Justice for Palestine
For much more information, please engage with Students for Justice in Palestine(SJP) at UChicago at sjpmediacollective.wordpress.com.
What does the University of Chicago have to do with Palestine?
UChicago continually invests in companies that enable the occupation of Palestine (College Council voted to divest from these companies in 2016, but the Board of Trustees overrode it). It also maintains strong academic ties with Israeli institutions such as the Israel Institute, a military-tied institution which pushes a Zionist and pro-Israel agenda in academic spaces (read more by SJP here). Just last year, former Deputy Director of Israeli Military Intelligence General taught a “counter-terrorism” course that propagated racism, Islamophobia, and colonial militarism through whitewashing Israeli violence and vilifying all Palestinian resistance as terrorism. Both administration and UCPD then met rightful and peaceful student protests against this course with repeated antagonism despite its commitment to “free speech”. Additionally, as discussed in the op-ed, campus newspapers present a two-sided discourse between Israel and Palestine in the name of neutrality, which is misleading – in settler colonialism, there is only oppressor and oppressed
To support the Palestinian movement for liberation, classes with Zionist narratives or those taught by Israel Institute fellows should be boycotted. SJP continually updates the list of classes that should be boycotted for their upholding of the racist Zionist regime and the state of Israel.
Suppressing Activism
Canary Mission, a blacklist website operating nationality, profiles (mostly Arab and Muslim) students and faculty, labeling them terrorists and anti-Semites. The site functions by hiring pro-Israeli students on campus to compile both public and private data from activists’ social media posts and upload them to their site, which is then used to harass them. Canary Mission has also been used to deny Palestinians entry to the state of Israel (including the West Bank and Gaza). In 2017, names listed on Canary Mission, including that of a tenured faculty professor, were posted around campus on defamatory posters that accused them of being ‘terrorist supporters’. The University administration sent out a vague email that belittled the incident, and did not take any further action despite insistence from those involved. Cases like these only further illustrate the importance of destigmatizing pro-Palestinian, anti-occupation voices in our community.
How to talk about Palestine
Israelis does not equal Jewish people does not equal Zionists
The idea that all Jewish people unconditionally support Israel leads to some dangerous and even anti-Semitic tropes. The state of Israel must be separated from Jewish people in general.
Many Jewish people (including Israeli Jewish people) are extremely critical of the Israeli government and do important work to combat the occupation – the criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitic.
Many pro-Israel groups and lobbyists are Christian
Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims are overlapping but distinct categories
Avoid talking about “globalists,” “Jewish money,” etc., re: Israel. Avoid using any imagery that equates Jewish people with animals, especially rodents or horned animals.
These sorts of words and images invoke the anti-Semitic idea that Jewish people are part of a rich and powerful global cabal or conspiracy, a dangerous trope that’s fueled a lot of the violence in the last few centuries. As with Israel, it’s important to understand that the Palestinian National Authority and Jamas (organizations involved with governing the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) are not representative of Palestinian people, nor can their actions be conflated with the struggle for Palestinian Liberation.
Support BDS
As an ally, one of the most impactful ways you can support Palestinians is to participate in BDS, a Palestinian-led movement that promotes Boycotting, Divesting, and Sanctioning Israel. Through the monetary and political support of the international community, Israel is able to uphold a system of apartheid and settler colonialism over the Palestinian people. By supporting BDS, you can encourage governments to end their support or complicity with the Israeli regime in order to achieve Palestinian liberation, equality, and justice. To learn more about BDS, read SJP’s zine
Abolish/boycott Birthright
This state-funded trip promised to the Jewish diaspora shows a sanitized and whitewashed version of Palestine and the occupation. It obscures Palestinian suffering and Israeli brutality, while peddling colonial propaganda. It promotes the racist idea that Jewish persons wherever they are from have a “birthright” to live and gain full rights in Palestine, whereas more than 6 million Palestinian refugees are not allowed to visit or return to live in their own homeland.
