American universities were confronted by an unprecedented, deeply troubling issue in 2024: Campuses across the nation took part in a student intifada—an uprising of protests in support of Hamas and its brutal Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. The wave of protests took the news by storm, but these were not spur-of-the-moment events. They were premeditated, built up to for months.

The inspiration for protest started with Columbia University, but its foundation originated with a far more sinister institution. Hamas had groomed Columbia for years to be the epicenter of this intifada. How did this sickness infiltrate America’s educational institutions?

The University of Hamas

Canary Mission published a report on January 29 detailing how terrorist organizations “transformed Columbia University into a gateway hub for Hamas activism in the United States.” The facts it uncovered are alarming. The radicalization of these students goes back decades.

One of the student chapters at Columbia is the Students for Justice in Palestine (sjp), now rebranded as the Columbia University Apartheid Divest. It was formed in 1993 but was largely inactive until its revitalization in 2000 during the Second Intifada.

One of its founders, Hatem Bazian, went on to cofound American Muslims for Palestine in 2006, with members from the Islamic Association for Palestine, specifically Khaled Mashal, a high-ranking Hamas member and Ismail Haniyeh’s predecessor. The organization includes pro-Hamas board members such as Salah Sarsourt, a man convicted of fund-raising for Hamas through a U.S. charity.

In 2010, they formed yet another organization, the National sjp, to unify sjp chapters across America. This group is comprised of supporters and former members of Hamas, and it echoes Hamas’s goals to the letter: Its charter calls for the destruction of Israel. Many Columbia University professors have attended this group’s events and lectures over the years.

For all intents and purposes, these sjp chapters are all branches of the same tree. They have openly declared their affiliation with Hamas and themselves a part of its terror campaign. The chapters effectively serve as a student arm for Hamas. They all originated from Columbia University, a campus with a legacy of anti-Israel ideology and student protests. Many faculty members are openly pro-Hamas and use their teaching positions to further radicalize students, instilling a hatred for Israel and Jews.

One committee member, commenting on the networking strategies of the group, said the sjp “is oriented in a special way. The idea is to appeal to people who know nothing.”

These are disturbing facts. A multilayered organization, comprised almost entirely of members who support Hamas or are directly affiliated with it, has deep roots in this U.S. institution with considerable influence on and support from the student body and faculty. They have specifically stated their strategy of targeting people who “know nothing” and can be easily indoctrinated. They don’t even try to hide their terrorist ties, openly supporting Hamas’s brutal tactics.

Supporting Terrorism

Through these institutions, Hamas has flagrantly groomed a generation of American youth into supporting anti-Semitism, and it has met little resistance. All this effort began to pay off as it prepared for the October 7 massacre. Just two days before, on Oct. 5, 2023, the Columbia sjp account reactivated after months of inactivity.

The sjp quickly went to work. In the next few months, it spearheaded a nationwide effort to support Hamas’s sickening, violent acts. On October 9, less than 48 hours after the terrorist attack, the group published an open letter supporting the vile actions Hamas took against Israel. The students credited their classroom experiences for their ideology. In other words, terrorism is part of their curriculum.

As Columbia students, our classes regularly discuss the inevitability of resistance as part of the struggle for decolonization. We study under renowned scholars who denounce the fact that the media requires oppressed peoples to be “perfect victims” in order to deserve sympathy.
—sjp open letter

They blamed Israel for the attack it suffered, calling the massacre a “resistance.” In the months that followed, they continued in their public support for Hamas, staging multiple protests and walkouts. In March 2024, they hosted a “Palestinian Resistance 101” event. It featured speakers such as a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist organization with direct ties to Hamas. Panelists openly told students, “There is nothing wrong with being a member of Hamas, being a leader of Hamas, being a fighter in Hamas.”

Columbia had officially opened its gates to anti-Semitic extremists and literal terrorists, giving them a free pass to indoctrinate its students. Countless protesters supported the event, calling for violence against Jews and calling Jewish students “white supremacists,” “genocide supporters,” “baby killers,” “terrorists” and “Nazis.” They were greeted by applause.

It all came to a head in April 2024, when the National sjp launched a concerted effort to seize control of college campuses across the nation—its very own student intifada.

Columbia, the Poster Child

In its own words, the National sjp’s goal was to “seize control of our institutions, campus by campus, until Palestine is free.” On April 17, 2024, Columbia University became the heart of this movement: an openly pro-terror hub for students across the nation to look up to. That day, they established the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, a tent city of hundreds of pro-Hamas students, faculty and outside actors not even linked to the campus.

In its wake, at least 140 other North American campuses saw encampments established. Though over 100 Columbia students were arrested, they were released within a day. Although the camp was initially cleared out, nonparticipating faculty turned a blind eye while they rebuilt. For months, protesters articulated hate-filled rhetoric through slogans and chants:

• “We will never let up and we will never let down until Palestine is free, Zionism is destroyed, and Zionists start to hide like the Nazis.”
• “We are Hamas.”
• “Al-Qassam you make us proud, kill another soldier now!”
• “Globalize the intifada.”
• “There is only one solution: intifada, revolution!”

These were not “peaceful protests.” The sjp itself stated that “violence is the only path forward.” When Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the October 7 attack, was killed, they published a statement glorifying his actions, calling the massacre his “crowning achievement,” and stating that he was an inspiration to “drive [their] movement forward.”

It is an utterly unmistakable fact that America’s universities have been infiltrated. Inspired by terrorism, they are brimming with unadulterated hatred for Israel.

Sickness Within

This rampant Jew hatred is not new. It’s older than the Nazi pogroms, older than the Crusades and the ethnic cleansings by the Romans. A hatred this old and on this level proves there is something more than ideology at play.

These campuses are more than morally perverse—they are academically bankrupt. This hatred is part of their “education.” These students have become untethered from reality in the same way as the professors teaching them to hate.

To learn more about this sickness and its origins, read our February 2024 Trumpet article “The Sickness in American Universities.”