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The Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) by CAM rigorously monitors extremist content promoted online by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters at college and university campuses across North America — including glorification of terrorism and the October 7th massacre, hate speech, and incitement of violence.
As part of this initiative, the ARC recently conducted an investigation into the Instagram account of the SJP chapter at the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville, analyzing content posted between May 2021 and November 2024.
ARC researchers documented posts showing support for terrorism, often cloaked in the euphemistic term “resistance,” which violates Meta’s Community Standards.
Posts uncovered by the ARC included:
- In May 2021, UVA SJP shared a post celebrating “Lebanese Liberation and Resistance Day,” marking the 21st anniversary of the Israeli military’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon and indicating support for the Hezbollah terrorist organization.
- In July 2021, UVA SJP shared a post featuring a screenshot of an X post saying, “Palestinians will resist and liberate themselves by any means they deem fit” — language frequently evoked to justify violence against Israelis.
- In January 2023, UVA SJP shared a post whitewashing a terrorist attack — likely referring to the January 27, 2023 murder of seven Israelis in Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood — as a shooting in an “illegal Israeli settlement,” and justified the atrocity as an act of “Palestinian resistance.”
- A mere two days after the October 7th massacre in 2023, UVA SJP shared an image from the attack alongside the phrase, “Decolonization is not a metaphor.” The accompanying caption promoted an upcoming meeting to discuss how to “be in solidarity with Palestinians resisting occupation.”
- In a December 2023 post, UVA SJP described the 2015 Pisgat Ze’ev stabbing attack that Ahmad Manasra was convicted of participating in as “resisting the occupation” and likened his arrest to a kidnapping.
Stories
- The highlight reel on UVA SJP’s Instagram page contained a post aiming to correct allegedly inaccurate terms pertinent to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, translating “terrorism” into “resistance,” thus justifying Palestinian violence against Israeli civilians.
- The highlight reel on UVA SJP’s Instagram page contained a post glorifying the concept of “intifada,” a reference to waves of anti-Israel violence, and expressing support for “resistance” and “freedom fighters,” euphemisms for terrorism and terrorists.
- The highlight reel on UVA SJP’s Instagram page contained a post promoting written resources about Palestinian “Popular Resistance,” including a reading about Hamas. The accompanying caption glorifies “resistance,” saying, “Our history [is defined] by our people’s steadfast resistance to Zionist colonization and imperialism,” indicating support for Palestinian terrorist groups such as Hamas.
Additional Reading:
New CAM Study Reveals SJP’s Rampant Support for Terror Groups on Instagram
