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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://theintercept.com/2023/11/16/israel-palestine-gaza-student-protests/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter">theintercept.com</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Student Protests for Gaza Targeted by Pro-Israel Groups for Alleged Civil Rights Violations</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Schuyler Mitchell, Prem Thakker</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">November 16, 2023<br></div>
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<p><span>In front of</span> Columbia University’s Low Memorial Library,
seven infant-sized bundles of white cloth rested on the steps,
splattered with red paint. Behind the swaddles, plywood boards read
“10,600 lives slaughtered,” “4,412 children,” and “let Gaza live,”
alongside images of Palestinian flags and olive trees.</p>
<p>This was the scene where Columbia students<a href="https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2023/11/10/hundreds-of-pro-palestinian-students-walk-out-as-part-of-national-call-to-action-gather-for-peaceful-protest-art-installation/"> gathered</a>
last Thursday for a “peaceful protest art installation” and
demonstration organized by the campus chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace
and Students for Justice in Palestine. Hundreds of students demanded
that Columbia publicly call for a ceasefire in Gaza, divest its
endowment from corporations complicit in Israeli apartheid, and end its
academic programs in Tel Aviv.</p>
<p>The next day, Gerald Rosberg, chair of the Special Committee on
Campus Safety, announced Columbia had suspended its chapters of JVP and
SJP through the end of the semester, citing an “unauthorized event” that
“included threatening rhetoric and intimidation.” The announcement
quickly drew widespread criticism, including from hundreds of Jewish
faculty who <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSecxSdV0vmVulHzZDnNCZceciHDU-3KmeIVhfPWZcecG3TPJw/viewform">denounced</a> the “vague allegations” that served as grounds for the suspensions.</p>
<p>But amid the backlash, StandWithUs, a self-described “non-partisan
Israel education organization,” lauded Columbia’s decision. “StandWithUs
sent several legal letters to universities like @Columbia, urging them
to immediately hold these groups accountable for the hate, fear, and
harassment they incite on campus,” the group <a href="https://twitter.com/StandWithUs/status/1723102517809070344">wrote</a> on social media. “We hope more universities will follow suit.” </p>
<p>Alongside Israel advocacy groups like the Brandeis Center, the
International Legal Forum, and the David Horowitz Freedom Center,
StandWithUs has spent years trying to shut down criticism of Israel on
college campuses, often by weaponizing civil rights law. The groups
allege that, while the political speech may be protected by the First
Amendment, it fosters a campus climate of antisemitism in violation of
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits federally funded
programs from discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national
origin. As students have ramped up pro-Palestinian demonstrations over
the past month, Israel advocacy groups have escalated a pressure
campaign of their own. </p>
<p>Earlier this month, StandWithUs sent an <a href="https://www.standwithus.com/post/standwithus-letter-to-general-counsel-and-vp-student-affairs">open letter</a>
to thousands of universities addressed to the general counsel and vice
president of student affairs, outlining actions colleges could take to
ensure compliance with Title VI. The group’s recommendations include
requiring student identification cards at protests, monitoring
university communication channels for “biased statements about Israel,”
and investigating student groups for ties to Hamas. The group has also
sent <a href="https://www.standwithus.com/news-database/categories/college-legal-issues">a surge of direct letters</a>
urging administrators to clamp down on specific Palestine solidarity
campus events. Meanwhile, on November 9, the Brandeis Center filed two
Title VI complaints with the Department of Education against the
University of Pennsylvania and Wellesley College. (The Brandeis Center
also joined forces with the Anti-Defamation League to call on the
presidents of nearly 200 universities to investigate their SJP chapters,
alleging they could have ties to Hamas that would constitute
“materially supporting a foreign terrorist organization.”)</p>
<blockquote>“If you can’t win the debate because the facts aren’t in your favor, it’s pretty sensible to try to stop it altogether.”</blockquote>
<p>According to Dylan Saba, a staff attorney at Palestine Legal, the
groups tend to target “pretty mundane examples of pro-Palestine
expression … because that’s precisely what these organizations are
trying to get rid of.” But as Israel’s military assault over the past
month has become “increasingly indefensible for the pro-Israel forces,”
it’s spurred a new wave of Title VI threats.</p>
<p>“That’s what’s motivating the strategy to try to raise the stakes of
Palestinian expression and organizing by getting universities to try to
crack down on it,” said Saba. “If you can’t win the debate because the
facts aren’t in your favor, it’s pretty sensible to try to stop it
altogether.”</p>
<h2>Crackdown at Columbia</h2>
<p>The Title VI crusade adds even more fuel to the recent punitive actions against Palestine solidarity student groups. </p>
<p>Since the start of Israel’s bombing of Gaza, students at Columbia
have organized numerous protests, vigils, and rallies in a show of
support for civilians in Gaza. As part of a nationwide “Shut it Down for
Palestine” walkout on November 9, SJP and JVP arranged an art
installation and rally.</p>
<p>One day later, the groups were suspended for the unauthorized event
and “threatening rhetoric and intimidation,” making them ineligible to
hold campus events or receive school funding for the remainder of the
term. </p>
<p>While university policy requires students to obtain a permit 10 days
before an event, violations of policy usually result in a disciplinary
proceeding against individual students, not an outright suspension of an
entire organization, according to Katherine Franke, a law professor at
Columbia University who has been serving as a faculty advocate for the
sanctioned students. </p>
<p>Franke noted that the organizations were suspended by a newly formed
group, the Special Committee on Campus Safety, which was created with no
advance notice and did not go through the standard University Senate
Executive Committee approval process. Columbia’s website does not
contain any mention of the Special Committee before the November 10 <a href="https://news.columbia.edu/news/statement-gerald-rosberg-chair-special-committee-campus-safety">announcement</a>, which did not elaborate on the new committee’s members or purview. </p>
<blockquote>“We don’t know who’s on it, who created it, what its authority is, under what rules is it operating.”</blockquote>
<p>“We don’t know who’s on it, who created it, what its authority is,
under what rules is it operating,” said Franke. Franke has asked
Rosberg, the chair of the Special Committee, for more information about
the new group and the specific rhetoric that led to SJP and JVP’s
sanctioning. She says she has not received a response. </p>
<p>Additionally, internet archives show Columbia quietly updated its
student group event policy some time between June 12 and October 20 to
include new language around the sanctioning of student organizations
“for failure to obtain event approval and/or not abiding by terms of an
approved event.”</p>
<p>“They edited the student conduct rules without any consultation with
the groups that normally are required to be consulted,” said Franke. </p>
<p>Columbia University did not respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>During her 25-year tenure, Franke noted she’s seen “a lot of
demonstrations,” from the Iraq War to 9/11. “All manner of things have
been debated, protested, and the university’s structure was able to
handle it,” she said. “But somehow, they had to create — without any
consultation with any of the responsible governing bodies — a whole new
way of dealing with these issues.”</p>
<p>Columbia is one of three private universities that have now
sanctioned their SJP chapters in an unprecedented cascade of crackdowns
on student organizing around Palestine solidarity. </p>
<p>Earlier this month, Brandeis University announced an outright and
total ban on its SJP chapter, claiming the group “openly supports
Hamas.” On Tuesday, George Washington University suspended its SJP
chapter from hosting on-campus events for three months.</p>
<p>Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs, wrote in a
statement to The Intercept that after the group sent letters to
thousands of universities, “many responded privately thanking us for the
letter or, in the days after receiving it, taking concrete action on
their campuses, such as Columbia, Brandeis, and GWU banning SJP for the
rest of the semester.” </p>
<p>She added, “Other schools have notified us that they have launched
independent investigations or task forces to address antisemitism. We
look forward to seeing the results of those inquiries.”</p>
<img width="391" height="261" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1784085124.jpg?resize=1200%2C800" alt="Demonstrators rally at a "All out for Gaza" protest at Columbia University in New York on November 15, 2023. Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas in retaliation for the attacks of October 7, which killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli officials. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the death toll from the military offensive has now topped 11,500, including thousands of children. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP) (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">
<p class="gmail-caption">Demonstrators rally at a “All Out for Gaza” protest at Columbia University in New York on Nov. 15, 2023.</p>
Photo: Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images
<h2 id="gmail-h-changing-standards">Changing Standards</h2>
<p>At Pomona College in Claremont, California, student organizers have
also been challenged by a shifting web of guidelines. Samson Zhang, an
editor of a student publication focused on leftist campus organizing
called Claremont Undercurrents, noted that new policies seemed to <a href="https://www.claremontundercurrents.com/hundreds-of-claremont-students-mobilized-for-palestine-protests-in-the-past-month-heres-a-timeline/">arise</a> in direct response to specific Palestine solidarity campus actions. </p>
<p>In one instance, 150 students attended a vigil at the student
services center. “It was very intentionally organized so that no club
claimed it, and the messaging was that it was organized by everybody and
nobody,” said Zhang. “That happened Friday, and by Monday they sent out
an email with a new demonstration policy that an event is only
compliant with the student code of conduct if there’s a specific student
club that it’s registered under.” </p>
<p>And, on November 7 — the day before a planned divestment protest —
Pomona President Gabi Starr sent a letter to students and alumni with a
reminder of campus demonstration rules. Claremont Undercurrents <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CzaznQUusiA/?img_index=1">reported</a> that one day before Starr’s email blast, StandWithUs sent her a <a href="https://www.standwithus.com/post/pomona-letter-re-nov-9-event">letter</a>
expressing concern over the event. The letter urged the administration
to take immediate action “to prevent discriminatory treatment of Jewish
and Israeli students” and specifically noted that the administration has
“the right to prohibit masks worn for the purpose of concealing
identity.” Starr’s email similarly states that “masks that prevent
recognition of individuals pose a challenge to the ability to maintain
campus codes of conduct,” adding that students may be asked to remove
them. </p>
<p>In response to <a href="https://tsl.news/over-400-students-protest-picket-to-shut-down-for-pomona-divestment-from-israel/">inquiries</a>
from The Student Life, a campus newspaper, Pomona’s spokesperson said
Starr’s mention of masks “was in response to significant concerns
related to our own campus — not in response to any outside
organization.”</p>
<p>StandWithUs has targeted Pomona before. In April 2021, the Associated Students of Pomona College <a href="https://tsl.news/aspc-divestment-bill-sparks-pushback/">voted</a>
to ban the use of student government funds on items or companies that
“knowingly support the Israeli occupation of Palestine” — a move that
triggered a swift <a href="https://tsl.news/aspc-divestment-bill-sparks-pushback/">condemnation</a>
from Starr. That same day, StandWithUs sent a letter praising Starr for
her statement and calling on her to use “whatever means at your
disposal to invalidate this resolution.” Every student government
representative that voted in favor of the Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions resolution that year was then doxxed on Canary Mission, a
secretive website that <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/11/22/israel-boycott-canary-mission-blacklist/">posts public blacklists</a> of Palestinian rights organizers.</p>
<p>One year prior, in February 2020, the David Horowitz Freedom Center <a href="https://tsl.news/pitzer-pomona-claremont-college-david-horowitz-lawsuit-anti-semitism/">wrote</a>
to Starr and Pitzer College President Melvin Oliver, claiming that the
colleges had violated Title VI by fostering “pervasive,
college-sponsored anti-semitism.” The Southern Policy Law Center has <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/david-horowitz">classified</a>
Horowitz as an extremist, noting that “the Freedom Center has launched a
network of projects giving anti-Muslim voices and radical ideologies a
platform to project hate and misinformation.” </p>
<h2>“Political Cudgel”</h2>
<p>A core ask from groups like the David Horowitz Freedom Center and
StandWithUs is that university policies adopt the International
Holocaust Remembrance Association, or IHRA, working <a href="https://www.standwithus.com/ihra">definition</a> of antisemitism, which critics <a href="https://www.noihra.ca/">say</a>
falsely equates broad criticism of Israel with antisemitism. The IHRA
definition found new footing in 2019, when then-President Donald Trump
signed an <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/trump-era-antisemitism-policy-expected-fuel-flood-student-lawsuits-uni-rcna123668">executive order</a> instructing federal agencies to “consider” the IHRA definition in Title VI enforcement. </p>
<p>“IHRA expressly recognizes that criticism of Israel, similar to
criticism of other countries, is not antisemitic,” wrote Rothstein of
StandWithUs. “And it recognizes that some rhetoric and actions related
to Israel do cross the line into bigotry.”</p>
<p>By eliding meaningful differences between critique of Israel and
Jewish discrimination, said Saba of Palestine Legal, the groups warp
claims of antisemitism into a “political cudgel” to be wielded against
students voicing solidarity with Palestine.</p>
<p>The Brandeis Center’s recent Title VI <a href="https://brandeiscenter.com/brandeis-center-files-two-title-vi-civil-rights-complaints-with-the-u-s-department-of-education-addressing-growing-discrimination-and-hostility-against-jewish-students-at-the-university-of-pennsylvan/">complaint</a>
against the University of Pennsylvania conflates disparate events as
uniform examples of campus antisemitism. The letter notes recent
disturbing attacks against Hillel, a Jewish student organization,
including bomb threats and an instance in which a Penn student
vandalized the Hillel building and yelled “fuck the Jews.” But the
letter also highlights Penn’s “Palestine Writes” literature festival,
condemning the September event’s inclusion of speakers “known for their
aggressive stance against the Jewish State.”</p>
<p>In November 2022, the International Legal Forum, an Israel-based
organization dedicated to “fighting legal battles against terror,
antisemitism, and de-legitimization of Israel,” filed a Title VI <a href="https://www.ilfngo.org/berkeleyclaim">complaint</a>
against the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, after
nine student groups banned supporters of Zionism from speaking at their
events. In its complaint, the group wrote, “Zionism is an integral and
indispensable part of Jewish identity.”</p>
<p>Since its founding in 2001, StandWithUs, which is registered as a
nonprofit under the name “Israel Emergency Alliance,” has launched
efforts to <a href="http://www.librariansforfairness.org/default.asp">oppose</a> “anti-Israel bias” in libraries, <a href="https://jewishjournal.com/news/united-states/315860/missouri-legislature-passes-anti-bds-bill/">supported</a> anti-BDS laws, and encouraged supporters to <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-apr-13-me-divest13-story.html">buy</a> Caterpillar stock amid scrutiny over the construction company’s role in Israel’s <a href="https://theintercept.com/2022/07/13/israel-rachel-corrie-shireen-abu-akleh-killings/">demolition of Palestinian homes</a>.
The group recruits annual student fellows to serve as pro-Israel
activists on American campuses nationwide and once invited Elvis
Costello on a VIP trip in an attempt to convince the singer to change
his mind about canceling concerts in Israel.</p>
<p>Last year, StandWithUs <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jun/16/george-washington-university-professor-antisemitism-palestine-dc">filed a Title VI complaint</a>
against George Washington University, after assistant professor of
clinical psychology Lara Sheehi hosted a brown-bag lunch with a
Palestinian professor, leading to a pressure campaign and an internal
investigation that turned up nothing. “Many of the statements the
complaint alleges were made by Dr. Sheehi were, according to those who
heard them, either inaccurate or taken out of context and
misrepresented,” the university said in a <a href="https://president.gwu.edu/summary-findings-independent-investigation-crowell-moring-llp">summary</a>
of its findings at the time, adding that Sheehi had “denounced
antisemitism as a real and present danger” in classroom discussion.
StandWithUs refuted this characterization. In February, Palestine Legal
filed <a href="https://palestinelegal.org/news/gw-title-vi-complaint" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">its own</a> Title
VI complaint against GWU for a “hostile environment of anti-Palestinian
racism,” which cites the Sheehi case among others.</p>
<p>“The byproduct of all of this is that you have now a lot of
obfuscation about what the meaning of antisemitism is and what
constitutes antisemitism, which is very dangerous for Jewish students on
campus,” said Saba. “It makes it much more difficult to be able to
identify and work to eliminate real instances of antisemitism and
threats to Jewish students, which tend to come from the political
right.”</p>
<blockquote> “It
makes it much more difficult to be able to identify and work to
eliminate real instances of antisemitism and threats to Jewish
students.”</blockquote>
<p>Meanwhile, many members of the Jewish community are resisting these
groups’ efforts to conflate Judaism and Zionism, noting that their faith
inspires resistance to injustice, not blanket support for a regime. </p>
<p>“A lot of institutions across the country, and also at the
university, have pushed this idea of a hegemonic Jewish community that
all shares the same political beliefs,” said Rafi Ash, a Brown
University sophomore who was one of 20 Jewish students arrested during a
November sit-in at an administrative building organized by BrownU Jews
for Ceasefire Now. “We all have been kind of disturbed by the ways in
which a Jewish identity has been twisted in a way that makes it
political.”</p>
<p>While the Department of Education is <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/trump-era-antisemitism-policy-expected-fuel-flood-student-lawsuits-uni-rcna123668">expected</a>
to field a new influx of Title VI complaints from organizations
representing Jewish students, Saba noted that groups like Palestine
Legal have also filed complaints regarding instances of
anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and Islamophobic discrimination on
campuses. The Department of Education has never made a finding of
antisemitic or anti-Palestinian discrimination in any of its
investigations so far, though that could soon change as the Israel–Hamas
war puts Title VI in the <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/08/title-vi-college-israel-hamas-war">limelight</a>. The American Civil Liberties Union has begun to take legal <a href="https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1725246675390755182?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">action</a> over the First Amendment rights of Palestinian solidarity protesters.</p>
<p>“We are in touch with many, many, many student groups across the
country, and we are seeing a pattern of heightened scrutiny and
suppression,” said Saba. “Fortunately, despite the mass suppressive
effort, students are continuing to organize, continuing to speak out,
and are refusing to be silenced. We’re seeing one of the largest
upsurges in pro-Palestine organizing and demonstration that we’ve ever
seen.”</p>
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