In a striking development, dozens of American families who lost loved ones in the October 7 attack near Gaza are pressing US Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organization. The American families assert that SJP is violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), claiming that since October 7, SJP members have been active across US campuses, bankrolled by foreign entities, and openly voicing support for Hamas's deadly assault.
The families allege that SJP is violating foreign agent registration laws by operating as an unregistered proxy for Hamas on American college campuses. FARA legislation mandates that any entity engaged in political activities within the US must register with American authorities and divulge the funding source for such activities.
SJP has orchestrated pro-Hamas rallies and "Apartheid Week" events. They have intensified an overt boycott against Israel, advocated for economic sanctions, and established confrontational protest encampments on college grounds, among other initiatives. In their correspondence, the families highlight that one of the most unsettling pro-Hamas actions disseminated by the organization was the "Resistance Day Toolkit," circulated immediately following the October 7 attack, offering guidelines on organizing demonstrations and distributing propaganda for Hamas.
Cops Off Campus!
Free Palestine!
Serve the People!
Support the Five Demands!
Long Live the Student Intifada!Join our comrades for a rally organized by @nyrevstudents @PSA_Hunter @Cuny4P & Baruch SJP
Saturday August 24th at 4PM
Baruch Plaza (151 Bernard Baruch Way) pic.twitter.com/PdklIOs5xg— Cops Off Campus Coalition (@copsoffearth) August 20, 2024
"Students for Justice in Palestine is nothing more than an unregistered student branch of a foreign terrorist organization. They are Hamas's agents of chaos in the United States," stated Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, president of Shurat HaDin – Israeli Law Center, who has represented hundreds of terror victims in legal actions against terror organizations and their supporters. "In blatant disregard of FARA, these radical students and propagandists have crossed every boundary and intend to persist in their illicit activities unchecked in the coming year."
Darshan-Leitner further remarked: "The US government must investigate this organization's ties to terror groups in Gaza and their foreign funding sources in particular. Why are they covertly serving as a tool for Hamas while actively attempting to sway American public opinion and propagate incitement to violence without restraint?"
