Temple University SJP Falsely Accused
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Credit: Temple university facebook page
EI Article: 'Zionists try to close down Palestine solidarity group at Philadelphia university'
Important coverage from Electronic Intifada chronicles the experience of SJP at Temple University, and the context of legal repression. Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Temple University returned to campus ready to recruit new members and have honest discussions about the recent assault on Gaza. But at their first activity of the year, they were met with false accusations of supporting terrorism and hurling anti-Semitic slurs. A political argument at their recruitment table escalated when a visitor slapped another student. SJP condemned the slap and made clear through multiple eyewitnesses that no anti-Semitic slurs were used. They were nonetheless smeared with false accusations of being responsible for an "anti-Semitic assault."
PSLS Staff Attorney Liz Jackson weighed in on the incident:
"Jackson said that Temple SJP 'has a first amendment right to speak up for Palestine on campus,' adding that this incident is just the latest in a series of actions designed to erase Palestine solidarity activism on campuses and censor criticism of Israel.
Jackson added that similar accusations of anti-Semitic slurs occurred during the divestment debates earlier this year at the University of Michigan. 'Political opponents leveled unsubstantiated allegations that SJP supporters used the k-word. There, as here [at Temple], the students did not even know what the word meant,' she explained."