National Students for Justice in Palestine is a pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel advocacy group which creates student activism on college campuses. Its efforts include protesting Jewish speakers, supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and supporting student groups which back the BDS movement. 2 Students for Justice in Palestine claims to be an independent, grassroots organization. 2 6 As of 2018, it claimed to have over 200 chapters. It claims to oppose anti-Semitism and describes Palestinians as being under an “occupation” since Israel’s creation in 1948. 14 Shortly after the attacks, SJP released a “tool kit” titled ““Day of Resistance” for activists and members for pro-Palestinian protests while also releasing a statement proclaiming, ““glory to our resistance.” 15 The tool kit also included illustrations containing images of protesters, the Palestinian flag, and a Paraglider; Hamas terrorists used paragliders during their attacks on October 7th including one attack at the Supernova music festival in Southern Israel where Hamas members used them to navigate over the border from Gaza near the festival and proceeded to kill over 260 people. 16 15 The toolkit also stated, “We as Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement…not in solidarity with this movement.” 15
The group’s response to the Hamas attacks received significant backlash, which led to several of its chapters being closed at Brandeis University, Columbia University, and George Washington University. In addition, both The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law accused the SJP of, “celebrating terrorism.” 15 In response to the tool kit’s criticism, a member of the SJP’s steering committee claimed that the kit’s release and public reaction are part of a, “constant process of trial, error, growth until freedom,” and continued by claiming they, “…are working to find the best way for our people to live a life not under siege…and there are mistakes made. There are triumphs made.” 15 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared that the SJP’s tool kit was akin to supporting Hamas and foreign terrorist organizations and ordered that two chapters of SJP on Florida state public universities be shut down. 15 As of November 2023, Ray Rodrigues, the Chancellor of the State University System of Florida, announced the state would hold off on shutting down those chapters due to fears of, “potential personal liability for university actors who deactivate the student registered organization.” 17
As of May 2024, the organization has been involved with organizing pro-Palestinian protests on multiple college universities across the United States protesting the war in Gaza, which involve activities such as large-scale demonstrations by students, faculty, and outside organizers; as well as the construction of encampments on college grounds. 18
In May 2024, the organization, along with American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), had a lawsuit filed against them by the families of 9 American and Israeli victims of the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks when members of terror group Hamas launched attacks within the country of Israel, killing over 1,200 while taking over 240 people hostage back into the Gaza Strip. The lawsuit alleges that both AMP and NSJP worked in the United States as propogandists and collaborators for the terror group while existing as versions of groups previously identified by the U.S Government as supporters of Hamas. The lawsuit continues that on October 8, 2023, a day after the attacks, both AMP and NSJP “answered Hamas’ call for mass mobilization” by disseminated a manifesto and “plan for attack” to justify October 7, proving that, “AMP and NSJP are not merely organizing to assist Hamas’s ongoing terror campaign abroad—they are intentionally extending their aid to fomenting chaos, violence, and terror in the United States.” 19 The lawsuit further alleges that families of victims of the October 7 attacks are still suffering harm because, “AMP and NSJP knowingly provide continuous, systematic, and substantial assistance to Hamas and its affiliates’ acts of international terrorism. AMP and NSJP are thus liable to Plaintiffs for the damages they incurred because AMP and NSJP aid and abet Hamas’s terrorism.”19
In November 2024, the local chapter of SJP announced their participation in a pro-Palestinian protest in downtown Chicago with other local chapters of anti-Israeli groups to “reject capitalist ‘holidays.” 20 Taking place on November 29, it was coordinated with other pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli protests planned to take place around the world during the Thanksgiving weekend. It was planned by the “”Global Escalation” coalition” demanding protesters and activists to “[d]isrupt any and all entities that allow or enable genocide. Disrupt the finances fuelling or profiting from genocide.” 20 The coalition also claimed the protests on November 29 would coincide with the “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.” 20
On November 7, 2024, police searched the home of sisters and George Mason University (GMU) students Jena and Noor Chanaa, who were also identified as leaders of the SJP chapter on the GMU campus that had engaged in vandalism earlier in August around GMU’s Johnson student center with messages calling for a “student intifada.” 21 A search warrant of the home was approved by a Fairfax County judge following the incident, and according to a Washington Free Beacon report, police found multiple firearms and ammunition, foreign passports, and pro-terror materials which included Hamas and Hezbollah flags as well as signs reading “death to America” and “death to Jews.” 21 In addition, it was reported by The Intercept that “antique firearms” were seized that had been registered to the sister’s brother GMU alum Mohammad Chanaa, whom police stated was “linked to destruction of property in connection with a large group of people with like-minded rhetoric.” 21 The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) later released a statement condemning the raid while accusing authorities of using “draconian measures” to “silence or intimidate those who seek to end the Israeli genocide in Gaza.” 21
In January 2025, it was announced that the University of Michigan’s SJP chapter, SAFE, was suspended for a period of two years. 22
In February 2025, it was announced that Georgetown Law University’s SJP chapter had invited Rihbi Karajah, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP) to speak at their “Palestinian Prisoners” event scheduled to take place on campus. Karajah was previously arrested after being informed by fellow PFLP members of a terrorist attack in 2019 that occurred in the West Bank which killed a 17-year-old girl, Rina Shnerb, while inuring her father and brother, but did not act to inform or prevent it. 23
In August 2025, the Houston chapter of SJP was reportedly connected to the creation of an “encampment” in front of the Israeli consulate in Houston, Texas. Other groups reportedly connected to the encampment included the Houston chapter of the Palestine Youth Movement as well as Palestine Solidarity TX. Activists and protesters present at the encampment placed tents in front of the consulate while chanting “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution,” and “Death, death to the IDF.” After a standoff with authorities that involved barricades and mounted police, the encampment was cleared with several activists being arrested. Protesters encouraged similar blockades to take place in front of Israeli consulates in major cities including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. 24
Controversies
One of the group’s most controversial methods of activism is giving “eviction notices” to college students. These notices are posted by campus chapters without permission on students’ doors in on-campus and off-campus housing. 2 The Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy reports that American Muslims for Palestine and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network facilitated the first national convention of Students for Justice in Palestine chapters in 2010. 0){
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