New York
A letter sent to NYU’s Office of General Counsel last week demanded that the university immediately cease an investigation into several student and faculty groups for organizing and advertising an “Anti-Zionist Passover Seder,” and threatened legal action if the demand was not met. The letter, which was sent on April 29 by Palestine Legal staff attorney Dylan Saba on behalf of the group of Jewish students and faculty who organized the seder, warns that the university’s investigation risks violating federal civil rights law by assuming that “Jewish identity is coterminous with the political ideology of Zionism” and attempting to “enforce ideological conformity within a protected group.” Along with demanding termination of the investigation, the letter calls for “clarification” of the standards for Title VI investigation and notes that, “Absent prompt action, our clients are prepared to pursue all available remedies, including seeking appropriate judicial relief.”
On April 2, 2026, student and faculty groups co-posted a flyer on Instagram advertising an “Anti Zionist Passover Seder,” scheduled for April 9. The seder was organized by Jewish undergraduate students, law students, and faculty, with the support of several unofficial student and faculty organizations, including Jews Against Zionism, NYU Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP), and NYU Law Jews for Palestine.
As stated in the letter from Palestine Legal, the organizers hoped to create a space for Jews at NYU to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover outside the ideological confines of the international campus organization Hillel International, which according to its “Israel Policy Guidelines” views Israel “as a core element of Jewish life” and refuses to “partner with” groups or speakers that “delegitimize” Israel or support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The Instagram post called for NYU community members to “drop Hillel” and its Zionist ideology of “Jewish supremacy” and attend the anti-Zionist seder instead. It stated that “All undergrads, grad students, faculty, and staff are welcome,” and the organizers of the event confirmed that nobody was denied entry.
In the days following the announcement, NYU administrators contacted individuals they assumed to be involved with the groups who co-posted the flyer, threatening repercussions and investigations if the post was not removed. Subsequently, both FSJP and Law Students for Justice in Palestine (LSJP) received letters from Vice Provosts Kristen Day and Charlton McIlwain informing them that they were under investigation by NYU’s Title VI office for possible violation of NYU’s Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment (NDAH) policy. While these letters announce only the launch of an investigation, they draw the conclusion in advance that the post involved “excluding and ostracizing an organization and its members based on identity and faith.”
According to organizers of the event, LSJP was not involved in planning the Seder, though its logo, rather than NYU Law Jews for Palestine (LJ4P), was erroneously included on the poster. A source within LSJP has informed organizers that, despite untagging itself from the post and informing NYU of the mistake, the investigation into LSJP has continued.
A spokesperson for Jews Against Zionism, an unofficial group of NYU students who co-posted the invitation, stated that “We affirm the right of all anti-Zionist students to criticize and call for the boycott of Zionist institutions. We denounce the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism under NYU’s NDAH policy and its highly repressive implementation here.”
FSJP member Sonya Posmentier added, “FSJP supports the right of all NYU community members, including Jewish members of FSJP, to criticize Zionism or to boycott avowedly Zionist organizations, such as Hillel International, on the basis of their political ideology or material support for genocide and occupation. We have always opposed both antisemitism and Zionism, and published a statement about this in November 2023.” Posmentier was referring to FSJP’s Position on Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism endorsing the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA) which states that “Antisemitism is discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish).”
NYU Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine
Press Inquiries for FSJP: nyufj4p@proton.me
https://facultyforpalestine.education/ IG:@nyu_fsjp
Jews Against Zionism–NYU
Press Inquiries for JAZ: jaznyu@proton.me
IG: @jews.against.zionism
