Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)

Key Points

• Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is a network of approximately 450 anti-Zionist student groups on university campuses across North America.
• Both National SJP (NSJP) and many SJP chapters have called for "Zionists" to be removed from campus spaces or from universities altogether. Some SJP chapters have called to ban Hillel and Chabad from campus, and some activists have called for harassment, vandalism, and violence against Zionists or Zionist institutions.
• Some SJP chapters have associated with Samidoun, a group sanctioned by the U.S. government due to its ties to the designated terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
• SJP has been a leading campus organizer of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns and anti-Israel protests.

Introduction

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is a network of approximately 450 anti-Zionist student groups on North American university campuses. The group routinely engages in antisemitic rhetoric and propaganda and is a leading campus organizer of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns and anti-Israel protests on university campuses. 

SJP was a central organizing node for the anti-Israel student encampments that proliferated across American universities and colleges in the spring and summer of 2024, amid a surge in antisemitic activity and sentiment on U.S. college campuses. The group also justified the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, terror attacks in Israel.

Background and Origins

SJP was founded in 1993 at the University of California, Berkeley, by then-student Osama Qasem and initially appeared to support the Oslo Accords and other peace agreements between Israelis and Palestinians. Qasem later helped establish the San Francisco office of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), where he served as chapter president. While ADC ostensibly exists to advocate on a variety of issues relevant to the American Arab community, educate Americans about the Arab community, combat stereotypes about Arabs in America, and promote other social justice issues, the group also hosts ArabCon, one of the most virulently anti-Zionist national conferences in the country.

Then-graduate student Hatem Bazian also helped establish the SJP in 1993. He went on to co-found American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a leading U.S. organization that provides anti-Zionist training and education to students and some Muslim community organizations around the country.

In the years that followed, the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) served as a national umbrella organization for various SJP chapters and other anti-Israel groups around the U.S. When PSM dissolved in 2006, SJP chapters were no longer officially connected through a national coalition. AMP then placed a heavy emphasis on supporting and helping coordinate SJP's activities, assisting in its development as one of the primary organizers of anti-Israel campaigns and events on campus over the years.

National SJP (NSJP) was formed in 2010, solidifying what had been an informal network into a central gathering hub. In 2011, AMP helped NSJP host and plan several conferences, including the first NSJP conference at Columbia University.

SJP chapters take their cues from the national organization and often promote and cross-post the same messaging and “calls to action” on social media and at protests.

The events that followed October 7, 2023, seemed to catalyze a period of significant growth for the organization. In a January 2024 edition of its publication "The Written Resistance," the group claimed that between October 7, 2023, and the release of this publication, over 100 SJP chapters were formed or re-chartered.

NSJP's network of affiliated campus groups includes the Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return (SUPER) at the University of Washington in Seattle and Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, among others.

After October 7

Both NSJP and individual SJP chapters have praised and defended the Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023.

NSJP described Hamas’s massacres of Israelis as "a historic win for Palestinian resistance" and called for "not just slogans and rallies, but armed confrontation with the oppressors." Individual SJP chapters also applauded the Hamas terror assault. Some, like the SJP chapter at Columbia University, published social media posts that openly supported acts of terror against Israel and explicitly called to "escalate" actions like occupying buildings, engaging in vandalism, disrupting operations, blocking access to public spaces, among other such tactics, “in solidarity” with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war triggered by the October 7 attack. 

Numerous SJP chapters also released inflammatory statements in support of Palestinians seizing control of Israeli territory, including some that explicitly endorse the use of violence and attacks on civilians. "We reject the distinction between ‘civilian’ and ‘militant.’ We reject the distinction between ‘settler’ and ‘soldier,’" The George Washington University SJP wrote: "A settler is an aggressor, a soldier, and an occupier even if they are lounging on our occupied beaches."

Over 30 SJP chapters have been censured by university administrations in some way since October 2023, including suspension, probation, and revocation of status as a registered student organization. Other chapters are operating in a diminished capacity; an Emerson student wrote in April 2026 that Boylston SJP is now largely underground, having been driven there by restrictive new policies. Others, such as the SJP chapter at Brandeis University, have been banned. The University of Washington and Emerson College have also gone so far as to send cease-and-desist letters to their SJP and allied organizations, demanding they do not use the school names in organizational branding.

Collaboration with Organizations and Individuals Associated with Terrorist Groups or Acts of Terror 

Some SJP chapters have collaborated with Samidoun and Masar Badil on gatherings and protests with highly inflammatory rhetoric, hosting Samidoun members at events, and co-sponsoring conferences. Additionally, Masar Badil lists two SJP chapters as part of its network. 

Samidoun is sanctioned by the U.S. government due to its ties to the PFLP, and Masar Badil shares leadership with them. Perhaps the most egregious incident involving Samidoun on university campuses occurred on September 3, 2024, when a protest at Baruch College led to a reported assault of a Hillel staff member and harassment of Jewish students, who were reportedly called “baby killers” and told to go “back to Brooklyn.” The protest was co-sponsored by Samidoun, SJP Baruch, SJP affiliate PSA Hunter College, John Jay SJP, SJP CCNY, Baruch College Middle Eastern and North African Society, and New York City Revolutionary Youth.

In other instances, SJP has platformed (or attempted to platform) individuals convicted by Israel in terror-related cases. In April 2026, SJP Berkeley - Law Students for Justice at Palestine and UC Berkeley's SJP hosted Israa Jaabis on Zoom as part of their Palestinian Prisoners Day teach-in event. Jaabis was a part of the terrorists-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas in November 2023 and was convicted in Israel of attempting to carry out a terror attack. In February 2025, the Georgetown Law Students for Justice in Palestine chapter announced it would host Ribhi Karajah, a student at Birzeit University. Karajah is accused by Israel of being a PFLP member and was convicted on charges that he allegedly had prior knowledge of a 2019 terror attack that killed Israeli 17-year-old Rina Shnerb in the settlement of Dolev. He was released from Israeli prison in February 2023. Karajah’s appearance at the SJP event was ultimately canceled, allegedly due to inclement weather.

Support for Terrorist Groups, Terrorists, and State Sponsors of Terrorism

Many SJP chapters have shared explicit pro-Hamas or other FTO (Foreign Terrorist Organization) rhetoric on social media, including praising the October 7, 2023 terror attacks and calling for further violence. 

In April 2024, NSJP tweeted “Thank you, Yemen,” amid attacks on Israel by the Yemen-based Houthis, alongside a photo of a rally in the Gulf country featuring a sign with their Arabic slogan, "God Is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam." They have also overtly supported individuals convicted of terrorism; in July 2025, they celebrated the release of Georges Abdullah, who was convicted in 1987 for the 1982 murders in Paris of U.S. military attaché Charles R. Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov.

(Screenshot/Instagram)

NSJP posts on Instagram. Left: A reference to a quip made by former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who said of U.S. troops in the Middle East, "The alternative… to leaving vertically is leaving horizontally." Right: A since-deleted October 2025 memorial post to Saleh Al Jafarawi, a Gaza-based social media personality who was killed by an anti-Hamas clan not long after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was announced in October 2025.

The SJP chapter in Boulder, Colorado, released a statement on the first anniversary of the Run for Their Lives firebombing, unequivocally supporting Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the perpetrator.

Other examples of SJP chapters co-sponsoring events or sharing social media posts that included support for terrorist organizations or terrorists include: 

• At an October 2025 anti-Israel rally in the Bronx, New York, organized by groups including Students for Justice in Palestine, the World Workers Party and Crown Heights Bites Back, protesters displayed the flags of the antisemitic U.S.-designated terrorist groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as a sign reading: “Glory to the Axis of Resistance” with images of various terrorist group logos and leaders, including former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Additionally, an SJP flier for the event from the New York City-based New School had an image of Sinwar on it.

(Screenshots/Instagram)

Left: Protesters display the flags of U.S.-designated terrorist groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, alongside images of various terrorist group logos and leaders, including former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, at an October 2025 anti-Israel rally in the Bronx, New York, organized in part by SJP. Right: An SJP flier for the event from the New York City-based New School had an image of Sinwar on it.

• Wayne State University’s SJP posted on Instagram in October 2025, “Condemning Hamas for armed resistance dismisses the fact that Israel is a colonial entity that is illegally occupying Palestine. Per international law and common sense, any organization that fights against the occupier, cannot be considered a terrorist organization. They have the legal and god given right to resist."
• At the May 2025 Swarthmore encampment organized by SJP, participants vandalized the "Big Chair" (akin to a campus monument) with a number of slogans, including "Hamas," "Houthis," Hezbollah," and "Bomb Tel Aviv, not children."
• In March 2025, anti-Israel activists at Barnard College, led by Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine and Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) in New York City, distributed a document in English written and circulated by Hamas explicitly justifying its October 7 attack. They also offered stickers depicting former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. This distribution occurred in conjunction with other protest activity on campus that also included storming the school’s Millstein Library and staging a sit-in inside. 

(Screenshot/X)

In March 2025, anti-Israel activists at Barnard College, led by Columbia SJP and Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), distributed a document in English written and circulated by Hamas, explicitly justifying its October 7 attack. Stickers depicting former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar were also on offer.

Ideological Red Lines and Demonization of Zionists

The organization has a number of ideological red lines and rhetorical flourishes to advocate for their positions. 

Anti-Normalization

NSJP has claimed that "dialogue distorts reality" and that "normalization perpetuates the myth that Palestinians & Israelis are two sides in a war." In a November 2024 X post describing planned protests against a Jewish National Fund conference in Dallas, NSJP wrote that such activities were "an extension of the students' efforts to confront Zionism in any way in which it appears on our campuses and cities^."

Many SJP chapters have also called on activists to avoid "normalization," cooperation, or even dialogue with any group they deem “Zionist.” According to the University of Minnesota’s SJP chapter, normalization means "to participate in any project or initiative or activity, local or international, specifically designed for gathering...Palestinians and Israelis."

Though many SJP chapters have previously explicitly disavowed antisemitism, their wholesale demonization of Zionism and Zionists amounts to the demonization of a significant number of their fellow students. In tandem with confrontational tactics, this can have the effect of turning campuses into hostile places for Jewish students.

Examples of anti-normalization sentiments include:

• In May 2026, The New School’s (TNS) SJP chapter supported TNS’s Student Senate efforts to strip the campus Hillel of funding, deny the group any university resources, and effectively sever ties with the organization. Ryder Glickman, the Student Senate chair at TNS and an SJP member, helped push a 38-page report alleging that the TNS Hillel had broken international law by running programming in Israel, including Birthright trips and volunteer opportunities with the IDF, and co-led student government efforts to blacklist Hillel.
• In November 2025, Abdullah Mady, a local Muslim spiritual leader, walked out of an interfaith event with a "Zionist" hosted by the City College of New York CCNY. The CCNY SJP fully supported this, writing, "students of conscience do not accept the normalization of Zionism nor the legitimacy of the criminal Zionist occupation of Palestine."
• In February 2025, the SJP at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) condemned the Chabad's "Experience Israel" event, writing that "allowing Chabad to host an ‘experience Israel’ event normalizes and supports Israel's ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people." The chapter said it "condemns this event and any organization with ties to the Zionist entity."

Demonization of Zionists and Zionism 

Though NSJP and many SJP chapters have previously explicitly disavowed antisemitism, their wholesale demonization of Zionism and Zionists amounts to the demonization of a significant number of their fellow students. In the January 2025 edition of NSJP’s publication the "Written Resistance," contributors wrote: "Just as a surgeon removes a malignant tumor or a physician prescribes a life-saving drug regimen, our efforts must target the systemic disease of Zionism and imperialism" and "A united front in all forms — against imperialism, against Nazism, against Zionism, and especially against Americanism — is required on a global scale to overcome these barriers."

Other examples of demonization of Zionists and Zionism include: 

• In March 2026, an SJP Instagram post criticizing the University of Maryland for hosting former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro pledged continued action until those it blamed for the "zionist occupation of Palestine" were "held accountable" and "every inch of our campus and every inch of Palestine is free of zionist terrorism."
• In February 2026, at an anti-Israel protest outside a Friends of the IDF fundraiser in Chicago organized by SJP and allied groups, protesters reportedly hurled profane insults at attendees, including “Stupid fucking Nazi cunts” and “Nazi Zionist ass bitches”^.

Disruptive Activity on Campus

Since October 7, SJP has organized or co-sponsored roughly ~1,500 protests with antisemitic elements. The group is known for using multiple tactics to bring its cause to the attention of larger campus communities. 

Harassment and Intimidation of “Zionist” speakers and events 

SJP activists frequently mobilize to protest pro-Israel speakers on campus and often go further by disrupting programs sponsored by their fellow students. The following is a partial list of these actions.

• At an April 2026 anti-Israel protest of a Students Supporting Israel (SSI) event, organized by the University at Buffalo SJP, protesters interrupted the gathering, shouting "Shame" and "Fuck you" at the soldiers and other attendees.
• At a February 2026 protest at a Students for Israel event at Boston University, organized by Quinobequin Student Front for Palestine (BU’s former SJP) and other anti-Israel groups, protesters chanted and then moved to the side of the building in which the event was being held, hitting and yelling at the wall separating them from the speaker.
• In January 2026, Sarah Lawrence College hosted journalist Ezra Klein for a talk. The Sarah Lawrence SJP immediately objected to his attendance, calling him a "genocide denier and liberal Zionist mouthpiece." At the event itself, students repeatedly disrupted Klein while he spoke, and unfurled a banner reading "NAZI NORMALIZER.^"
• At a May 2025 protest organized by SJP at the University of California, San Diego, anti-Israel protesters chanted, "Baby Killer," at a Jewish and Israeli professor who was moderating a discussion with another Israeli scholar.

Encampments

NSJP and SJP chapters played a leading role in organizing the anti-Israel university encampments beginning in March 2024. Some encampment protesters eventually took over buildings as an escalation tactic, like at Columbia University, Stanford University, California State University (CSU) Los Angeles, and Cal Poly Humboldt. Humboldt reported millions of dollars in damages as a result of the encampment. The damage at CSU LA and Stanford was considered extensive.

Other encampments showcased stridently anti-Zionist rhetoric, including calls for "Zionists" to be ostracized or vilified. For example, at Columbia on April 17, 2024, a protester told the crowd: “We will never let up and we will never let down until Palestine is free, Zionism is destroyed, and Zionists start to hide like the Nazis.”

Time, manner, and place policies implemented since spring 2024 have significantly affected encampment organizing. In the 2024-25 academic year, there were only about a dozen, down from 160 the previous year.