The Palestine Exception

After years of right-wing assaults on higher education, attacks took a new form in 2023 and 2024 that has been described as the new McCarthyism. As students across the country organize protests against Israel's war on Gaza, decades-long taboos in academia around criticism of Israel-the "Palestine exception"-are shattered. This film features professors and students as they join calls for a ceasefire and divestment from companies that do business with Israel and face waves of crackdown from administrators, the media, the police and politicians. Scholars from diverse disciplines explain what is at stake in these protests and why so many young people identify with the Palestinian cause. The documentary unfolds as a story of college campuses as sites of both rebellion and repression, places where personal and collective histories converge in unexpected ways.

Directed by Jan Haaken, Jennifer Ruth, The Palestine Exception leans on a strong ensemble — Ellen Schrecker, Jennifer Gaboury, Judith Butler — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about documentary titles of 2026.