The right-wing Zionist movement, Betar USA, sent a letter to NYU President Linda Mills on Friday, demanding that the university terminate its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and apologize for a statement accusing Betar of “acts of violence and vandalism” posted a day before.
In a Monday Instagram post, Betar — which is unaffiliated with NYU — claimed that its SJP chapter supports “terror and violence against Jewish students” and encouraged all Jewish Americans to boycott NYU until SJP is banned. SJP, which has been an organization on campus for more than 20 years, took part in organizing the wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at NYU in the last year, including two encampments which resulted in the arrests of dozens of students, faculty and alumni.
Yesterday afternoon, one day after the letter was posted, a dozen Betar members met a group of around 20 students printing pro-Palestinian phrases like “no peace with occupation” onto shirts outside The Cooper Union. The pro-Israeli group clustered outside a small barricade and haggled the group with taunts while a dozen police officers scattered the area.
The Zionist group had allegedly spray-painted the phrase “Betar was here” outside a university building — an allegation the group denied in a statement to WSN. Steinhardt professor Yoav Bergner, a member of the university’s Faculty and Staff Against Antisemitism who attended the rally, said he thought NYU responded to the allegation more aggressively than it would have had the threat been from a pro-Palestinian organization. Bergner added that while he did not agree with Betar’s actions at the protest, he feels a responsibility to “protect Jewish students” amid heightened tensions on campus.
“I want them to know there are people on their side, even if this approach is a little uncomfortable for me,” Bergner said in an interview with WSN. “There’s an imbalance in the social acceptability within this conflict.”
Bergner said he was only vaguely familiar with Betar prior to the past week and that he did not agree with the group’s calls for the university to terminate SJP.
FSAA, founded in May 2023, also posted a statement yesterday criticizing SJP, claiming the group “screamed bloody murder” after incidents of “trolling” and supported Betar’s condemnation of the university’s statement.
NYU spokesperson John Beckman released a statement Sunday, condemning Betar for incidents of “violence and vandalism,” which included allegedly spray-painting a university building and using its social media accounts to threaten students.
After NYU put out a statement condemning Betar for the alleged vandalism, NYU’s chapter of Faculty for Justice in Palestine released a statement criticizing the university for not specifying that the threats were specifically toward pro-Palestinian student activists, and for only being posted “under pressure from students, staff and faculty.”
“The university should have issued a campus-wide alert that Palestinian students and pro-Palestinian activists are being threatened with violence,” said CAS professor and FSJP member David Hogg in a statement to WSN. “The university should have also made an announcement that such threats are unacceptable and that the university is dedicated to halting anti-Palestinian racism and harassment.”
In their Oct. 14 press release, NYU FSJP accused Betar of vandalizing the university’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World building. It also referenced an Oct. 8 Instagram post from Betar, claiming the group had threatened students attending a vigil planned by SJP. Betar said it “did not do” the graffiti, but questioned why it would be considered “violent” by the university’s standards.
A university spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Correction, Oct. 16: A previous version of this article misquoted David Hogg. The article has been updated and WSN regrets the error.
Contact Gigi Liman and Rory Lustberg at [email protected].
