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StandWithUs Stands With Hillel in Rejecting Political Litmus Tests on Jewish Identity

Hillel at The New School logo: black 'Hillel' text with a blue dot over the 'i' and light blue 'AT THE NEW SCHOOL' tagline.

StandWithUs Stands With Hillel in Rejecting Political Litmus Tests on Jewish Identity

(Los Angeles, CA — May 12, 2026) — StandWithUs stands with Hillel International against the hateful “Drop Hillel” campaign. We stand against this transparent attempt to isolate, discriminate against, and pressure Jewish students to deny part of their own identity.  

We commend the administration at The New School in New York, which promptly rejected the student senate’s disgraceful vote to suspend funding and collaboration with Hillel. We call on all university administrations to do the same.

Hillel chapters across the country host programs related to Israel and Zionism for a very simple reason: Most Jewish students see Israel as an important part of their Jewish identity and support its existence. Hillel students gather for Shabbat, celebrate holidays, learn about Jewish identity, support one another, and engage with Israel. All of this is a given in mainstream Jewish communal life.

“Drop Hillel” distorts that reality. The campaign makes false and misleading accusations about Israel, then frames Jewish students and institutions as guilty by association simply because they refuse to erase Israel from Jewish life. It also ignores the facts behind the current conflict, including that Israel is fighting genocidal terrorist groups that hide behind their own civilian populations.

This campaign echoes a long history of Jewish communities facing pressure to abandon core aspects of their identity to gain acceptance and/or safety. In Europe, Jews were forced to convert or face segregation, expulsion, violence or even death.  The Soviet Union claimed to reject antisemitism, but criminalized Jewish education, suppressed Judaism, and spread hateful antizionist propaganda. Today, extremists are attacking Jewish campus life in similar ways, by bullying Jewish and Zionist students, and by seeking to tear down Hillel. To demand that Hillel ceases participation in mainstream Jewish programming and Israel engagement is to ask Jewish students and institutions to deny central aspects of their identity.  

StandWithUs works with Hillel chapters every day to help Jewish and Zionist students thrive, educate their peers, respond to rising antisemitism, and be proud of who they are. We know firsthand how essential Hillel is to Jewish students and universities across the country.

We stand proudly with Hillel in combating this extremist campaign and maintaining Hillel’s Zionist and pro-Israel identity without apology. We urge students, faculty, administrators, and community members of good conscience, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, to stand with their Jewish peers in rejecting political litmus tests placed on Jewish identity.  

No one can sever the Jewish connection to Israel. We commend the Jewish students and Hillel professionals who continue to foster Jewish life with courage, clarity, and pride, even as they face campaigns of hate. As with all challenges like this, the Jewish people and our institutions will continue with solidarity and strength, and we will not only survive, but we will continue to thrive.  

StandWithUs (SWU) is a 25-year-old international non-partisan education organization that inspires people of all ages about Israel, challenges misinformation and fights against antisemitism.

StandWithUs empowers people around the world to educate others through social media, print and digital materials in different languages, through educational programs and conferences, weekly newsletters, data and analytics, and missions to Israel. 

It takes legal action through StandWithUs Saidoff Law. It empowers hundreds of student leaders annually through its college Fellowship and high school Internship. SWU provides schools and educators with vital tools through its IsraelLINK middle school program, Holocaust Education Center, and K-12 Fairness Center.
 
Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Los Angeles, StandWithUs has chapters throughout the U.S., Israel, Canada, the UK, Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands, Australia and South Africa.  
 
For the last fourteen years, StandWithUs has consistently received the highest possible ratings from Charity Navigator and GuideStar, two charity watchdog groups that assess over a million charities in the United States. This puts StandWithUs in the top 3% of charities ranked for their transparency and accountability.

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