On October 11, 2023, the day before the “National Day of Resistance,” NSJP posted “safety” protocols to ready students for violent protests and directives on how to obscure SJP’s connection to the event and its members’ identities. NSJP instructed its members to remove personal names and photos from SJP’s social media; to use encrypted platforms like Telegram to co-ordinate actions and promote events; to use aliases and avoid posting event photos “that could get you arrested or doxxed.”
On October 12, 2023, Columbia SJP began the rally on the university’s Butler Lawn before moving to the east side of the campus, where the Kraft Center for Jewish Life is located. During the protest, Jewish students locked themselves inside a building and were advised by security officers to “remain inside” for their own safety.
Less than a month later, on November 9, 2023, the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Columbia SJP, along with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), organized an unauthorized event, a walkout they called “Shut it Down.” This unauthorized event, along with the violent and inciteful language used by the groups, prompted Columbia to suspend both student groups.
Less than a week later, on November 15, 2023, Columbia faculty and alumni rallied for their reinstatement. Within Our Lifetime (WOL) joined in, protesting outside the university gates.
At the faculty rally, Premilla Nadasen, a history professor at Barnard College, said, “We are here to tell the students: They can suspend an organization, but they cannot suspend a movement.”
The suspension proved not to be an obstacle for Columbia SJP and JVP, both of which regrouped under the umbrella of CUAD (Columbia University Apartheid Divest), a coalition previously formed with the help of Columbia Professor Muhsin Al-Musawi to push divestment from Israel.
CUAD had been dormant since 2020 when it successfully passed a divestment referendum with the student body (which was later shot down by then-university president Lee Bollinger).
Maryam Iqbal, a Columbia SJP organizer, confirmed that after SJP’s suspension, anti-Israel groups on campus joined them to mobilize as a coalition. SJP successfully framed the conflict as a human rights issue and garnered broad support for the Palestinian cause.
In addition, the affinity groups that rallied with CUAD provided financial and logistical support unavailable to SJP due to its suspension.
On March 11, 2024, Maryam Alwan, a CUAD organizer, affirmed to the Supreme Court of the State of New York that “SJP and JVP are both a part of Columbia University Apartheid Divest…which is a coalition of student organizations that see Palestine as the vanguard for our collective liberation.”
CUAD initially claimed it was “a continuation of the Vietnam anti-war movement” with the ultimate goal of building “an entire world free from colonialism and imperialism.”
The “peace front” was designed to increase CUAD’s legitimacy and avoid alienating potential sympathizers who might take issue with the group’s pro-terror objectives.
Yet, from the reactivation of the organization, CUAD aligned itself with terrorists and pro-terror objectives. The group’s manifesto, which it published in the Columbia Spectator, opened with a quote from PFLP terrorist Ghassan Kanafani and declared CUAD’s belief in the “right of return” (one of many recognized strategies to destroy Israel as a Jewish state).
An article in the Columbia student magazine Sundial noted, “To the average Columbia liberal, this phrasing is otherwise innocuous and the morally correct position to take. But CUAD and Students for Justice in Palestine’s activism make clear that the language of ‘anti-colonialism’ and ‘anti-U.S. imperialism’ within the pro-Palestine movement are strategic fronts for supporting war and violence against America and her allies.”
CUAD consistently demonstrated its support for terror, writing on November 7, 2024, that they were seeking to “win divestment…thereby strengthening the resistance movements on the ground in their fight for a free Palestine within our lifetimes.”
The group also wrote that the “Great March of Return” was an “instructional display of mass action and protest that we continue to make use of here in the imperial core… The Palestinian people and their steadfast resistance remain our compass, and we continue to work towards our goals here at Columbia.”
The March of Return was an operation instigated by Hamas beginning in May 2018, where thousands of violent rioters attempted to breach Israel’s fence with Gaza. Some analysts contend it was a dry run for the October 7 attack.
Columbia Allows SJP, Terror Proxies to Operate on Campus
On December 18, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives Antisemitism Staff Report (House Report) released its findings from a multi-faceted investigation into antisemitism on college campuses and in government following the April 2024 encampments.
The report noted [p.6]: “Columbia stands out for its egregious failure to combat antisemitism on its campus despite its president acknowledging that the University was in violation of its Title VI obligations.”
“These were not isolated incidents. Rather, they were part of an extensive pattern of Columbia’s failures to enforce University rules to address antisemitic conduct.”
In addition, Columbia allowed outside organizations, as well as the banned SJP, to infiltrate the campus and establish the encampments. The House report also established [p.40] that “AMP and SJP provided tangible support, including flyers, talking points, pamphlets, and other materials, to help support unauthorized and illegal encampments on college campuses across the country.”
The report continued, “AMP and AJP [Americans for Justice in Palestine, the fiscal sponsor of AMP] also financially sponsored SJP, helping to provide the funding necessary to organize illegal encampments and other events that have often resulted in violence and arrests.”