‘Brandeis will uphold free speech rightly understood,’ president writes
Students for Justice in Palestine can no longer operate at Brandeis University due to the group’s support for Hamas, which currently governs the Gaza Strip.
“SJP’s open support for Hamas, which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization, was the driving factor in the decision, according to a source familiar with Brandeis’ plans,” Jewish Insider reported. “The source noted that the National SJP has called on its chapters to engage in conduct that supports Hamas in its call for the violent elimination of Israel and the Jewish people.”
The former campus group confirmed the news in a post on Instagram. “With heavy hearts, we would like to announce that our chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine has been unjustly de-charted,” the group wrote on Instagram yesterday. “This comes as a part of Brandeis University, an institution that values social justice, trying to silence us from speaking our truth.”
“We thank everyone who stood by us during this beautiful journey, and we encourage you to reach out to us if you need any kind of support,” the group wrote. It concluded its social media post by calling for the destruction of Israel, writing, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
The president of the Waltham, Massachusetts university published an essay Monday in The Boston Globe that said clubs which call for the “annihilation” of Israel would lose club privileges. The local Jewish community started the university.
“Most urgently, in this twilight zone moment when students and faculty seem to be enjoying their freedom to express grotesque language about Jews, Jewish life, and the Jewish state, Brandeis will uphold free speech rightly understood,” President Ronald Liebowitz wrote. “Universities cannot stop hate speech, but they can stop paying for it.”
“Brandeis will ensure that groups that receive privileges through their affiliations with the university, including using its name, will lose their affiliations and privileges when they spew hate,” he wrote.
A campus spokesperson provided further comment to Fox News. “National SJP has called on its chapters to engage in conduct that supports Hamas in its call for the elimination of the only Jewish state in the world and its people,” Julie Jette told Fox News. “Such expression is not protected by Brandeis’ principles of free speech.”
The decision follows Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ determination that the student group has effectively allied itself with the terrorist group Hamas, and as a result must be disbanded at public universities. National Students for Justice in Palestine said it is “part” of the Hamas “resistance.”
“All of our efforts continue the work and resistance of Palestinians on the ground,” the group wrote, as previously reported by The College Fix.
SJP groups on other college campuses have called for the destruction of Israel. Pro-Hamas students also marched through the library at The Cooper Union in New York, reportedly leaving Jewish students trapped inside a library.
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IMAGE: Brandeis SJP/Instagram
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