Pittsburgh City Paper bestowed Students for Justice in Palestine with its activism award.
Toby Tabachnick | The Jewish Chronicle | December 20, 2024
StandWithUs, an international nonprofit supporting Israel and fighting antisemitism, has launched a campaign urging the Pittsburgh City Paper to rescind an award it conferred on an anti-Zionist student group and to issue a public apology for its “error in judgment.”
On Dec. 18, Pittsburgh City Paper announced that Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Pittsburgh had won its 2024 People of the Year Award in the activism category for “bringing the Gaza crisis to Pittsburgh.”
Students for Justice in Palestine at Pitt, a student group affiliated with the university, has engaged in a plethora of anti-Israel activities since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering 1,200 people, using sexual violence as a tool of war and kidnapping more than 250 individuals into Gaza.
On Instagram, SJP has reposted several unsubstantiated claims against the Jewish state, including that “Israel beheaded a child and burned displaced Palestinians alive in their tent.”
The group also has accused Israel of committing “genocide” and has called for both Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University to divest from Israel, while leading anti-Zionist chants at various protests and rallies.
The national SJP organization has “explicitly endorsed the actions of Hamas and their armed attacks on Israeli citizens and voiced an increasingly radical call for confronting and ‘dismantling Zionism on U.S. college campuses,’” according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Earlier this month, two sisters who served as leaders of George Mason University’s chapter of SJP were indefinitely suspended for vandalizing school property with anti-Israel slogans, according to Jewish Insider. “A subsequent law enforcement search of their family home found pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah paraphernalia along with insignia calling for death to Jews.”
In the article announcing SJP’s award, Pittsburgh City Paper praises SJP’s advocacy against Israel, including its public rallies and its call for Pitt to divest from all Israel-related businesses and funds. A statement in the article from an unidentified representative of SJP accuses Israel of genocide.
“Since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli military operations in Gaza have reportedly killed over 44,000 people, displaced millions of Palestinians, bombarded hospitals, universities, and civilian property, and caused starvation, to the dismay of many Pittsburghers,” the Pittsburgh City Paper article claims.
But a study published earlier this month by the UK-based Henry Jackson Society found that the casualty statistics provided by the Hamas-run Healthy Ministry in Gaza fail to distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties. While Gaza officials claim more than 44,000 people were killed following its Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, they do not acknowledge that more than 17,000 of those who died were Hamas terrorists.
StandWithUs is asking the community to email the Pittsburgh City Paper, “letting them know that SJP is a hate group that deserves condemnation, not an award.”
“Students for Justice in Palestine has a troubling history of promoting bigotry and sowing division,” said Julie Paris, Mid-Atlantic regional director of StandWithUs. “Across the nation, reports have emerged of SJP members threatening and inciting violence against Jewish students, harassing and assaulting student leaders and calling for the expulsion of Jewish student organizations.
“Following the Oct. 7 massacre, national SJP shockingly referred to the murder, torture, rape and kidnapping of innocent people — including U.S. citizens — as a ‘historic win.’ Additionally, SJP’s actions at the University of Pittsburgh have been equally concerning, marked by disturbing protests, rallies and fundraisers. These include setting up illegal anti-Israel encampments on campus, calling for the expulsion of Hillel JUC, and blocking entrances to Jewish student events,” she added.
The City Paper’s award, Paris said, is “particularly problematic because an award for activism should not honor people who attempt to achieve their goals through violence and bigotry. It contradicts the whole concept of activism and goes against American values. The PCP should be honoring real activists working tirelessly for positive change and if it truly wants to honor activists with regards to the conflict, the PCP should be honoring activists promoting peace, coexistence and a better future for Palestinians and Israelis.”
In its form email to City Paper Editor-in-Chief Ali Trachta, StandWithUs notes that SJP “reportedly receives funding and other forms of support from non-governmental organizations that are tied to multiple designated terror organizations, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”
SJP’s activities at Pitt, StandWithUs writes, included hosting a fundraiser for Islamic Relief USA, an affiliate of Islamic Relief Worldwide. The U.S. State Department cut ties with IRW due to “repeated antisemitism exhibited by its leadership and the German government ended projects with the group due to its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.”
In addition to using StandWithUs’ alert “to urge the Pittsburgh City Paper to retract its award to SJP and issue a public apology for this significant mistake,” Paris said, concerned individuals “can contact the paper and its parent company, Block Communications, directly to express their concerns. It is also crucial to support the students and Jewish student organizations on campus who have been targeted by SJP’s actions. Those wishing to take further action can join StandWithUs in supporting Jewish, Israeli and Zionist students through our initiatives and efforts, including providing free legal assistance to victims of antisemitism. They can also write op-eds and letters to the editors in newspapers to express their concerns.”
Trachta did not respond to an interview request.
StandWithUs’ form letter to the City Paper can be found at standwithus.quorum.us/campaign/103934.
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