University of Maryland Cancels Pro-Hamas Oct. 7 Rally
Palestinian flag flies at University of Maryland, College Park. Photo: Students for Justice in Palestine/Instagram
The University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) has rescinded permission to hold a pro-Hamas rally on its campus on Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last year which took the lives of 1,200 people and resulted in the largest single-day loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.
UMCP reportedly granted Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which has been linked to jihadist terror groups, a permit to hold the demonstration in August, prompting an outcry from the campus Jewish community. Protesting what many perceived as a celebration of anti-Jewish violence, groups such as Maryland Hillel called on school officials to reverse course.
On Sunday, the university announced it had cancelled the event, but it did not comment on SJP’s intent. Rather, UMCP president Darryll Pines wrote in a statement that the decision was precipitated by a “safety assessment,” which, he added, did not identify any threats to the campus.
“Given the overwhelming outreach, from multiple perspectives, I requested a routine targeted safety assessment for this day to understand the risks and safety measures associated with planned events,” Pines said. “UMPD [the university’s police department] has assured me that there is no immediate or active threat to prompt this assessment, but the assessment is a prudent and preventive measure that will assist us to keep our safety at the forefront.”
He continued, “Jointly, out of an abundance of caution, we concluded to host only university-sponsored events that promote reflection on this day. All other expressive events will be held prior to October 7, and then resume on October 8 in accordance with time, place, and manner considerations of the First Amendment.”
Despite stopping short of denouncing the SJP rally, the decision was commended by UMCP’s Jewish Student Union.
“While we are reassured by this decision, we are distraught that it had to be made at all,” the group said. “As always we hoped to promote unity at our university … Make no mistake: Jewish life at the University of Maryland is strong. We don’t let the negative perceptions of our campus circulating online detract from the strength of our community. We are very comfortable displaying our Jewish pride on campus.”
The University of Maryland, College Park’s SJP chapter is one of the most radical in the country. After Oct. 7, it held a “vigil” for Palestinian terrorists and other events which appeared aimed at pitting the Black and Latino communities against Jews. In its public statements, it has rejected a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and called for the destruction of the Jewish state.
“UMD SJP unequivocally states that the Zionist state of Israel has no right to exist,” it said in a statement issued in July. “Beyond being an apartheid state, the system of Israeli apartheid is a symptom of the fact that it is a settler-colonial ethnostate that seeks to use apartheid to facilitate its genocidal intent and ultimate goal of displacing indigenous Palestinians from their homeland.”
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