Lawmakers call for pro-Hamas student group to be banned from New York campuses
A bipartisan group of more than three dozen lawmakers called on Gov. Hochul on Monday to intervene on a New York college campus and ban a pro-Palestinian student group that they say has spewed hate and advocated violence.
“For years, a group called Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which has chapters at every American university, has been a growing source of concern on college campuses,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the governor.
“At their events, SJP members and allies chant things like ‘From New York to Gaza: Globalizing the Intifada,’ ‘When people are occupied, resistance is justified,’ and ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.'” In the Letter continues: “These chants come from the Hamas charter and call for the death and destruction of Jews and Israel.”
Students for Justice in Palestine has already been suspended from Columbia University after it was revealed that the group celebrated the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel that left more than 1,200 dead and hundreds taken hostage.
The suspension was welcomed by 500 graduates of the Ivy League school as the city sees a rise in anti-Semitic incidents following Israel’s declaration of war in Gaza.
Pro-Israel Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov led lawmakers Monday, including seven Democrats and 33 Republicans at the city, county and state levels, in calling on New York state to act.
“They must be investigated and disbanded as a legitimate organization,” Vernikov said of the group, which she described as a “widespread movement on American college campuses that supports radical Islamist ideology.”
The politicians demanded that all student groups that “explicitly support registered foreign terrorist organizations” be banned from New York universities.
“We ask that you work with university chancellors and presidents and the U.S. Department of Justice to further investigate and take immediate and necessary action,” the letter said.
“New York cannot meet its legal obligation to protect its Jewish students,” the pols added.
There was no response to questions from the governor’s office.
Hochul said last week that hate and terror investigations have increased “exponentially” since Hamas’ attack on Israel, and in response has assigned additional state police investigators to work with federal counterterrorism units across the state.
