Since October 7, two types of protest have emerged in the U.S., Israel’s closest ally: pro-Israel protests, and protests in support of the Palestinians and  a ceasefire for. These demonstrations have taken up considerable space on the American peoples’ agenda (an especially prominent example: the tent encampments on college campuses).

This review, will present findings and graphs based on data from the Count Crowding Consortium (CCC), a research body affiliated with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the University of Connecticut. CCC gathers available information on protests/demonstrations from sources open and accessible to the public. It should be noted that this review will place greater emphasis on pro-Israel demonstrations and on the issue of the hostages featured within those demonstrations, but attention will also be paid to pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

What does the information on the demonstrations contain?

• The identity of the organizations leading the demonstrations, e.g., students, local community, etc.
• Main messages conveyed at these demonstrations, e.g., solidarity with Israel, calls for the release of hostages or, alternatively, calls for ceasefire, etc.
• Location of the demonstrations
• Number of participants (in some instances scant numerical information is available).
• Findings will be presented in response to the following questions:
• What is the relative proportion of Israel-Hamas War-related demonstrations in the U.S.?
• Which groups are leading the pro-Palestinian demonstrations?
• Which groups are leading the pro-Israel demonstrations?
• How have the pro-Israel demonstrations changed over time?

Once these questions have been answered, the findings and their likely impact on Israel will be discussed.

What is the relative proportion of these demonstrations in the US?

Pro-Israel/pro-Palestinian demonstrations graph:

A graph showing the proportion of demonstrations for/against Israel relative to the other demonstrations that took place in the United States during the same time period, regardless of the number of those present at the demonstrations. It should be noted that a proportions graph shows a relative picture.

In one example from the graph, on January 1, 2024,  50% of all demonstrations in the United States were pro-Palestinian, versus approximately one percent of all demonstrations that were pro-Israel. On January 1, therefore, 51% of all U.S. demonstrations were related to the Israel-Hamas War.

Demonstrations pertaining to the war accounted for a significant proportion of all demonstrations in the U.S. On some days, 80% of the demonstrations in the United States dealt solely with the war, and this was the case for a considerable period of time.

Except for at the start of the war, pro-Palestinian demonstrations accounted for a greater proportion than pro-Israel demonstrations.

In relative terms, pro-Palestinian demonstrations (the graph’s green line) account for a fixed proportion most of the time. At the beginning of April, there was a rise in the proportion of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations. This appears to have been due to the tent encampments set up on college campuses. As May approached a certain decline could be seen, presumably associated with final exams and the close of the academic year.

In the war’s early days, pro-Israel demonstrations accounted for a large share of demonstrations, but this share very soon declined. However, starting around January there were regular weekly demonstrations (the “peaks”), which ended around May.

The two graphs above:

The first graph shows the number of demonstrations with 100-500 participants from October 2023 through May 2024.

The bottom graph shows the number of demonstrations with 500 or more participants during the same period.

Demonstrations with fewer than 100 participants were not included due to limited available data.

 Findings

• Throughout the period there were many more pro-Palestinian demonstrations than pro-Israeli ones.
• Pro-Palestinian demonstrations had trended downward until January.
• Beginning in January, an increase was detected in two types of demonstration:
  •  The number of small and medium-sized demonstrations (100-500) reached almost the same number as at the peak in October and November.
• The number of medium and large demonstrations (500 and over) also recovered, but remained more or less, far below the peak  in October and November. It should be noted, however, that several large pro-Israel events were held around the Israeli Independence Day in mid-May.

Based on the two graphs above, it is clear that pro-Palestinian demonstrations have exceeded pro-Israel demonstrations both in relative and absolute quantitative terms. However, in the past few months many pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been small to medium demonstrations in numerical terms, and there are not as many large demonstrations as there were at the beginning of the war.

 Which groups are leading the pro-Palestinian demonstrations?

The following pages delve deeper into information on the pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

The Count Crowding Consortium’s Demonstrations Map.¹

The following bar chart shows the groups participating most prominently in the pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Pro-Palestinian protest participants can be categorized into the following groups:

• Student groups (please note that the data distinguishes between general students and specific student groups, such as Students for Justice in Palestine).
• American Muslim organizations
• Extreme Jewish organizations:
  • Jewish Voice for Peace
  • Neturei Karta
• Radical leftist organizations such as the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL)

The affiliations of the leading demonstrators are not surprising, as these groups are known for their protests against the State of Israel. However, the graph presented here shows the ratio of the number of events in which each group participated.

Which groups are leading the pro-Israel demonstrations?

The Count Crowding Consortium’s Demonstrations Map (This map shows the geographic distribution and size of pro-Israel demonstrations)

Brief discussion of the groups that appear in the bar chart:

• Run for Their Lives organizes demonstrations/rallies for the return of the hostages. Numerically this organization leads by a large margin in terms of the number of demonstrations/rallies organized (they work with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, but are not part of it)
• Pro-Israel student organizations, Jewish student organizations in particular
• Elected officials and Jewish communities
• Chabad (Chabad’s support for pro-Israel demonstrations is not trivial)
• Other major Jewish organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League

At this point we want to focus on Run for Their Lives, which, as noted, has led a significant share of the demonstrations.

Run for Their Lives is an American organization founded by a group of Israelis living in California. Its purpose is to organize run/walk events around the world, including in the United States, for the return of the Gaza hostages. This is a map of their activities in the U.S. and Canada:

Run for Their Lives – North American Events²

How have pro-Israel demonstrations changed over time?

To follow are three graphs that cover overlapping time periods:

One can see a major difference between the first two graphs and the third one. At the beginning of the war there were many demonstrations by students and the Jewish community, but this changed over time. In January, demonstrations under the auspices of Run for Their Lives began to appear on a weekly basis, and peaks can be detected on days when these demonstrations were held.

In May, another change emerged: student organizations and the local community started demonstrating again (apparently in response to the wave of campus protests). By contrast, there was a significant drop in the number of Run for Their Lives demonstrations, perhaps due to the big Israel Independence Day marches.

 Discussion, Conclusions, and Policy Recommendations

The above findings constitute evidence in support of the following three conclusions:

1. The Israel-Hamas war resonates on the American street, as reflected in the relatively large proportion of demonstrations related to the war.
2. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations greatly exceed pro-Israel demonstrations both in size and in quantity.
3. The issue of the hostages figures prominently at pro-Israel demonstrations in the U.S.

Unfortunately, as time passes the memory of what happened on October 7 fades. Much world news shifted to the situation in Gaza and the fatalities there. However, the issue of the hostages, with an emphasis on women, children, and the elderly abductees – remains central to the memory of the October 7 disaster, and many pro-Israel demonstrations have linked themselves to the issue.

Run for Their Lives doesn’t have much social media presence or a significant number of followers across platforms (the largest number is on Instagram, with 4,000 followers). Israeli decision-makers should turn to the organizations driving the demonstrations for the return of the hostages, in the U.S. and globally, and try to mobilize them for public messaging to a greater degree.

• Greater international legitimacy. Most people, even those who don’t understand much about the Middle East, would be able to better identify with Israel after exposure to these demonstrations.
• Demonstrations in the United States for the return of the Gaza hostages should focus on pressuring Hamas, which is holding the hostages, and not just calling for the Israeli government to make a deal for their return. This could provide more evidence that there are also groups around the world that support Israel and its struggle.

Endnotes
1 https://nonviolentactionlab.shinyapps.io/palestineprotest-
dashboard/
2 https://run4lives.org/locations