A movement based in truth does not need to lie. So why is an international movement which claims to want to end “apartheid” and is based on “equality…for all people” misrepresenting its membership? Could it be that support for the Apartheid-Free Community pledge is as phony as the movement’s premise in the first place?

The answers are tucked away in the hills of a little-known state nestled in the uppermost regions of the United States: Vermont.

Vermont is the syntactical and political strategy testing ground for an invasive movement taking over New England like an Emerald Ash Borer. Vermont has a total population of roughly 645,000, is one of the whitest states in the nation, has a largely liberal local legislature, and is represented by anti-Israel Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch, and Congresswoman Becca Balint. The Jewish population is roughly 8,000 (1.7%), spread across the tiny state’s 14 counties. 

The Apartheid-Free Communities (AFC) campaign targets one country and one group in America, which is disproportionately impacted by the divisive language AFC tries to muscle into law. Under cover of peaceful language and wide support from Vermont’s omnipresent social justice groups, AFC flies under the radar of the general public and elected officials, leaving local Jews and allies to figure out how to fight an informational and political war against a well-funded Goliath.

WHAT IS AFC?

Apartheid-Free Communities is a fresh coat of paint on a rotting house. It’s the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement looking for new buyers.  

The AFC campaign is sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). It is an international campaign targeting towns, cities, businesses, religious institutions, and social justice organizations with a four-clause BDS-style pledge concealed in Quaker/Friends rhetoric:

WE AFFIRM our commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and all people;

WE OPPOSE all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression; and

WE DECLARE ourselves an Apartheid-free community and to that end,

WE PLEDGE to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s Apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation.

In 2024, the AFC pledge first appeared in Burlington, VT (the state’s largest city, with the largest Jewish population.) The City Council voted against putting it on the Town Meeting Day ballot. Burlington saw repeated efforts each subsequent year — along with hours of hate-filled meetings during which Jewish students were doxxed, rules of order ignored, and public officials disparaged. 

After AFC’s first failure in Burlington, the campaign went statewide. Ten Vermont towns/cities considered the pledge in 2025, and five passed it. In 2026, nine towns/cities were targeted, with four passing it and one postponing. 

Thetford, one of the towns to pass it in 2025, is changing its purchasing policy to comply with the pledge. The newly drafted “Human Rights Equipment Procurement Policy” utilizes a database built by the AFSC to make decisions on municipal purchases above $350,000. The five-member Selectboard will reportedly debate final approval of the new procurement policy at their June 4 meeting.

The pledge itself is open ended and its implementation, or lack thereof, is largely left up to interpretation. Thetford is the first municipality in Vermont to consider binding measures in order to comply with the pledge. The AFC literature targets large local employers such as General Dynamics, which is on the AFSC database.

WHY VERMONT?

Vermont was the first state in the USA targeted by the AFC campaign, beginning in September 2023 when AFSC’s Palestine Action Program Coordinator Zoe Jannuzi visited Vermont and met with local anti-Israel agitator Wafic Faour of Vermonters for Justice in Palestine and the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation. 

Vermont is the only state currently listed as an “Affinity Group” on the AFC website, alongside Washington DC, Quakers, and Canada. The nation’s capital city, an entire faith group, an entire country, and a state of 645,000. The math doesn’t math.

Vermont was likely selected as the first target for the AFC campaign because Vermonters for Justice in Palestine (VJP) led the effort to pressure ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s to stop selling products in the “occupied Palestinian territories” in 2021. Vermont is also a base for the F-35 program, which the AFSC opposes. 

VJP and other groups helped bring a BDS resolution to the Burlington City Council in 2021. The measure did not pass but divided the community for months, and resulted in an hours-long meeting eerily similar in rhetoric and behavior to today’s anti-Israel rallies.

Under the guidance of Vermont’s anti-Israel groups, the AFC campaign is now in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Samia Abbass and Faour are serving as key ambassadors. Abbass, the Communications & Engagement Coordinator for AFSC’s Palestine Activism Program and a member of Southern Vermont for Palestine is teaching Massachusetts towns, and Faour, along with Upper Valley for Palestine, are teaching New Hampshire towns. Small ground teams from Vermont assist in cross-border events and recruitment.

Identical literature is passed out throughout Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. It is funded and produced by the AFSC, with only small local details varying depending on the audience. The pledge language is always the same; the core four clauses remain the same. Additionally, more extreme clauses are sometimes added, as is about to happen in Wendall, Mass. at its town meeting on May 30 (Article 27).

SOWING THE SEEDS OF HATE IN HANOVER

On May 12, 2026, residents of Hanover, NH, faced the AFC pledge under “open business” during their annual town meeting. Presenting the pledge under “open business” is a strategy championed in Vermont since 2024. It prevents the community from having prior notice of the item’s existence until the moment of debate and removes the ability to consider it in a fully informed environment. 

“Open business” is traditionally the last item on the town meeting agenda, so it also uses a “running out the clock” strategy by bringing up a highly contestable item at the end of what are typically very long annual meetings. Town meetings are a cherished New England tradition and an ongoing practice of local democracy in areas divided by mountain ranges where people must depend on being, and having, good neighbors. 

In Hanover, the meeting began at 7 PM, but most residents left before open business was discussed 2.5 hours in. 

Directly before the “open business” portion, three representatives from Vermont’s anti-Israel groups notified local agitators to arrive for the measure, swaying the makeup of remaining attendees (TC approx: 2:30:00.) This is another hallmark move of the AFC movement; packing the room with recently registered voters who have been recruited for this sole measure and are able to dominate public comment sessions. 

College towns are key targets for adults pushing AFC; students are old enough to vote and the organized AFC movement coordinates with various campus groups including Students for Justice in Palestine. 

Hanover has no time limit on public comments (compared to Burlington, VT, which has a 2:00 time limit.)

In a well-researched strategic effort to stop the pledge, a group of Dartmouth College students proposed a variety of counter measures, beginning with a call for immediate adjournment. When that failed, they presented counter-pledges denouncing terrorism and Hamas, which also failed. The AFC pledge passed by a vote of 59-35 after more than an hour of public comment, which featured numerous antizionist libels and the repetition of the New York Times’ “dog rape” libel. The vote was cast at around 11:30 PM to an audience a fraction of the size as when the meeting began. 

Since the pledge is non-binding, the decision to formally adopt it lay with the Hanover Selectboard. At their next meeting May 19, the Board voted unanimously to take no action on the pledge. 

WHY PUBLISH A LIE?

Despite the Hanover Selectboard’s ultimate decision, the Apartheid-Free Communities website still lists Hanover as a “Community.”

This is false. It does not stand up against the civic procedure and rules of the Town of Hanover. It is an erroneous representation to inflate perception of support for the AFC pledge.

The AFC pledge may read as peaceful, but it opens the door to hateful rhetoric and behavior in communities statewide. Vermont knows this all too well. 

The majority of the Hanover community who attended for the prior 22 articles were not represented in the room when this vote was taken. Many people left before this unwarned item was introduced under open business at 9:30 PM. 

The Hanover Selectboard saw the mismatch between community representation and the final vote outcome. Some Vermont towns were not as nimble. How many more New England towns will be targeted by masked college students led by people who openly support terrorists?

The AFC pledge is based on an “apartheid” lie. It lies about its membership in order to support its veracity. It ignores the rule of law in favor of mob rule. 

And it’s just one of many nation-wide hate themes that found fertile roots in the rocky soil of tiny Vermont. The AFC movement is taking advantage of people’s care for each other in order to convince themselves that caring for neighbors is a matter of choice instead of necessity. It is telling people that it is more important to divide ourselves in the very places where we come together. 

As Vermont-born President Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge said on September 21, 1928, in one of the few times he spoke at length: “I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and invigorating climate, but most of all, because of her indomitable people. They are a race of pioneers who almost beggared themselves to serve others. If the spirit of liberty should vanish in other parts of the union and support of our institutions should languish, it could all be replenished from the generous store held by the people of this brave little state of Vermont.”

May New England remember that the words of those who don’t shout are the messages which live for centuries.

NOTE: At least two NH towns and four MA towns are rumored to be considering the pledge in the coming months.

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