Colleges must take anti-Israel resistance threats 'seriously,' expert says
Steve McGuire, of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), a Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, told Fox News Digital that schools should take rhetoric posted by SJP on social media "seriously."
Anti-Israel agitators at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill are vowing resistance "by any means necessary" as the 2024-2025 school year officially begins on Aug. 18.
An unofficial anti-Israel student group called UNC Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), representing Chapel Hill, posted a commitment to "resist by any means necessary" and said it condones "all forms of principled action" in a July 31 Instagram post.
The group, which has received funding from Hamas-linked groups, according to research from the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, is responding to the arrest of some 40 agitators on campus in May, when they set up an encampment on the school's quad to protest the Israel-Gaza war.
"We will not be silenced. We will not be intimidated," SJP wrote in an Instagram post on their account with more than 14,000 followers. "A group of the defendants has released these points of unity to express their commitment to collective defense, fighting as a unified bloc for ALL their charges to be dropped while not losing sight of the ultimate goal of Palestinian liberation."
Red paint stains the steps of the chancellor's building at UNC Chapel Hill on May 11, 2024. Earlier in the day, students vandalized the building in protest of the Hamas-Israel war. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
The points outlined in the Instagram post include support for "the right to resistance, not only in Palestine, but here in the imperial core."
"We condone all forms of principled action, including armed rebellion, necessary to stop Israel's genocide and apartheid, and to dismantle imperialism and capitalism more broadly."
The post further says that the "goals" of the United States and Israel "are the same: to colonize, kill, and steal in service of capitalist greed."
Anti-Israel protesters replaced the American flag with the Palestinian flag during a demonstration at the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus on April 30, 2024. (Heather Diehl/The Daily Tar Heel)
Irina Tsukerman, fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and the Arabian Peninsula Institute and also president of Scarab Rising, Inc., a security and geopolitical risk strategic advisory firm, told Fox News Digital that SJP is a national organization with local chapters, and while some of the group's followers may be on college campuses, they also have supporters who are not college students and some who are not even U.S. citizens.
ANTI-ISRAEL DEMONSTRATORS GATHER AT UNC-CHAPEL HILL CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE, SMEAR RED PAINT ON BUILDING
Anti-Israel demonstrators clash with police at UNC Chapel Hill on April 30, 2024. (Travis Long/News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
"They do an outstanding job of portraying themselves as voices for Palestinians, whereas they are actually voices for Hamas," Tsukerman said. "I think many people follow without really knowing them or their agenda. … Also, the people who follow SJP get sucked into believing it's an actual human-rights effort … it's people who are born activists, and not all of these people are even U.S. citizens."
Steve McGuire of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), a Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, told Fox News Digital that schools should take rhetoric posted by SJP on social media "seriously" because they have a duty to "protect their campus communities."
UNC STUDENT WHO DEFENDED AMERICAN FLAG FROM CAMPUS MOB ‘HONORED TO GIVE BACK TO THE NATION’
UNC Chapel Hill students hold up the American flag during a campus protest on April 30, 2024. Anti-Israel agitators had replaced the American flag with the Palestinian flag during the demonstration. (Parker Ali/The Daily Tar Heel)
He similarly described the group as "anti-Western, anti-civilizational revolutionaries."
"Their goals are political or ideological. They obviously have to do with Gaza. … They have been one of the organizations that's been behind helping students to organize and stage the various protests and encampments that we've seen on campuses around the country. Now … they say we condone all forms of principled action, including armed rebellion. Well, another word for armed rebellion in this context is terrorism," McGuire said.
Steve McGuire of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni said UNC administrators should be prepared for protesters to set up encampments and demonstrations in the fall as they did in the spring. (Makiya Seminera/File)
He added that administrators should be prepared for protesters to set up encampments and demonstrations in the fall as they did in the spring. ACTA is issuing a guide for colleges to respond to campus encampments on Tuesday to help colleges prepare for a response.
"They see the universities as one instrument that they can use to try and advance their revolutionary cause."
"That's one of the reasons, I think, that college and university leaders need to recognize that … while free expression is something that needs to be protected in America, on the other hand, they have every right and responsibility to protect the rights of others, to ensure the safety of members of their campus communities, and also to protect the integrity of their institutions," McGuire explained.
Tsukerman noted that social media misrepresents how many students are actually following the group's support and activity among students.
Protesters stamp red handprint stains on the chancellor's building at UNC Chapel Hill on May 11, 2024. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
She said members of the group gather those who align themselves with "generic anti-Capitalist, radical leftist movements that are not about any specific agenda other than opposing Western systems," Tsukerman said. They use "21st-century means of amplifying their voices" and shared goals, which are "anti-Israel, anti-capitalist and anti-democracy," she added.
Chapel Hill made headlines in the spring when anti-Israel protesters replaced an American flag on Chapel Hill's quad with a Palestine flag and interim UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts stepped in with law enforcement officers to return the American flag.
About 1,000 anti-Israel demonstrators rally at the South Building after a "Gaza solidarity encampment" was removed by police early on April 30, 2024, at UNC Chapel Hill. (Travis Long/News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
When activists, some who were not affiliated with Chapel Hill, tried to take the flag down a second time, a group of students, including fraternity brothers, stepped in to stop Old Glory from hitting the ground. A photo of the moment went viral on social media.
UNC's University Board of Trustees last week approved Roberts as Chapel Hill's 13th chancellor despite the criticism he drew for calling in campus police to respond to protests and the encampment in May.
EMORY UNIVERSITY POLICE ARREST CONVICTED FELON WHO CROSSED STATE LINES TO JOIN ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS
UNC Chapel Hill students hold up the American flag during a campus protest on April 30, 2024. (Parker Ali/The Daily Tar Heel)
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"There is no higher calling than supporting our mission every single day," Roberts said after being named chancellor, according to a press release. "To me, this University stands — above all else — for the ideal of public service, for helping the people of this state and all those who are touched by this place to achieve their greatest potential. As chancellor, I promise to be guided by that principle as we work together to carry North Carolina into the future."
SJP's Chapel Hill arm and the Southern Student Action Coalition, along with other progressive student groups, called Lee an "authoritarian" and a "general" after he was named chancellor.
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