Suspended pro-Hamas group occupies campus building to protest Tufts' 'complicity' on Oct. 7 anniversary
Tufts University's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter has staged a protest against school officials inside a campus building in Medford, Massachusetts.
The group took to Instagram to call upon anti-Israel activists to join in protesting on the one-year anniversary of Hamas committing the largest killing of Jews since the Holocaust.
A suspended pro-Hamas student group has staged a protest against university officials inside a campus building in Medford, Massachusetts.
On Monday afternoon, the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Tufts University took to Instagram to call upon anti-Israel activists to join in protesting on the one-year anniversary of Hamas committing the largest killing of Jews since the Holocaust.
“Join us right now at 200 college Ave (science & engineering complex) which we have renamed Kamel Jawad Complex,” the group wrote.
“MOBILIZE FOR GAZA, 1 year of complicity. Bring your friends and mask up,” it added.
The SJP chapter also identified Kamel Jawad as a Lebanese American “who was martyred by zionist bombs in Nabatieh, Lebanon.”
The protest comes after the SJP chapter was recently suspended on an interim basis by the university.
“On Wednesday October 2nd 2024, nearly a year into israel’s genocide of Gaza, funded by our tuition and tax dollars, tufts university suspended SJP over a flyer for a protest, condemning it as violent,” the group posted to Instagram on Friday. “tufts cites the content of our flyer as violent yet maintains invest and research ties that directly enable israel’s violent genocide in Palestine.”
“The repression we face is minimal compared to the importance of fighting for divestment,” the post added. “We will not back down, we will not apologize.”
Tufts SJP vowed to continue fighting for a “liberated Palestine,” stating: “GLORY TO THE MATRYS. ALL EYES ON PALESTINE.”
Executive Director of Media Relations Patrick Collins told The Tufts Daily that the SJP chapter was temporarily suspended due to “multiple violations of university policies.”
Collins specifically referred to a Sept. 30 SJP Instagram post that called upon students to “Join the Student Intifada,” “Escalate for Gaza,” and “Reject tufts complicity in over 76 years of the Zionist genocide of Palestine” by protesting on Oct. 7. The post’s text was also accompanied by a graphic depicting individuals possessing assault rifles.