Student protesters on US campuses trained for months with anti-Israel groups including SJP – report

Some of the organizers of anti-Israel protests on university campuses across the United States in recent weeks were trained for months by pro-Palestinian activists and left-wing groups, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Student organizers held consultations with groups such as the anti-Israel National Students for Justice in Palestine, veterans of previous campus protests and former Black Panthers, the report says.

While there is no central organization coordinating the anti-Israel encampments and protests sweeping US campuses, the report notes that NSJP has been sharing updates and advice on its highly active profile on X, formerly Twitter.

In a April 25 post mentioned in the WSJ report, the group shared cartoons giving protesters ideas for “non-violent” resistance, including throwing what appears to be a smoke bomb, jumping over barriers and lifting a garbage can, reminiscent of scenes at activist occupations of university buildings in the past week.

some friendly advice for students protesting right now pic.twitter.com/ybYuPQZxxd

— National Students for Justice in Palestine (@NationalSJP) April 25, 2024

Some chapters of Students for Justice for Palestine have been banned from university campuses for policy violations in the months since war erupted with Hamas’s October 7 massacre, including at Columbia University in New York, the epicenter of the anti-Israel protests.

The newspaper article mentions a “Resistance 101” training session that was scheduled at Columbia in collaboration with the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a Vancouver, Canada-based group that reportedly celebrated the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

The session was banned twice by the university, according to the report, and was eventually held online.

During the virtual session with one of the speakers, Samidoun coordinator Charlotte Kates told attendees, “There is nothing wrong with being a member of Hamas, being a leader of Hamas, being a fighter in Hamas… These are the people that are on the front lines defending Palestine,” according YouTube footage cited in the WSJ report.

A Columbia student protest organizer quoted in the report, Sueda Polat, says the anti-Israel demonstrators also “learned the discipline and planning needed to pull off an effective protest movement,” such as fundraising from their previous experience at Black Lives Matter marches.