World Bulletin / News Desk 

An unknown group has launched a website that profiles people affiliated with pro-Palestinian student groups – publishing their names, photos, occupations and sometimes universities and majors – in an effort to dissuade potential employers from hiring them.

Allegedly Canary Mission created the website out of concern for “the rise of anti-Semitic hate crimes on college campuses, and the dangerous Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement”.

But some members of the movement say that posting names on the website is harassment and “driven by deep hatred and prejudice”.

Most of the people profiled on Canary Mission are students or recent graduates with affiliations to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Muslim Student Associations (MSA). While the site’s profiles list people’s affiliations and occupations, the majority of the text is about the history of student groups that they are tied to.

Canary Mission includes profiles of 54 people, primarily university students and professors, with photos and links to their social media profiles.

Film-maker Rebecca Pierce first learned that she had been profiled on the site, when it highlighted her as “Radical of the Day”.

As a student at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), Pierce was part of a campaign to prevent professor Tammi Rossman‐Benjamin from speaking on campus because of comments Rossman-Benjamin made that some believe to be Islamophobic .

Pierce accused Canary Mission of using “McCarthyist tactics” and employing “open racism”.

It remains unclear who is behind Canary Mission – right-leaning, pro-Israel groups have denied having a relationship with the group: The David Horowitz Freedom Center, Daniel Pipe’s Middle East Forum, the AMCHA Initiative and StandWithUS told the Forward that they were not connected to Canary Mission.