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February 22, 2023 12:58 pm
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Why We Protest Palestinian Violence and Anti-Jewish Hate on College Campuses

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avatar by Ilan Sinelnikov

Opinion

The University of California-Los Angeles campus. Photo: Photo: Pixabay.

In October 2018, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) hosted their national conference at UCLA. While everyone in the Jewish community agreed that hosting a conference that promotes violence and incitement was bad, there was disagreement about what would be the right way to protest the conference.

Leaders from Students Supporting Israel (SSI) — both at UCLA and nationally, decided to protest the event because anti-Zionism, antisemitism, and Jew hatred have no place at UCLA. While protesting the conference, members of SSI managed to get into the SJP conference and protest it from the main conference stage. When we rolled out a large Israeli flag in front of 300 SJP members, SJP finally got a taste of their own medicine.

In November 2019, the national SJP conference moved to the University of Minnesota. In Minnesota, as well, the SSI chapter leaders, the local national team, and our friends from Reservists on Duty protested the conference. Most others preferred to ignore the SJP conference, but we knew that ignoring a problem will not make it go away or solve the situation on campus.

In order to fight back against SJP we must be vocal, visible, and let our actions speak louder than our words.

At SSI, our two main goals are to be proactive and visible on campus. We do not wait for anti-Israel rhetoric and antisemitism to come; we are here sharing our story, a positive message about Israel, and fighting for the Jewish state. As soon as SSI heard that Students for Justice in Palestine was going to host their national conference at UCLA this year on February 17th–19th, we mobilized quickly and decided to be proactive prior to the weekend.

SSI National and our UCLA team protested with banners of the Jewish victims who were murdered by a Palestinian terrorist right outside a synagogue in Jerusalem, with their names, ages, and large writing that read, “Freedom Fighters do not murder the innocent.”

In past campaigns, SSI has gone to different campuses with the same messaging and photos of the Fogel family, who were killed by Palestinian terrorists. The memory of the victims of terror cannot be forgotten.

This is part of our bigger campaign titled “Palestinian Apartheid Week,” which was hosted for the first time by SSI last year on seven campuses across the country. We created this event, because those who care about protecting human rights should be shocked by the abuses taking place within the Palestinian-controlled territories. The message that SSI brings to campus is revolutionary, not reactionary.

We inform students that the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s policies include ensuring that the land is Jew-free, and that Jews are segregated from Arabs, banning Jews from owning any property, banning Jewish worship, and paying salaries to terrorists who proudly murder innocent civilians.

Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, Article 7 of the Hamas Charter declares, “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.’”

Jews are erased from Palestinian history. Both the PA and Hamas actively seek to erase the existence of the Jewish people from their textbooks, from their maps, and from their education system as a whole. Palestinian officials claim that “Palestine” was never Jewish (it was), and that the Jewish people “stole” the land (Jews have lived on the land for centuries).

Erasing the Jewish existence, lives, community, and history from the map of the Middle East is what apartheid looks like. We must confront students of all backgrounds with these truths, to help change young minds about Israel.

Now is the time to discuss Palestinian apartheid. For too long, the despicable practices of the Palestinian government against Jews have gone unnoticed by the international community. If you would like to host the campaign on your campus, reach out to SSI Movement at: www.ssimovement.org

Ilan Sinelnikov is the President and Founder of Students Supporting Israel. SSI Movement is a pro Israel, grassroots student movement with the mission of being a clear and confident pro Israel voice and supporting students in grassroots advocacy.

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