The anti-Israel protests that rocked the University of New Hampshire campus this spring were supported by a national organization with alleged ties to terrorism.
The group National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), along with American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), are accused of operating as a propaganda arm of Hamas, the terrorist organization that carried out the murders, rapes and kidnappings in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
On Tuesday, a Virginia judge ordered (AMP), to disclose its funding sources as part of an investigation by state Attorney General Jason Miyares into allegations of terrorism financing, the Washington Free Beacon reports.
A federal lawsuit brought by survivors of the Oct. 7 terror attack alleges the organizations mobilized in the hours and days after the Hamas terror attack in order to spread disinformation and advocate “peace” by demanding Israel not retaliate against the terrorists.
“There is a legal chasm between independent advocacy and knowingly serving as the propaganda and recruiting wing of a Foreign Terrorist Organization in the United States. AMP and NSJP are the latter. They are not innocent advocacy groups, but rather the propaganda arm of a terrorist organization operating in plain sight,” the lawsuit claims.
The NSJP takes credit for helping organize a protest at the UNH Durham campus this spring in which hundreds of anti-Israel protesters attempted to set up illegal encampments before being arrested. The protest also featured antisemitic messages like “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free,” and accusations that the Jewish state is guilty of genocide.
AMP’s leadership founded the NSJP in 2010, one of the main groups behind this spring’s college campus protests, including at UNH. The stated goal of the NSJP to advocate for the Palestinian people is a smokescreen, however, according to the lawsuit. Instead, it uses its hundreds of campus organizations to support terrorism against Jewish people.
“AMP’s message to college campuses through NSJP is unambiguous: violent attacks are a justified response to Zionism as an idea, to Israel as an entity, and to Zionists as people. The purpose of this messaging is not only to justify the terrorism of Hamas and its affiliates in Gaza within Western academia and society at large but also to establish an environment where violence against Jews and anyone else associated with Israel could be construed as acceptable, justified, or even heroic,” the lawsuit states.
According to the Anti Defamation League, NSPJ began using its campus chapters to call for more violence days after the Oct. 7 attack.
“[NSJP organized] a ‘Day of Resistance’ on Oct. 12, during which chapters on campuses across the country would convene rallies and other actions to applaud Palestinian ‘resistance’ to Israel,” according to the ADL.
The NSJP’s “resistance” takes the form of antisemitic violence and murder in the United States, the ADL reports.
“There was also a ‘Day of Resistance Toolkit’ in which SJP made clear that it advocates for Hamas or other Palestinian forces to conquer all of Israel, and for the ‘complete liberation’ of Israel and the full influx of Palestinians to Israeli land. The toolkit also called for chapters to bring this resistance to the U.S. by ‘dismantling Zionism’ on its campuses and ‘challenging Zionist hegemony,’” the ADL reports.
In New Hampshire, groups like Palestinian Action USA have been “challenging Zionist hegemony” by vandalizing the Merrimack facility owned by Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons system manufacturer. Several members of PAUSA, connected to multi-millionaire communist James “Fergie” Chambers, have been charged for their alleged criminal antics at Elbit. Those cases are currently pending trial.
New Hampshire’s top law enforcement officer, Attorney General John Formella, has focused on the individuals behind the protests, though he has not closed the door on holding Palestinian Action USA responsible as well.
NSJP is also promoting the effort to pressure Formella’s office to drop the charges against the “Merrimack 3,” Sophie Ross, Calla Walsh, and Bridget Shergalis. They were arrested on vandalism and other charges after attacking the Merrimack, N.H. Elbit Systems location. Elbit Systems is an Israel-based company.
