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Margaux Jubin is a junior at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM).
As students returned to the George Washington University (GW) campus from spring break last Monday, the school’s formerly-suspended Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter wasted no time kicking off “Palestinian Liberation Week” — a series of events featuring inflammatory antisemitic rhetoric and blatant lies and misinformation about Israel.
The group set up tables in front of Kogan Plaza, GW’s main quad, and erected massive signs reading “The student Intifada continues” and “Until liberation and return.” SJP members sat wearing surgical masks, keffiyehs, and sunglasses, deliberately concealing their identities.
Perhaps the most egregious display was poster titled “Every Struggle Is Connected,” inexplicably blaming “Zionism” for all the world’s ills — including “global warming,” “xenophobia,” “reproductive violence,” “colonialism,” “Black oppression,” “police brutality,” and “animal cruelty,” among others.
No legitimate evidence was cited — because there was none. The exhibit represented a textbook example of how antisemitic propaganda works — demonize Jews with baseless and ludicrous claims blaming them and scapegoat them for societal problems they have nothing to do with.
Antisemites have used this tried-and-true method for thousands of years already, and they continue to do so today, with their efforts only intensifying globally in the aftermath of the October 7th.
Right behind the SJP tables, the GW administration propped up a sign affirming the university’s commitment to “protecting free speech, freedom of assembly, and the right to lawful expression,” including a QR code linking to the school’s Free Expression webpage, where student conduct and free speech policies are outlined.
However, GW’s selective enforcement of these policies is glaring. While GWU claims to prohibit discrimination, false advertising, and incitement to violence, it ignores clear manifestations of antisemitism when they are disguised as anti-Zionism.
Furthermore, GW’s poster regulations are said to forbid “true threats, discrimination, harassment, intentional false advertising, invasion of privacy, or any other message that violates or encourages violation of law or GW policy.” Yet the poster on display by SJP directly targeted an entire group, the Jewish people, and this is the exact kind of action GW purportedly bans.
The fact GW allowed this poster to remain visible on campus for multiple days in a row marked a hypocritical failure by the school to enforce its own rules, and it is yet another sad example of why GW is among the dozens of universities currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for their shortcomings in handling rising antisemitism.
Only time will tell if this much-welcome federal scrutiny will finally push GW to take real action to protect its Jewish students.
