Virginia Governor Decries Anti-Israel Group ‘Students for Justice in Palestine’ As ‘Clear and Present Threat’ to Jewish Community

The governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, is calling out anti-Israel student group, Students for Justice in Palestine, for posing a “clear and present threat to Jewish students and the Jewish community in Virginia.”His comment, which he voiced to Jewish Insider on Tuesday, follows reports that police officers had found guns, ammunition, and a “death to jews” poster in the family home of two SJP leaders, sisters Jena and Noor Chanaa, who are students at George Mason University. A warrant for the search was granted in November after several members of George Mason’s SJP chapter in August were accused of defacing the university’s student center with spray-painted warnings of a “student intifada.” Police suspected that the two sisters, one of whom presided over the chapter as president last year, while the other took over as co-president this year, were leading the attack. The group’s act of vandalism, which is a felony in Virgina, reportedly cost the school thousands of dollars worth in damages. While casing the house, officers found firearms, rounds of ammunition, and scores of pro-terror group materials, including Hamas and Hezbollah flags and signs that read “death to America” and “death to Jews,” according to court documents. The guns were registered to the girls’ brother, Mohammad Chanaa, and were seized by authorities under the state’s red flag law on the basis that he posed a danger to others given his terror-related materials. The sisters were later served by university police with criminal trespass notices barring them from campus for four years and the school’s SJP chapter was suspended. Governor Youngkin expressed his gratitude for the “action by GMU campus police, and for the recent anti-semitism training for law enforcement across the Commonwealth which is critically important for protecting not only Jewish students but also all Virginians,” he said to Jewish Insider. He also voiced his “grave concerns about the role of organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine on our campuses.” The state senator, Tim Kaine, who is a democrat, offered a more stifled response, describing the situation to Jewish Insider as being “a matter for local law enforcement and George Mason University.” He noted that the incident was “very concerning” and “raises a lot of questions about the search, particularly the discovery of weapons and whether they posed a danger to students and the community.” Other Virginia democrats, including Representative Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor, reportedly did not respond to multiple requests for comment by Jewish Insider about the incident. Students for Justice in Palestine, meanwhile, is facing a federal lawsuit for effectively serving as “Hamas’s propaganda division in the United States.” The suit, which was filed in May by nine survivors of the October 7 Hamas massaccare with the help of major American and global law firm Greenberg Traurig, The plaintiffs charge SJP, and its parent group, National Students for Justice in Palestine, with recruiting college students to serve as Hamas’s “foot soldiers” in its terror campaign against Israel and the West. The group’s mobilization efforts, which included disseminating a pro-terror “NSJP Toolkit,” allegedly sprung into action just one day after the October 7 attack. Over the past year, many SJP chapters have been suspended or even outright de-recognized by university administrations for violating campus policies. Such has been the case at Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Brandeis University, and, in October, Brown University.

Virginia Governor Decries Anti-Israel Group ‘Students for Justice in Palestine’ As ‘Clear and Present Threat’ to Jewish Community

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