them to vote NO. https://t.co/naYYz7hDwC
— Judea Pearl (@yudapearl) April 15, 2026
Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts is the site of the latest clash between anti-Zionists and administrators over institutional ties to Israel, as its trustees will vote on Thursday on a divestment measure proposed by the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organization.
Brimming with falsehoods, the proposal distinguishes itself from similar ones put forth at other colleges by accusing Israel of the crime of “femi-genocide,” which SJP describes as “sexual and reproductive violence” and mass murder perpetrated against Palestinian women and girls. The measure continues a pattern of depicting Israel, the most progressive country in the Middle East, as a foe of left-wing causes and an enemy of liberalism.
“The deliberate and disproportionate targeting of women represents an egregious practice of radicalized gender violence intended, in large part, to prevent the reproduction of a population marked for extermination,” SJP charged in the document, submitted in November. “This is a tactic common to settler colonialist projects and a grave injustice affecting women globally.”
Calling on Smith to withdraw investments in armaments manufacturers, SJP went on to describe divestment from Israel as a prelude to divesting from fossil fuels, a subtle but common tactic in which far-left groups place Jews and Zionists at the center of an array of alleged conflicts and social maladies.
Only a small percentage of students are supporting this measure, and a petition is calling on the Advisory Committee to once again reject the divestment proposal.
Smith College BDS vote is TOMORROW.
— Hallel Silverman هاليل سيلفيرمان הלל סילברמן (@JustHallel) April 14, 2026
A small, loud minority is pushing divestment again - even after a nearly identical proposal was rejected in 2024.
Less than 8% of undergrads signed their petition. This isn’t a movement, it’s pressure.
Make your voice heard & sign the…
The Trump administration has made weeding out campus antisemitism a priority. The DOJ recently sued Harvard for alleged discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students on campus, saying the school violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
What’s happening at Smith isn’t an isolated incident, nor is it a spontaneous groundswell of student concern. It’s a continuation of a broader pattern that took root in the aftermath of October 7; one in which anti-Israel activism routinely crosses the line into something far more troubling.
Whether the Advisory Committee rejects this latest proposal or not, the underlying issue isn’t going away. Colleges can continue to entertain these demands, or they can draw a clear line and make it known that antisemitism — no matter how it’s repackaged — has no place on their campuses.
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