Anti-Zionist Student Groups ‘Convict’ Colleges of Aiding Gaza War

Anti-Israel extremists enrolled in higher education institutions in the New England region “convicted” a consortium of college officials of aiding the Israeli war effort in Gaza in a mock trial convened by a group which calls itself the Western Massachusetts People’s Tribunal (WMPL), an episode which showcased the far left’s use of theater as a mode of political agitation.

The WMPL is reportedly a composite of anti-Zionist groups drawn from the University of Massachusetts (UMass), Smith College, and Hampshire College. They include Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and the Radical STEM Bloc. The groups held the ritualistic condemnation of their colleges outside the UMass Student Union building on Tuesday.

As reported by the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, “The audience served as the jury and found the defense guilty in all six cases. Unlike a traditional court, verdicts were based on a majority vote. All were unanimous except for one ‘not guilty’ vote in the Trustees of Smith College case.”

A protest followed the trial, with the students stalking the campus while chanting “no justice, no peace” and “you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide.” Later, they recited a summary of the charges of which the schools were convicted near the chancellor’s office, to which they marched to deliver the verdict to a group of officials who left their offices to meet them.

The anti-Zionist student movement kept a busy schedule throughout the month of October.

At Pomona College in California, an unknown group issued a disturbing open letter which claimed credit for storming a Jewish event held to commemorate the lives of the children, women, and men murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, or subsequently in captivity in Gaza — a harrowing incident in which security failed to deter the intruders and protect those gathered inside the venue.

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, footage of the incident from earlier this month showed the group, whose members concealed their faces with keffiyeh scarves, attempting to raid the room while screaming expletives and pro-Hamas slogans. They ultimately failed due to the prompt response of the Claremont Colleges Jewish chaplain and other attendees who formed a barrier in front of the door to repel them, a defense they mounted on their own as campus security personnel did nothing to stop the disturbance.

“Satan dared not look us in the eyes,” said the note, which the group released on social media, while attacking event guests and Oct. 7 survivor Yoni Viloga. “Immediately, zionists [sic] swarmed us, put their hands on us, shoved us, while Viloga retreated like he did on October 7th, 2023.”

Appearing to threaten murder, the group added, “We let that coward know he and his fascists settler ideology are not welcome here nor anywhere. zionism is a death cult that must be dealt with accordingly [sic].”

Earlier this month, National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), a primary organ of the student anti-Zionist movement in the US, appeared to call for executing Muslim “collaborators” working with Israel in retaliation for the death of Palestinian influencer Saleh Al-Jafarawi during a conflict between the Hamas terrorist group and a rival clan, Doghmush, in Gaza City.

“Saleh’s martyrdom is a testament to the fact that the fight against Zionism in all its manifestations — from the [Israel Defense Forces] to its collaborators — must continue,” the group said in a statement posted on social media. “In the face of hundreds of thousands of martyred Palestinians these past two years alone, collaborators and informants maintain their spineless disposition as objects of Zionist influence against their own people.”

The statement went on to volley a series of unfounded charges alleging that anti-Hamas forces are “exploiting Gaza’s youth for money” and pilfering “desperately needed aid to the killing of their own people in service of Zionism.” NSJP concluded, “Death to the occupation. Death to Zionism. Death to all collaborators.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.