“Globalize the Intifada”: Coming soon to a street near you

A sign reading “Globalize the Intifada” is seen on the ground in Brooklyn, N.Y., on July 31, 2021. Photo by Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images.

by James Sinkinson and Jason Shvili

(FLAME) — It sounds rather abstract when pro-Hamas demonstrators scream “Globalize the intifada!” Intifada, that’s an Israeli thing, right?

In fact, intifada means “uprising” in Arabic. It designates terrorism by Palestinians against Israeli sovereignty in the indigenous Jewish homeland. Today, those supporting this terrorism have broadened it, “globalized” it, to describe attacks worldwide on Jews specifically and Western institutions generally.

It seems to be working. In Amsterdam, just a few weeks ago, mobs of Muslim men hunted down and assaulted Jews as crowds cheered them on. Similar attacks took place days later in Antwerp, Belgium and Berlin. In Hanoi, Vietnam, a Jewish family was ejected by a store owner, who yelled “Free Palestine” while giving them the middle finger.

If those examples seem too remote, consider these: In Los Angeles, a Jewish man was killed by a blow to the head by a pro-Hamas protester. In Oakland, Calif., a man wearing a cap with the star of David on it was ejected by a Muslim coffee shop owner for being Jewish. The home of the Jewish president of the University of Washington was attacked and spray-painted with pro-Palestinian messages threatening the president, and in Chicago, a man walking to synagogue was shot in what police call a terror attack.

“Globalize the intifada” means two things: Attacking Jews simply because they are Jews and justifying it in the name of the Palestinian cause and attempting to destroy, not just Jews and Israel, but also the United States and Western civilization in general, because they represent an “empire” of oppression.

While the seemingly random antisemitic incidents above bespeak an alarming trend, perhaps most unnerving is a report by the Capital Research Center that exposes an actual game plan to commit domestic terrorism.

The CRC report identifies some 150 pro-Hamas groups whose end goal is the “dismantlement of America’s ‘colonialist,’ imperialist,’ or ‘capitalist,’ system, often calling for the U.S. to be abolished.” The movement to spark this revolution is led by an unholy alliance of Islamists, ultra-leftists and white supremacists.

The immediate effects of a globalized intifada? Making Jews afraid to express their Jewishness, refusing service to Jewish customers, attempting to silence Jewish and pro-Israel voices, and verbally and physically assaulting Jews. An even more ominous next step by the same revolutionaries will likely be violence against American and Western institutions.

Unfortunately, public officials, college administrators and the media often downplay crimes associated with globalizing the intifada. Refusal to identify the perpetrators and hesitation to declare hate crimes and violent attacks — let alone terrorism — only hinder punishment and encourage continued lawlessness.

In short, preventing the globalization of the intifada involves defeating the ideology associated with it, and identifying and penalizing those who seek to “Globalize the intifada.”

“Globalize the intifada!” makes antisemitism skyrocket everywhere. In the United States, according to the Anti-Defamation League, over 10,000 antisemitic incidents occurred between Oct. 7, 2023, and Sept. 24, 2024 — a more than 200 percent spike compared to the same period before. Many of these incidents occurred on college campuses. Stop Antisemitism’s 2024 College Report revealed a 3,000 percent increase in antisemitic incident reports compared to the previous year.

Antisemitism is also surging in other countries with large Jewish populations. France, for example, recorded a 1,000 percent increase in antisemitic incidents between Oct. 7, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2023, compared to previous months. Attacks in France include the gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl by three Muslim boys who called her a “dirty Jew” and the abduction and rape of a 32-year-old Jewish woman by a man who wanted to “avenge Palestine.”

“Globalize the intifada!” makes Jews afraid to express their identity. In Europe, 76 percent of Jews reported hiding their Jewishness “at least occasionally” for fear of antisemitism. In the United States, one-third of Jewish college students reported hiding their Jewish identity on campus.

“Globalize the intifada!” means refusal to render services to Jews. In Australia, a pro-Palestine employee at an office and stationary supplies store refused to serve a Jewish customer. In Paris, an Israeli family was kicked out of a hotel after staff saw their Israeli passports. In Lakewood, N.J., two Jewish men were refused service by the owner of a gas station who cursed their Jewishness.

“Globalize the intifada!” means the silencing of Jewish, pro-Israel voices. Columbia University professor Shai Davidai, who criticized his university’s failure to act against antisemitism, was banned from campus for doing so. Outspoken Canadian-Jewish human-rights activist Irwin Cotler was recently the target of a foiled assassination plot by Iran.

A coalition of unlikely bedfellows leads the charge to “globalize the intifada.” According to the CRC report, this coalition consists of Islamists, communists, anarchists and groups espousing white supremacist/nationalist ideologies. Elements of this coalition are “pushing it toward a wider, more severe campaign focused on property destruction and violence properly described as domestic terrorism.” No surprise, therefore, that last week, a pro-Palestinian mob in Montreal rampaged through downtown, burning cars, smashing windows and assaulting a police officer.

Among the most prominent groups in this coalition is Students for Justice in Palestine, which has endorsed Iran’s attacks on Israel and its stated intention to overturn the U.S.-led world order. SJP has called on its followers to “bring the intifada home.” Last month, an anti-Israel student group at Harvard University heeded this call, vandalizing a campus administrative building.

Globalized intifada’s domestic terrorism is often downplayed and goes unpunished. Indeed, the mayor of Amsterdam wound up apologizing for calling the Jew-hunt in her city a pogrom because she didn’t want to offend the city’s Muslim Moroccan community. Chicago police waited nearly a week before declaring the shooting of a Jewish man by an illegal immigrant who shouted Allahu Akbar (“God is great” in Arabic), a hate crime.

Meanwhile, in the United States, many students who committed acts of violence and vandalism at colleges throughout the country are back on campus as if they did nothing wrong.

It’s time for a crackdown on “globalize the intifada.” Those who commit anti-Jewish hate crimes and violence to internationalize terrorism need to be identified and severely punished. In addition, their ideology must be fought at every social level, particularly in higher education.

Jews are only the first target of the movement to “globalize the intifada.” Its ultimate goal is to destroy America and the values of Western civilization.

James Sinkinson is president of Facts and Logic About the Middle East, which publishes educational messages to correct lies and misperceptions about Israel and its relationship to the United States. Jason Shvili is a contributing editor at FLAME. Originally published by FLAME.