Rhetoric of Resistance: Anti-Zionist Campus Discourses on Social Media

PIs: Gunther Jikeli and Daniel Miehling

Contributing Research Analysts: Shreya Yogaraj Gajbhiye, Lucas Hibner, Prajwal Kaushal, and Anirudh Suresh Iyer

Abstract

Anti-Zionist campus groups in the United States were active well before the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, and the ensuing war in Gaza. However, they have increasingly moved to the center of public debate over the boundaries between pro-Palestinian activism, support for Hamas, and antisemitism.

Drawing on data from the AMCHA Initiative on antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel groups on U.S. campuses, along with a comprehensive collection of 76,000 Instagram posts from these groups, we analyze common narrative themes, campaign strategies, and networks. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods—including topic modeling, word heatmaps, network analysis, and discourse analysis—we provide a detailed examination of their activities.

Our analysis shows that while radical anti-Zionist language and rhetoric resembling Hamas propaganda were already present before October 7, such narratives have gained significant momentum since the massacre. The Students for Justice in Palestine network has been a key driver of this trend. Off-campus groups, such as the extremist Palestinian Youth Movement and radical groups of the political left were also influential. Faculty groups have helped justify and foster radical rhetoric that describes terrorism as resistance.

This research benefited from data collection resources provided by the Bright Initiative powered by Bright Data, as well as data from the AMCHA Initiative, which has been documenting antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel groups on U.S. campuses since 2015. Computational resources were provided by Jetstream2 at Indiana University through allocation HUM200003 from the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS) program, supported by National Science Foundation grants #2138259, #2138286, #2138307, #2137603, and #2138296.