A bipartisan group of more than three dozen lawmakers called on Gov. Hochul Monday to step in on a New York college campus to ban a pro-Palestinian student group that they say has spewed hate and endorsed violence.
“For years, a major growing cause of concern on college campuses has been a group called ‘Students for Justice in Palestine’ (SJP), which has chapters throughout American Universities,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the governor.
“At their events, SJP members and allies chant things like ‘from New York to Gaza, Globalize the Intifada,’ ‘when people are occupied, resistance is justified,’ and ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,'” the letter reads, adding, “These chants are from the Hamas charter and call for the death and annihilation of Jews and Israel.”
The Students for Justice in Palestine have already been suspended at Columbia University after it was realized the group celebrated the terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7 that led to more than 1,200 deaths and hundreds taken hostage.
The suspension was lauded by 500 alumni of the Ivy League school as the city sees a jump in antisemitic incidents following Israel’s war declaration in Gaza.
Pro-Israel Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov led the lawmakers, which included seven Democrats and 33 Republicans at city, county and state level, on Monday calling on New York state to act.
“They must be investigated and dismantled as a legitimate organization,” Vernikov said of the group, which she described as a “widespread movement throughout American college campuses that supports radical Islamist ideology.”
The pols demanded that any student groups that “explicitly endorse registered foreign terrorist organizations” be banned from New York universities.
“We request that you work with university Chancellors and Presidents, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate further and take immediate and necessary action,” the letter reads.
“New York cannot fail in its legal obligation to protect its Jewish students,” the pols added.
Calls for comment from the governor’s office were not returned.
Hochul said last week that hate and terror probes have jumped “exponentially” since Hamas attacked Israel and has assigned additional State Police investigators to work with federal anti-terror units around the state in response.