Students for Justice in Palestine is experiencing a significant backlash due to its pro-Hamas demonstrations held on college campuses across the country.
Several public universities have outright banned the group from their premises – especially in Florida, which has ordered institutions to disband the pro-Hamas chapters on their campuses.
In the most recent development, Brandeis University, a private university, has banned its SJP chapter, becoming the first non-public educational institution to do so.
Brandeis University is banning the campus’ Students for Justice in Palestine chapter after SJP groups across the country applauded Hamas for the terrorist organization’s deadly attacks in Israel.
Brandeis SJP following Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Oct. 7 supported “Palestinian resistance in all of its forms” and rejected “the characterization of Palestinian resistance as ‘terrorism.’ ”
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The university in Waltham, which was founded by the American Jewish community a few years after the Holocaust, is no longer recognizing the Brandeis SJP chapter after national Jewish groups urged colleges to investigate their SJP chapters — including for possibly violating the ban against materially supporting a foreign terrorist organization.
In a statement, the university argued that engaging in speech that provides support to a terrorist organization “is not protected by Brandeis’ principles of free speech” and that students and faculty “are welcome to express their support for Palestinians in a manner that complies with our rights and responsibilities.”
Naturally, SJP, being a largely leftist organization, claimed the decision was motivated by bigotry.
Brandeis SJP had organized a vigil for Palestine for Monday night, but the group announced that the vigil was canceled following the university’s decision to de-charter the SJP chapter.
“We recognize that such a decision is purely racist and goes against the values of Brandeis University, an organization that was built to fight racism in higher education,” Brandeis SJP wrote.
The student group also added, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” That phrase is an antisemitic slogan commonly featured in anti-Israel campaigns and chanted at demonstrations, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The slogan is a call for a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, territory that includes the State of Israel.
SJP has been in the news quite frequently lately against the backdrop of the Israel/Hamas war. But it has a long and storied history of advocating in favor of terrorism against Israelis. In fact, it has been a major player in the academic battlefield of ideas.
According to a report titled “SJP Unmasked,” written by authors Dan Diker and Jamie Berk of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, the organization’s history is tied to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. This is an initiative intended to harm Israel by isolating it economically and politically by persuading and pressuring nations, companies, and other entities to cut ties with the Jewish state. Proponents of the movement argue that it is a legitimate protest against the Israeli government’s policies. However, critics have called it out as yet another vehicle for antisemitism.
The authors argue that SJP is “not a ‘grassroots’ student organization; it is a terror-affiliated anti-Semitic network” that operates with “autonomy and impunity at colleges and universities across the United States.”
Nevertheless, some universities have “treated SJP as a pro-Palestinian equivalent to pro-Israel students groups,” according to the report, which emphasizes that the group is “an extremist organization that maintains affiliations with Arab and Islamic terrorist groups, is overtly anti-Semitic, incites hatred and violence against Jewish students, and rejects the existence of the state of Israel in any borders.”
The roots of what would eventually become SJP can be traced back to 1959 when Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat founded the first branch of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS). This later led to the creation of SJP, whose first chapter was established at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2001.
The organizational history and structure of SJP is complex. The first chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine was founded at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2001. Additional chapters formed, but they did not come under a single umbrella until 2006 with the creation of the short-lived Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM), which was itself created by American Muslims for Palestine (AMP).
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) has been a leading organization providing anti-Zionist training and education to students and Muslim community organizations in the U.S. After the decline of the PSM, AMP placed a heavy emphasis on supporting and helping coordinate the activity of SJP, assisting in its development as one of primary organizers of anti-Israel events on campus over the years. It described SJP as part of a “signature project” to “organize and unify the work for Palestine on campuses in the United States,” according to a 2010 brochure.
The report notes that SJP’s funding sources are more than suspect. It is not a 501(c)3 operation, which means it does not have to disclose financial details. This has raised eyebrows considering that groups like AMP and the WESPAC Foundation have contributed heavily to the activist groups. These two entities have been linked to Hamas and other terrorist organizations. "SJP is a byproduct of AMP, an organization whose leaders were former members of Palestinian and Islamist terror organizations," the report states.
SJP members have repeatedly engaged in antisemitic behavior. In one instance, the chapter at Northeastern University was put on probation after some of its members disrupted a Holocaust remembrance event.
Ultimately, Students for Justice in Palestine is not simply a group of students who are critical of the Israeli government’s supposed treatment of Palestinian Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, nor is it an advocacy group for these individuals. Rather, it is a propaganda activist organization intent on bringing about the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state by shaping public opinion in favor of the terrorist groups who are currently leading another Intifada against Israel.
Despite what SJP’s defenders say, the organization appears to be nothing more than the propaganda arm for Hamas and other extremist groups working to change minds in the United States, focusing on the younger generations. This being the case, the operations of this organization could prove to be quite dangerous if they influence younger students who do not understand the facts of the overall conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
