Howard students demand school disinvite State Dept from career fair because it 'perpetuates the Israeli settler state'

A Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter in Washington, D.C. has not only called for a boycott against companies who are “profiting from Israel’s war on Gaza,” but also from the U.S. State and Defense departments. 

In a Feb. 26 Instagram post and student newspaper open letter, Howard University’s SJP called on the university to “ban companies complicit in crimes of Zionism” who were scheduled to appear at a campus career fair during Feb. 27-28.

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“As students striving to uphold principles of justice, equity and human rights, we cannot turn a blind eye to the immense civilian suffering, dispossession, and massive and systematic human rights violations of Palestinians being perpetrated by Israel,” the SJP group wrote to the Center for Career and Professional Success, President Ben Vinson III, and the Howard Board of Trustees.

“We understand that Israel’s systematic decimation and domination of Palestine are intimately linked to U.S imperialism, militarism and capitalist greed,” it continued.

Organizations listed in the letter include the U.S. State Department, Bank of America, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, IBM, and the Institute of Defense Analyses. 

In the SJP letter, specific complaints against the State Department include that it is a “staunch supporter of the Israeli settler state since its inception in 1948, [and] the department provides $3.3 billion annually for weapons used in the lethal and unlawful targeting of Palestinian civilians.”

The letter also blamed the Institute for Defense Analyses for working “in direct alignment with federal institutions facilitating U.S. aid to Israel such as the Department of Defense, the Defense Management Institute and the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President.”

Similarly, SJP took issue with Howard’s relationship with the Defense Department.

“We also contend that Howard’s partnership with the U.S Department of Defense to establish a University Affiliated Research Center for students to develop ‘autonomous technology’ and war arms is yet another instance of Howard’s shameful allegiance to imperialism,” the group alleged. “This violent system perpetuates the Israeli settler state’s apartheid approach to its siege of Palestine.”

“We encourage students to take the pledge to refuse working for companies which aid the zionist settler state’s colonization of Palestine,” the group wrote on Instagram. “Instead, we challenge you to use your skills for the collective good of humanity.”

Along with the SJP chapter, co-signers featured Howard’s chapter of the NAACP, Howard Abolitionists, Youth Justice Advocates, and Students for Socialism DMV.

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Campus Reform has covered numerous instances of SJP chapters in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks. In January, Campus Reform reported that fellow chapters at Columbia University and Chicago blasted the U.S. military’s airstrikes on the Houthi terrorist organization.

Campus Reform contacted Howard University and the Howard SJP chapter for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.