A history of Students for Justice in Palestine, the anti-Israel group behind recent campus controversy
After obtaining exclusive information showing that the Rutgers Students for Justice in Palestine chapter received over $20,000 in student government funding, Campus Reform takes a closer look at the national organization.
Campus Reform exclusively reported Monday that the Rutgers University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine received over $20,000 in student government funding just in the past year. While Students for Justice in Palestine has been very active in organizing anti-Israel protests and campaigns nationally since the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel, the group’s roots trace back all the way to 2010.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the first National Students for Justice in Palestine conference was in 2011. In 2010, the organization adopted a policy of anti-normalization, which, according to some SJP chapters, means to avoid participation in “any project or initiative or activity, local or international, specifically designed for gathering...Palestinians and Israelis.”
According to the University of Minnesota’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, normalization means “to participate in any project or initiative or activity, local or international, specifically designed for gathering...Palestinians and Israelis.”
Since its existence, Students for Justice in Palestine chapters have made clear their opposition to Zionism.
During an SJP event in 2018 at Eastern Michigan University, a speaker said that “Zionism is a hateful, racist ideology.”
In a slideshow used by San Diego SJP in 2013 titled “The Right Side: A Guide to the Moral High Ground,” the organization compared Israeli policy to the Holocaust on several instances, according to the organization.
As documented by Campus Reform the organization has become prolific in its anti-Israel positions since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023.
The Fordham University Students for Justice in Palestine chapter held a rally on Jan. 19 to condemn the school’s so-called support for Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza, as reported by Campus Reform.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” “Fordham, Fordham, you can’t hide; you’re supporting genocide,” and “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes,” were all chanted during the protest.
The organization doesn’t hesitate to criticize the United States, either.
As Campus Reform reported, SJP at Columbia University and its Chicago chapter posted “Hands off Yemen” posters to social media and announced plans to protest the U.S. military airstrikes in the country.
The group protested airstrikes by the U.S. military against several Houthi terrorist organization targets, according to Fox News Digital.
[RELATED: Rutgers student gov gave SJP over $20,000 for Palestinian ‘teach-in,’ national conference, and more: EXCLUSIVE]
The terrorist organization has continued to attack U.S. and British vessels in the Red Sea in response to Israel’s war against Hamas.
According to the Brookings Institute, the Houthis slogan is “God is great, death to the U.S., death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory for Islam.”
Following the Hamas terrorist attack in October 2023, actions by some SJP chapters around the country have resulted in individual organizations being suspended.
Columbia University, George Washington University, and Rutgers University have all suspended its SJP chapters. Rutgers suspended its SJP chapter in December 2023, but reinstated the group in January. It remains under probation until December 2024.
Brandeis University, however, banned its SJP chapter from campus entirely, as Campus Reform reported.
[RELATED: Fordham SJP blames university for being ‘complicit’ in ‘genocide’ against Palestine]
The George Washington University Students for Justice in Palestine held a “vigil” for “martyrs” of the Palestinian resistance following the Oct. 7 attack, as reported by Campus Reform.
The organization also projected the following phrases onto the university’s library: “GW the blood of Palestine is on your hands,” “End the siege on Gaza,” and “Glory to our martyrs.”
