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GWU suspends group over projection of pro-Palestinian slogans [1]

['Martin Weil', 'Susan Svrluga']

Date: 2023-11-14

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George Washington University has suspended a student group advocating for the Palestinian cause after it allegedly projected images on the campus library last month, school officials said. Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at GWU projected multiple images on the Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library on Oct. 24, the GWU statement on Tuesday said. Jewish student groups among others have objected to the images, which were in the form of slogans, and described them as potentially antisemitic. One of the projections, according to photographs, was the phrase “Divestment from Zionist genocide now.” Others included “Glory to our martyrs” and the slogan “Free Palestine from the river to the sea.”

Supporters of the Palestinian cause have described it as an aspirational call for freedom. Jewish and Israeli groups have suggested it is a call for destruction of the state of Israel and for ethnic cleansing of Jews from what is now Israel.

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The projections, which were mentioned on network news shows and cited on Capitol Hill, drew national attention as demonstrations over the Israel-Gaza war have divided college campuses and filled city streets in recent weeks.

Earlier Tuesday, thousands of demonstrators attended a rally on the National Mall to express solidarity with Israel, condemn antisemitism in the United States and globally, and demand the release of hostages taken by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

In another sign of the intensifying tensions on the campus, a nonprofit group reported Wednesday that someone threw a rock at their truck carrying a sign condemning Hamas and antisemitism. The person yelled “Free Palestine!” the group said.

“It makes me feel scared for Jewish students — really, really nervous for Jewish students on campus,” said Archie Gottesman, co-founder of JewBelong, a nonprofit that fights antisemitism. “It’s terrifying.” The group’s truck, which bore the message “Let’s be clear. Hamas is your problem too,” was on the GWU campus Wednesday after traveling to Washington for the pro-Israel rally.

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“The university is aware of reports of the vandalization of a pro-Jewish and anti-Hamas mobile billboard sponsored by an outside organization that was parked on a public street on campus,” a GWU spokeswoman wrote in an email. City and campus police have responded, she wrote.

In a statement Oct. 25, the day after the pro-Palestinian images were projected on the building, GWU President Ellen M. Granberg denounced the act, which she said included “antisemitic phrases that have caused fear and anxiety for many members of our Jewish and broader GW community, and we wholly denounce this type of conduct.”

Leaders of the campus chapter of SJP and the national organization did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. But on social media, students were signaling their next moves: They announced the formation of GW Student Coalition for Palestine “to facilitate and continue the work of the movement for Palestinian liberation” and a protest on campus. The group said the SJP chapter was not involved in the action.

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Later Wednesday, while banging pans and cheering, a group of protesters held cardboard and paper signs such as “Let us mourn” and waved Palestinian flags. In front of the library, masked protesters chanted, “Israel is a racist state,” “End the occupation now” and “From the sea to the river.”

And then to huge cheers and applause, a student in a kaffiyeh shouted through a megaphone, their voice hoarse: “SJP! SJP! SJP!” A masked speaker shouted, “The student movement will not be silenced!”

The group then marched toward the university president’s house.

The suspension of SJP at the university follows similar moves on several other campuses nationally as tensions flare amid the Israel-Gaza war.

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Columbia University announced last week that it was suspending its campus chapter of SJP and another student organization, Jewish Voice for Peace, through the end of the semester. The university cited the groups’ repeated violations of university policies for campus events, including an unauthorized demonstration this month that included threatening rhetoric and intimidation.

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On Tuesday night, at a demonstration organized to protest the suspensions, organizers announced a coalition of dozens of groups, Columbia University Apartheid Divest.

Maryam Alwan, a Students for Justice in Palestine member, said in the statement that the coalition had spread from undergraduates to all of Columbia’s schools. “I hope this is a sign to universities and hostile forces across the country that the more you suppress and attack students,” Alwan said, “the stronger and louder they will become.”

At Brandeis University in Massachusetts, officials announced last week that the university would no longer recognize its campus chapter of SJP. “This decision was made because SJP openly supports Hamas, which the United States has designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and its call for the violent elimination of Israel and the Jewish people,” Ronald D. Liebowitz, the university’s president, wrote in a message to campus. He said that the school is “dedicated to ensuring free speech” but that the university’s policy allows restriction of speech “that constitutes a genuine threat or harassment.”

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University leaders have grappled with how best to respond to the intense protests. University of California President Michael V. Drake announced new initiatives Wednesday to improve campus climate, safety and support of students amid flaring tensions over the war and “alarming acts of bigotry, intolerance, and intimidation” on the system’s 10 campuses. The $7 million investment will include new emergency mental health services and education on issues such as how to recognize and combat extremism.

New York University also announced plans to create a Center for the Study of Antisemitism, funded by a recent seven-figure donation, to examine and combat bigotry.

At GWU, the suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine was first reported by the campus newspaper, the Hatchet. The newspaper quoted an unnamed SJP representative as expressing disappointment but not surprise, characterizing GWU’s action as part of a growing wave of backlash and repressions against the Palestinian student movement.

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In its statement, the university said the actions of the Palestinian advocacy group “violated university policies,” including guidelines for use of the library building, which is on the university’s campus in Foggy Bottom.

The advocacy group refused at first to comply with directives from GWU officials to stop the projections, the university said. GWU did not give further details of the policies with which SJP failed to comply. A campus spokesman said Tuesday night that he could not provide the details.

The university has prohibited SJP from participating in activities on campus. Under the suspension, GWU said, SJP can’t sponsor or organize activities on campus or use university facilities for the next 90 days. The university also prohibited SJP from posting communications on university property through May 20.

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[1] Url: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/11/14/gwu-images-palestinian-students-for-justice/

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