Hundreds of students participate in National Day of Action, despite silencing pressure from pro-Israel group

CHICAGO, IL – Hundreds of students from university campuses across the country participated in the International Day of Action, called for by the national education and advocacy organization the American Muslims for Palestine. The day of action was geared to answer the Palestinian Call for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)

The purpose was to get students and faculty engaged in an initiative to raise awareness about how Israeli academic institutions are complicit in Israel’s occupation of Palestine, according to AMP Chairman and UC Berkeley Professor Dr. Hatem Bazian.

Students from Stanford, UC Berkeley, University of Texas – San Antonia, Temple University and Oberlin College were among the many that staged events or actions.

Last week, University of California Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi created controversy when it became known that she forwarded to senior university staff an Islamophobic email from the Anti-Defamation League, which is known for its efforts to silence any criticism of Israeli policies. The ADL’s email called for extra security and “discipline.”

“The ADL’s email contains an attack on AMP and all those who are working for Palestinian human rights,” said Dr. Bazian. “The fact that Katehi forwarded the email to staff and top administrators has the effect of chilling free speech activities of a particular set of students, namely Muslim and Arab students.”

Joining universities in Turkey and Europe, US campuses staged die-ins, put on rallies and teach-ins, distributed information and commemorated those who were killed in Gaza this past summer. AMP has made materials such as power point presentations, posters, fact sheets and booklets to students this year as a way to help them deal with Zionist propaganda and backlash on campuses in the wake of Israel’s summer attack on Gaza that killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including more than 520 children.

The United States Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel USPACBI), a group of academics and artists advancing the academic and cultural boycott of Israel and institutions that enable its occupation of Palestine, also supported the International Day of Action.

The International Day of Action for Palestine on College Campuses called for the academic boycott of Israel as well as a demand to end university collaboration with organizations that have a history of racism and promote the suppression of student activities about Palestine.

For more information, contact Taher Herzallah, AMP National Campus Coordinator

915 741-7007, taher@ampalestine.org