Students arrested for pro-Hamas protests reject school punishments, double down on anti-Israel demands
University of Texas at Dallas students who were arrested for demonstrations in May have doubled down on their anti-Israel stance and stated that they will fight the school if it attempts to impose academic disciplinary measures.
“We need divestment from these companies killing our own people,” one student concluded.
Pro-Palestine students at the University of Texas at Dallas who were arrested for demonstrations in May have doubled down on their anti-Israel stances and stated that they will fight the administration if it attempts to impose academic disciplinary measures.
Nine students were presented with three options by UT-Dallas’ Office of Community Standards and Conduct, according to The Dallas Observer. Specifically, the students could accept both responsibility and a punishment, accept responsibility and appeal any punishment, or reject both.
Mousa Najjar, one of the students arrested during a pro-Palestine protest, critiqued the university for not giving in to students’ demands. “For years, our own administration has continuously demonstrated absolutely no intent to protect its own students, let alone heed their demands,” Najjar said.
[RELATED: CAIR sues Gov. Abbott to ‘defend free speech’ of pro-Hamas Texas campus activists]
“We understand that this arrest is a part of a broader attempt to repress student movement for demanding a liberated Palestine and confronting their universities for their complicity in the genocide on Gaza,” he added.
“We need divestment from these companies killing our own people,” Najjar concluded.
Mariam Lafi, another student who was arrested during a pro-Palestine demonstration stated that the only alternative to the university divesting from Israel is for it to “continue to profit off the genocide against the Palestinian people.”
“Our calls have been outright ignored,” Lafi argued. “Now, ignoring us is no longer an option, as hundreds of thousands of students have organized globally to demand divestment and fight for the Liberation of Palestine.”
Lafi concluded that while student protesters might not be able to have a direct effect on corporations, “we can and we must target the institutions and bodies that invest in them.”
“Like our universities,” he told the Dallas Observer.
“We strongly uphold students’ rights to protest,” the school said in a statement obtained by The Dallas Morning News. “However, demonstrations must adhere to policies governing assembly on campus.”
Campus Reform has previously reported about the anti-Israel presence at UT Dallas, including the disruption of the school’s commencement ceremony in May by pro-Palestine student demonstrators.
“Disclose, divest, we will not stop we will not rest,” student activists chanted while walking out during the ceremony in a video posted by the group.
In another video captured by the group, the SJP chapter’s president held a Palestinian flag with the words “Divest From Death,” while interrupting another graduation ceremony at the school.
Campus Reform has contacted the University of Texas at Dallas for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
