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Since the beginning of July, the Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) by CAM has documented 17 Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters on American college campuses promoting terror-glorifying materials on their Instagram accounts.
These accounts have extolled at least four different U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and their leaders including: Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Certain SJP chapters have also praised the Houthis in Yemen, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group (SDGT). In just a two-week span, SJP chapters on 17 American campuses lionized nearly six percent — at least — of the 68 organizations designated by the U.S. State Department as FTOs.
A notable trend in the ARC’s research revealed SJP chapters embracing an ideologically-diverse range of terrorist groups, with a shared commitment to the destruction of Israel. For instance, the PFLP is a Marxist-Leninist group, while Hamas is an Islamist group. This trend also suggests that SJP’s Islamist activists and sympathizers, as well as the group’s far left-wing adherents, view one another as allies in the global campaign to delegitimize and demonize Israel.
Below are several notable recent examples of SJP chapters glorifying terrorism in their Instagram stories that CAM reported to Meta:
The College of New Jersey —
- In an Instagram story, Students for Justice in Palestine at The College of New Jersey shared a post “Honouring the resistance,” referring to Hamas. St. John’s University’s Palestine Solidarity Committee created the original post (see additional screenshots in the St. John’s section below).
Ohio State University —
- Ohio State University’s SJP chapter promoted a sale of paintings of Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida on an Instagram story.
St. John’s University —
- St. John’s University’s Palestine Solidarity Committee chapter promoted an event titled “Strategy for the Liberation of Palestine,” featuring an image of PFLP terrorists. The PFLP has orchestrated suicide bombings in Israel and has hijacked civilian aircraft. Furthermore, the chapter created a separate post that bragged, “The Resistance [Hamas] have [sic] achieved unprecedented Arab unity by unifying several fronts against the Israeli occupation.” The post also glorified the Houthis.
CUNY New York City College of Technology —
- CUNY New York City College of Technology’s SJP chapter promoted a post glorifying deceased Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (AAMB) member Ibrahim al-Nabulsi. Like the PFLP, AAMB has orchestrated suicide bombings in Israel targeting civilians. The group’s leaders also claimed to have participated in the October 7 attack in southern Israel.
A previous ARC report documented other SJP chapters glorifying Hezbollah on their Instagram stories. Hezbollah has been launching incessant missile and drone attacks against northern Israel since October 7, killing Israeli civilians and soldiers and burning thousands of acres of rural land.
Meta clearly prohibits such content in its community standards, which forbid “glorification, support, and representation” of “terrorist organizations, including entities and individuals designated by the United States government as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).”
Following contact with CAM, Meta has removed several posts that violated this policy, but because several SJP chapters continue to glamorize terrorist groups on Instagram, constant vigilance is needed.
As of this writing, each of the 17 accounts that CAM has flagged remains active. We urge Meta to continue removing this problematic content and to suspend the accounts promoting violent terror against Israel and Jews. Instagram should not serve as a platform for incitement of violence and the promotion of dangerous organizations.
In addition, administrations of universities hosting SJP chapters that glorify terrorism should publicly denounce this behavior and end any affiliation with the groups. Students who violate university codes of conduct must be disciplined in line with university policies to ensure that Jewish, Zionist, and Israeli students are safe on campus.
