On January 6, 2016, Bethany Koval, a 16-year-old Israeli Jewish student at Fair Lawn High School in New Jersey, was reprimanded by school administrators for posting tweets explicitly acknowledging Israel as an apartheid state responsible for terror attacks on Palestinians.

As reported in Mondoweiss, Bethany was “called down to the principal’s office, intimidated, threatened with legal action, and coerced into signing a statement.” Koval tweeted on the incident in real-time. “I’m about to be exposed for being anti-Israel,” she said on her way to the principal. "Pray for me.”

Koval is just the latest target in a growing nationwide campaign to silence those who demand justice for Palestinians. Unable to defend the indefensible in free and open debate, Israel’s enablers have resorted to smearing people of conscience — academics, students, and activists — with bogus charges, from anti-Semitism to, in Koval’s case, “bullying” (“because I wish for a Free Palestine,” she rebuts).

“Zionists are now going after teenagers,” observed Palestinian-American Prof. Steven Salaita, himself a prominent victim of pro-Israel attacks. “No surprise. The state they adore has a long history of making children suffer.”

This witch-hunt is a desperate response to the mushrooming international success of the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), which demands an end to Israeli occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and implementation of the right of Palestinian refugees to return.

We salute this courageous young activist, and stand with her in refusing to be silenced.