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Rutgers U suspends Students for Justice in Palestine amid further campus uproar over Israel
(JTA) – Rutgers University suspended its campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine Monday, joining a growing number of American universities that have restricted the pro-Palestinian group’s operations as campus activism has spiked surrounding the Israel-Hamas war.
The chapter has two business days to appeal the “interim” suspension. The university did not say how long the suspension would last if upheld.
A dean’s letter to the group stated that it had violated several university policies, including those forbidding “disruptive or disorderly conduct,” failure to comply with university directives, improper behavior by campus guests, and “inappropriate use of space.” It referenced student complaints that members of SJP had disrupted “classes, a program, meals, and students studying.”
The letter also noted “allegations of vandalism” at the business school that corresponded with the group’s programming; a recent Instagram post from the group stated that SJP was “occupying the business school.” Neither the letter nor a university spokesperson elaborated further on the particulars of the incidents that led to the group’s suspension, but a Nov. 30 open letter from local Jewish federation CEO Dov Ben-Shimon said that Rutgers SJP and other student groups “have called Hamas’ massacre of Jews in Israel ‘justified’” and added, “Their actions against Jewish students on campus have moved far beyond microaggressions.”
SJP, which has chapters at universities across the country, has become a lightning rod in the campus debates over Israel and Gaza. Its national network has issued positive statements about the Hamas attacks while individual university chapters have used rhetoric that critics say is antisemitic. Shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, dozens of Jewish groups demanded that universities pull their funding for the group’s activities.
Several schools have gone further, banning SJP chapters entirely. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, pushed to prohibit the group from his state’s public universities, leading to a lawsuit from the group’s University of Florida chapter, though a handful of affiliates reportedly remain. Private schools Brandeis University, George Washington University and Columbia University have also suspended their chapters, with the latter also suspending Jewish anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace.
On campuses where the group has not been formally suspended, students have been disciplined for their role in disruptive anti-Israel activities staged by various SJP chapters. On Monday at the University of Rochester in New York, a student was arrested after allegedly attacking a campus police officer during what the university deemed an “unauthorized” SJP event.
Rutgers, New Jersey’s flagship public university, which has a large Jewish population, suspended the student group less than a week after three presidents of elite private universities were roundly criticized for congressional testimony at which they hedged on the question of whether “calls for the genocide of Jews” violated policy.
Michelle Jefferson, associate dean of students and director of student conduct at Rutgers’ New Brunswick campus, wrote in her letter to SJP that “there is a reasonable basis to conclude that the continued activities by the student organization pose a substantial and immediate threat to the safety and well-being of others, or the suspension of organizational activities is needed to maintain preservation of the University.”
In a statement, Rutgers said its suspension was “in accordance with the university’s student organization policies and procedures” but did not provide further information about what led to it.
A separate letter from the school’s chancellor Francine Conway, referencing tensions over “the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas,” noted, “While Rutgers–New Brunswick is a public institution that protects and values free speech and an open exchange of ideas, this exchange cannot come at the expense of individual and campus safety.”
A request for comment sent to the Rutgers SJP chapter’s email address was not immediately returned. The chapter’s Instagram page announced plans for a “Study-In” protest on the New Brunswick campus Monday to push for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during finals week. It also included calls for Rutgers to divest from partnerships with Israeli institutions.
Additional posts by the group have included the phrase “From the river to the sea,” which many Jewish groups interpret as a call for violence against Jews. That phrase was at the heart of last week’s congressional hearing on campus antisemitism.
A statement the chapter posted days after the Oct. 7 attacks criticized Rutgers’ president for expressing sympathy with Israeli victims, saying he “explicitly took a pro-Israel stance,” used “Islamophobic rhetoric” and “made implied threats” against Palestinians on campus. It added that a Rutgers Hillel vigil was “mourning Israeli settler deaths,” using language that implies that massacre of Israeli communities within the country’s recognized borders targeted settlers.
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The post Rutgers U suspends Students for Justice in Palestine amid further campus uproar over Israel appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.