UPDATED March 4, 2024
A dozen pro-Israel groups issued a joint statement deploring the attack on a Jewish student at Temple University and asking for the monitoring of a pro-Palestinian campus organization.
In their statement released Aug. 22, the groups urged universities to monitor Students for Justice in Palestine and other like-minded groups.
Among the 12 organizations that signed on to the statement were StandWithUs, the Zionist Organization of America and the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting, or CAMERA.
The groups condemned the Aug. 20 incident at the Philadelphia campus in which a fellow with CAMERA and member of the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi was struck in the face by someone at an SJP informational booth. Students at the booth, set up at a campus fair, also allegedly shouted anti-Semitic slurs at him.
SJP issued a statement condemning the attack while denying the assailant was a member of the organization or that any anti-Semitic slurs were used.
It also asserted that the victim had “harassed” its members, calling them “terrorists” and “Hamas.” — jta