Latest news with #StudentsForJusticeInPalestine
Fox News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
DAVID MARCUS: Time to ban pro-Palestine (Hamas) groups on campus, just like KKK
College is a place where differing viewpoints and ideas should flourish and clash, but institutions have long had a responsibility to avoid formal recognition of hate groups such as the KKK or the Nazi Party. Today, in the wake of growing pro-Palestinian terror, groups supporting that terror should be added to this list. In recent years, since the American campus protests in support of Hamas' terror attack on October 7, 2023, some colleges like Columbia University have canceled recognition of some pro-Palestine groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine, but it's not enough. After 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez allegedly murdered Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky two Israeli Embassy staffers on Wednesday night in Washington he can be seen on video yelling, "free free Palestine" in exactly the 60s style, sing-song cadence that echoes across our campuses. On those campuses we also hear a call to "globalize the intifada," precisely the call answered by Rodriguez. The intifada, after all, is an invitation to murder civilians in the name of Islam. Why would any American university allow itself to be associated with that? These schools may argue that it is possible to be a pro-Palestinian group on campus without advocating for violence, that only fights for fairness, but that is not what "from the river to the sea means," it means the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews. How much daylight is there between a movement that would presumably eradicate all Jews in the Levant in the name of Palestinian birthrights and one that would kill minorities in the name of racial purity? The pro-Palestinian movement has many similarities to the banned KKK, both groups cast themselves as ethnic victims, both embrace terror tactics, both wear masks and symbols of violence from the white hood to the green Hamas headband, and obviously both hate Jews, but claim they only hate "what Jews have done," or something. Neither group has any place on any college campus. We don't need starry-eyed freshmen (mostly girls) walking into a college organization fair, seeing a Palestinian flag and keffiyeh and saying, "I want to help the oppressed people," with absolutely no context. Speaking of that ubiquitous Palestinian flag, while it dates back to older pan Arab fights against the Ottoman Empire, in the 1960s it was adopted by the Palestinian Liberation Organization, a prototypical modern terrorist group. In the 60 years since, this flag has always represented a leadership and government, if you can call it that, of the Palestinians who have been terrorists the entire time, every single person in charge. The Palestinian flag was banned in Israel until 1993 when the Oslo Accords brought hope that peace could soon be found, but Palestinian leaders and their Iranian puppet masters have cruelly mocked that hope for decades. How many more antisemitic assassinations in our nation must there be before we take this problem seriously, before we address the poison being fed to our college kids? Colleges should support free speech, but if they can - and rightfully do - ban Nazi flags or the black flag of Isis, then why shouldn't the Palestinian flag also be banned? We want to believe that there is some peace-loving pro-Palestinian movement out there that abhors terrorism and just wants a reasonable solution, but there isn't. They don't chant demanding Hamas release the hostages and accept a two-state solution, they chant for the destruction of Israel. It is very similar to Black Lives Matter, a phrase which, on the one hand, seemed anodyne and obvious but which also represented hardcore Marxist ideology behind the placid mask of civil rights. And behind demands to protect Palestinian children is almost always the willingness to kill Jews. For all the talk of the online manosphere radicalizing right-wing men, the flurry of political violence of late from the DC murders, to Trump assassination attempts, to arson at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's mansion, have been coming from the far left. A progressive ideology that apologizes for, and even embraces, violence has taken hold at our prestigious universities, and at its core, loudest of all, are the pro-Palestinian groups, often backed by foreign money. How many more antisemitic assassinations in our nation must there be before we take this problem seriously, before we address the poison being fed to our college kids? We no longer have to accept the twisted rules of wokeness and privilege, we no longer have to lie to ourselves and say that the Palestinian cause has been righteous just because they are supposedly the oppressed group. The pro-Palestinian movement must be judged on its own actions, not on some sliding moral scale that takes into account skin color or privilege points. There must be a line drawn at terrorism. It is not too late to save our county's colleges, and a great start would be to remove the cancer of anti-Israel, anti America, and pro-terror groups from every quad and library in the land.
The Guardian
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
California State students protest aid blockade in Gaza with hunger strike
Around two dozen California State University students began a hunger strike last week to protest starvation in Gaza due to Israel's aid blockade, marking the latest act of political protest on college campuses. The strikers – students from San Jose State, Sacramento State, San Francisco State and CSU Long Beach – began their fast on 5 May 'We, the students of San Francisco, Sacramento, Long Beach, and San Jose State Universities, are beginning a united hunger strike in solidarity with the two million Palestinians at risk of starvation in Gaza,' Students for Justice in Palestine wrote in a press release. They are also pushing the university system to divest from weapons manufacturers, among other stated goals. The hunger strikes come as Israel's aid blockade in Gaza passes its second month, and is facing mounting international criticism for the millions of Palestinians pushed toward famine, as well as Israel's finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich's, recent assertion that 'Gaza will be entirely destroyed.' Max Flynt, a hunger striker and undergraduate student at San Francisco State University, cited the aid blockade as a decisive factor for organizing the strike. Flynt sets up daily on the campus quad with other organizers and strikers under a 'Hunger Strike for Gaza' canopy. Organizers hold educational workshops and strikers have their vitals taken every few hours, but do not stay overnight. 'Many of the forms of protests that were used last year, specifically the encampments, have become effectively illegal in the United States,' Flynt said. 'If we were to put up a tent today, the police would be called on us almost immediately.' Jaime Jackson, a professor at Sacramento State and member of Faculty for Justice in Palestine who studies non-violent protest, pointed out the hunger strike's symbolic ties with the realities in Gaza. 'The bombing, the killing, the massive violations of human rights have been an ongoing issue throughout,' Jackson said. 'But the recent, really big thing has been the blocking of humanitarian aid and the ongoing starvation of people in Gaza.' The crackdown on college protesters from the police to policy level, began during the Biden administration last year and has only increased under Trump. International students with vocal support for Palestinians have been especially targeted. 'We know that the Trump administration is doing this because they're scared of the student movement, they're scared of what they saw last year, and they're scared that it will come back again,' Flynt said. The divestment demands from Flynt and other protesters include the California State University system's adoption of San Francisco State University's Human Rights IPS Screening, the severance of study abroad programs with Israeli universities, and divestment from companies producing military, weapons and surveillance technology. 'We're aware of where they are sending our money, and we don't want to be used to any of these war efforts, genocide through these companies,' said Amal Dawud, and undergraduate and organizer at Sacramento State University. Two schools in the California State University system, Sacramento State University and San Francisco State University, began some form of divestment last year after meeting with student protesters. San Francisco State University confirmed the offloading of assets in Lockheed Martin, Palantir, Leonardo and Palantir, while some questions remain surrounding the mechanics of Sacramento State's divestment. Questions linger surrounding the mechanics and concrete implications of divestment. A recently killed congressional bill would have expanded penalties for boycotting and divestment. Marcus Bode, an undergraduate and hunger striker at California State, Long Beach, cited his university's partnership with Boeing, a major supplier to the Israel Defense Forces, as something that would disappear under divestment. Bode can consume water, powder electrolytes and sports fluid under the conditions of the strike, and said that he is already feeling the physical effects of the strike, including aching joints, muscle cramps and lightheadedness. 'We don't see those increases in tuition and fees, those hikes and prices, being returned as a benefit to the student. It isn't being reinvested into our campus and into our student body,' Bode said. 'It's instead being used to fund war and genocide abroad.' Bode and his fellow hunger strikers face an uphill battle with the university system. Amy Bentley-Smith, CSU's director of media relations, said the system and its campuses will not alter investment policies but honor the right to protest. 'We will continue to uphold the values of free inquiry, peaceful protest and academic freedom,' Smith said to the Guardian in a statement.
CBS News
07-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
DePaul University president to testify at congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses
DePaul University President Robert Manuel is expected to testify before Congress on Wednesday, as several university leaders face the House Education and Workforce Committee for a hearing on reports of antisemitism on campus. In a statement, DePaul has said Manuel "looks forward to having the conversation with our lawmakers and describing all that DePaul has done to confront antisemitism on campus." His appearance before Congress comes after two Jewish students sued DePaul, saying the school didn't protect them from an attack last fall that is being prosecuted as a hate crime. Max Long and Michael Kaminsky said they were outside the student center in November 2024 when two masked attackers punched them as they showed support for Israel. The incident happened during Israel's war with Gaza. Meanwhile, a coalition of DePaul students is condemning Manuel's testimony. That includes leaders of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jews for Justice. They say the committee is "weaponizing claims of antisemitism to suppress Palestinian human rights advocacy" on campuses. DePaul was also one of the universities that held large-scale pro-Palestinian protests and erected a pro-Palestinian encampment in the spring of 2024 at the height of the war between Israel and Hamas following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. The encampment was dismantled by police last May. President Trump has used antisemitism as a way to attack several colleges and universities and to strip them of funding, including Northwestern University. His Department of Education said the pro-Palestinian activities and encampments comprise a violation of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.
National Post
06-05-2025
- Politics
- National Post
'You can't be openly Jewish at TMU': Jewish students at Toronto Metropolitan University say they're now isolated, harassed
Ethan Elharrar remembers having a single month of normal college life at Toronto Metropolitan University. He was anxious about leaving Montreal for Toronto, living on his own for the first time in a new city, beginning a new program. He was nervous but excited. Article content He chose TMU because it offered the only degree in the country with 'hands-on experience' for graphic communications management. September 2023 went smoothly; he bonded with his roommates and adjusted to TMU's downtown campus. Article content He was at home for a brief stay in Montreal on October 7 when Hamas terrorists broke through the border fence with Israel and ignited a brutal conflict that still burns today. 'At the beginning, we had a week of people actually feeling sorry for us and then it just turned,' he told National Post. Article content Article content Over the coming months of Elharrar's first semester, he began posting on social media about the Israelis abducted by Palestinian terror groups, and was kicked off a private Instagram group chat with over 100 classmates in his program. Article content He began to feel very isolated on campus as a Jew. Article content 'I went in with people hating me right off the bat and me not being able to make any friends who are non-Jewish in my classes or in my program,' he said. Elharrar recalls walking into classrooms and seeing 'Free Palestine' written on the boards. When he joined others in holding a vigil honouring Israeli hostages and carrying posters with their images on campus, 'random people just came and spat on us,' he said. Article content Screenshots shared with the Post show graffiti proclaiming, 'Long live the resistance' in chalk above an inverted red triangle, a symbol used by Hamas to identify Israeli soldiers in their propaganda videos. He saw banners demanding 'Zionists get off our campus.' Elharrar said he was stalked on his way to a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game in April by an anti-Israel activist who, he believes, recognized him after TMU's Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group shared his image on social media. Article content Article content 'Shame on you, you TMU Jews, you commit genocide!' he recalls the twenty-something screaming at him. The man followed him until Elharrar caught a streetcar. He filed a police report against the man. Article content Article content 'You can't be openly Jewish at TMU, unfortunately,' the soft-spoken second-year with flowing black hair parted down the middle confided. 'You can't openly wear your Magen David. You can't openly wear a hostage pin because you will still get looks, even if it has nothing to do with Israeli politics. You will still get people looking at you.' Article content One of the few spaces where Elharrar, a StandWithUs Emerson Fellow, made friends was in the safety of TMU's small Jewish community of students and campus groups. A few weeks after October 7, he joined the fraternity AEPi. He met Liat Schwartz, a member of the Jewish sorority ZBO, who also came to TMU in September 2023 after a gap year in the southern Israeli city of Eilat.
