UVA SJP calls Hamas terror 'Palestinian liberation'
The University of Virginia's SJP's statement refused to condemn Hamas.
"We reject the assumption that oppressed people cannot take their liberation into their own hands ," the statement read.
The University of Virginia’s (UVA) chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) was one of the first of many schools to defend the actions of Hamas after their attack on Israel.
On Oct. 8, just one day after the attack, UVA’s SJP chapter took to Instagram to defend the terrorist group and justify the attack, stating that the “rebellion was not ‘unprovoked,’ as many have claimed, but is the consequence of years of mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and oppression from Israel.”
“Over the past few days, many of us have been afraid, worried, and even hopeful for the future of Palestine,” the statement began. “Students for Justice in Palestine at UVA unequivocally supports Palestinian liberation and the right of colonized people everywhere to resist the occupation of their land by whatever means they deem necessary.”
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“Some place the impetus on Palestinians to be the ‘perfect victims’ of their own colonial narrative, only resisting through nonviolent protest and appealing to the moral character of the imperialist nations that fund their colonization,” the statement continued.
“We reject the assumption that oppressed people cannot take their liberation into their own hands or that outside onlookers know better than the subjects of colonial occupation what is necessary to gain their freedom.”
The statement concluded by celebrating the attacks as “a step towards a free Palestine,” saying, ”They reflect the power and resilience of the Palestinian people in the face of 75 years of continued brutal oppression. The occupation is unsustainable, freedom is not a matter of if, but when. We stand in solidarity with Palestinian resistance fighters and all oppressed people around the world seeking freedom and a better world.”
The statement never condemned the actions of Hamas, nor did it acknowledge the loss that Israelis have faced.
Campus Reform has reached out to both UVA and its SJP chapter for comment and will update the story accordingly.
