ZOA warns SJP plans national day of campus disruption

NEW YORK (Press Release)– The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has condemned a call by Hatem Bazian, the founder of the anti-Semitic hate group that calls itself “Students for Justice in Palestine” (SJP), for a disruptive and potentially unlawful, violent and dangerous “International Day of Action” on college campuses around the world. The SJP is a hate group that calls for Israel’s destruction.

Posting his message on Facebook and elsewhere, Bazian has called for “activists and organizations on campuses across the world to organize massive protests on every college and university campus” on September 23, 2014. (Perhaps not coincidentally, this is the day before Jewish people around the world begin their celebration of the holy days of Rosh Hashanah.)

Bazian’s purported goal is to “free Palestine and end the siege on Gaza” – a phrase that is itself a lie since the Palestinians govern themselves in Judea and Samaria through their own Parliament, school system, etc. and Hamas controls Gaza, from which it initiated a war against Israel, using civilians as human shields and schools and hospitals to launch missile attacks. This “Day of Action” has nothing to do with “Palestine” or Gaza. Instead, it is a campaign of harassment and intimidation on campuses worldwide, to interfere with the civil rights and freedoms of not only Jewish students but the entire university community.

We should not be shocked that the SJP founder has focused his rage singularly on Israel – ignoring the approximately 200,000 Arabs that have been murdered in Syria, the thousands of Christians being murdered by Muslims in Iraq, and the barbaric execution of civilians by Hamas in Gaza and beheadings that are becoming commonplace in parts of Syria. This campaign by the SJP’s Bazian is quite simply anti-Semitic, targeting the one and only Jewish state in the world and the only thriving democracy in the Middle East.

Bazian himself has called for the murder of Jews. In his book American Jihad, The Terrorists Living Among Us, Steve Emerson wrote that at a May 1999 conference in Santa Clara, CA “to promote the Islamic State of Palestine in place of the current State of Israel,” Bazian said, “In the Hadith, the Day of Judgment will never happen until you fight the Jews. . . . The trees and stones will say, Oh Muslims, there is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him.”

In addition to pushing the SJP’s usual hateful agenda of boycotting, divesting from, and sanctioning (BDS) the Jewish State of Israel, the SJP’s Bazian has gone much further. He is calling for “civil disobedience” on college campuses worldwide – in other words, the deliberate violation of the law, which will no doubt disrupt the normal operations and activities of students, professors, faculty and staff on campuses around the world, threatening public safety and potentially leading to physical injuries and property damage.

Bazian is also trying to impose a host of other restrictions that violate academic freedom, violate free speech rights under the First Amendment, and violate the fundamental right to travel and associate freely, including, but not limited to:

• Preventing U.S. educators from working with academics and academic institutions in the Jewish State of Israel;

• Ending “study abroad” programs in the Jewish State of Israel;

• Cutting off other connections to the Jewish State of Israel and Israeli institutions, including Israeli security companies;

• Blocking university presidents from visiting the Jewish State of Israel;

• Preventing universities from communicating with Jewish groups and representatives of the Israeli government.

In contrast to the anti-Semitic restrictions he seeks to impose, the SJP’s Bazian is urging a no-holds-barred, free-for-all for Israel-bashers on campus. He has demanded “no administrative limits” on their speech, no matter how bigoted, hateful or inflammatory.

The ZOA urges college students around the world, their families, university communities worldwide, and all people of moral conscience to say NO to this hateful, anti-Semitic “Day of Action”:

• Contact your college and university immediately and let university officials know that they must speak out forcefully in advance of this so-called “Day of Action,” and publicly condemn this campaign as hateful and anti-Semitic, as well as its perpetrators, by name.

• Demand that university officials send a clear message on campus in advance, that every participant in this campaign will be apprehended and punished for each and every violation of the law and/or university rules and policies. For the SJP or any other student group that violates rules, policies or the law, they will be subject to suspension. For individual student violators, they will be subject to expulsion.

• Demand that university officials provide extra security on September 23, 2014, in order to comply with their legal obligation to keep the university community safe.

• Stand up to this anti-Semitic campaign by being strong and proud advocates for Israel and the democratic principles and values that are the guideposts of the Jewish State.

• Students: Get involved in Jewish and pro-Israel groups on campus. Write letters and articles for your student newspaper, condemning this hateful anti-Semitic intimidation campaign, and urge that editorials of condemnation also be written. Contact administrators and let them know that this campaign is anti-Semitic, it will create a hostile, even dangerous environment on campus, and that the school has the legal obligation to protect you.

• Parents: Let colleges and universities know that you will not tolerate a hostile, anti-Semitic campus environment for your children, and demand that colleges and universities live up to their legal obligation to provide a campus that is safe, welcoming and conducive to learning.

• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act requires that publicly-funded schools protect Jewish students from a hostile, anti-Semitic campus environment; schools that violate Title VI risk losing their federal funding. In addition, schools may face legal liability for harms incurred by students and others.

• The potential for violence cannot be minimized or ignored. Recently, a Jewish student at Temple University was punched in the face by someone at the SJP’s informational table. Others seated at the SJP table laughed at the Jewish student, calling him a “baby killer” and anti-Semitic slurs such as “kike” and “Zionist pig.” Colleges and universities must be proactive in fighting anti-Semitism and protecting Jewish students.

Contact the ZOA if you need help or support on your campus.

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Preceding provided by the Zionist Organization of America