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Pro-Palestinian Rutgers students issue demands in ‘hostage’-like video, fresh off suspension

January 19, 2024 | | Print Article

The Rutgers New Brunswick chapter of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) held a “terrorist-like” press conference on Wednesday during which they rattled off a list of demands for the university and its president, Jonathan Holloway.

Outside, “newly unsuspended,” SJP members chanted “Resistance is justified when people are occupied. Resistance is justified when people are colonized,” and carried signs reading, “We Don’t Want Two States, We Want ’48,” citizen journalist “Stu” reported on X.

Inside were covered members, standing behind a sign that declared “Rutgers profits off of Palestinian suffering!”

The group’s speaker claimed SJP’s suspension was in response to “Zionist pressure.”

“We recognize the attempted suspension of our organization is nothing short of a political posturing by Rutgers University in response to Zionist pressure. From the beginning, Rutgers knew they could not legally uphold our suspension,” the student speaker said. “In order to silence our just activism the Rutgers administration has treated their Palestinian students with malice and disregard — either reproducing vicious anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia or allowing it to foster when students report it.”

The students will remain on probation until December 2024, according to Stu.

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“They were suspended days after the Department of Education added Rutgers to a list of schools being investigated for anti-Semitism,” he reports. “The University cited the chapter disrupted classes and vandalized the business school.”

“The work does not stop until our homeland is liberated, from the river to the sea,” one of the speakers said.

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Eventually, the activists got around to their demands, starting with “economic divestment.”

“To them, ceasefire isn’t enough and Rutgers must ethically divest,” Stu reports. “They unveil their divestment plan which cites Rutgers having holdings in Boeing. Palestinian students can’t feel safe as long as Rutgers invests in Boeing.”

“You can see here how this group uses the Decolonial framework for how they interpret the world,” he writes. “All of this stems from Critical Theorists like Herbert Marcuse and Frantz Fanon. A lot of people are catching up on how these thinkers have poisoned the minds of many.”

“However, the demands didn’t end there,” Stu continues. “SJP Rutgers-NB wants to [identify] and Fire the Leaker [of the suspension letter], Incorporate Anti-Palestinian Racism into DEI including Nakba Denial, Build an Arab Cultural Center, Divest from Israeli Bonds and Corporations, End their agreement with Tel-Aviv University, Hire more Professors who specialize in Settler-Colonialism and many demands regarding the University establishing political positions on Palestine.”

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The group called out Holloway and conservative commentator Candace Owens.

“A philippic against President Holloway is delivered,” Stu reports. “He is accused of unraveling the very humanity of Palestinian students and emboldening free speech in the form of Candace Owens.”

“This speech ends with ‘Love live the Intifada, Globalize the Intifada, Long live Palestine,'” he adds.

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According to SJP’s national website, the group aims to “develop a student movement that is connected, disciplined, and equipped with the tools necessary [to] achieve Palestinian liberation.”

According to Influence Watch, its efforts “include protesting Jewish speakers, supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and supporting student groups which back the BDS movement.”

“A 2019 report by the Study of Global AntiSemitism and Policy showed that the organization frequently supports alleged and convicted terrorists,” Influence Watch reports.

Which might explain the students’ attire.

“This looks like a hostage video,” stated Collin Rugg. “Welcome to the new U.S. education system. Thanks progressives.”

Melissa Fine
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