Other Group

Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP)

Website:

fjp-network.squarespace.com/

Type:

Anti-Israeli Faculty Network

Formation:

2023

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

The Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP), also known as the Faculty for Justice in Palestine Network, is a network of university faculty and staff chapters that supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, advocates that universities end study abroad programs with Israeli universities, and advocates that universities end disciplinary action against students involved in pro-Palestinian campus protests. 1 2

FJP claims Israel has conducted a “violent, repressive occupation” of Palestinian territory and that this occupation is related to “interlocking systems of oppression underpinned by global white supremacy and racial capitalism.” 1

History and Activities

Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) is a network of faculty and staff members founded during the 2023-2024 academic year 3 organized in chapters on university campuses who support Palestinian efforts against Israel to attain “self-determination and legal equality, and to return to their indigenous homes and lands.”  1

FJP claims that there have been over 75 years of “violent, repressive occupation” conducted by Israel against Palestinian Arabs “in the context of settler colonialism and Zionist ideology” and that these issues relate to “interlocking systems of oppression underpinned by global white supremacy and racial capitalism.” 1

FJP coordinates with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and other pro-Palestinian groups that have conducted protests and activism on college campuses within the United States. FJP claims that there is an “anti-Palestinian campus environment” and that students, faculty, and staff are a “defamed and disciplined” for “advocating for Palestinian human rights.” FJP claims that “nonviolent student protestors” in favor of Palestine have faced “criminalization” that amounts to the “rise of the new McCarthyism across society.” FJP called for all universities conducting disciplinary actions against students participating in Pro-Palestinian protests to drop all charges against said students, to end student suspensions, to issue apologies, and to “take seriously” demands that universities divest from Israel and boycott Israeli academic institutions. 1 2

FJP also claims to collaborate with Palestinian universities, including Birzeit University, which it claims have faced attacks, closures, and destruction “long before the most recent assault on Gaza,” referring to Israel’s counterattack on Hamas in Gaza following the Hamas terrorist attacks against the State of Israel on October 7, 2023. 1

FJP has two main campaigns. The first is to oppose study abroad programs in Israel. It urged academics to “dismantle your university’s Study Abroad program in Israel,” which it claims often are “in clear violation of campus codes regarding non-discrimination and equal opportunity because they are not accessible to all students and faculty,” particularly Arab, Middle Eastern, and Muslim students. FJP argues that colleges that offer study abroad programs with Israeli Universities “[a]re heavily complicit with the Occupation and ongoing Nakba,” claiming that Israeli universities exist on “stolen Palestinian land.” 4

FJP’s second campaign is in support of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, an international campaign to delegitimize the State of Israel by isolating the country economically through consumer boycotts and legal sanctions. In line with the BDS movement, FJP advocates for academic boycotts of both Israel and Israeli academic institutions, both of which, it claims “have been responsible for maintaining apartheid and colonial occupation.” 1 5

FJP also affirms other left-of center principles, including supporting radical gender theory. 1

Chapters and Affiliates

Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) claims to have chapters in over 120 universities across the United States including Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Northwestern, Princeton, Stanford, University of California Berkeley, Notre Dame, University of Virginia, and Yale. 6

FJP is also associated with the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), a BDS campaign that issued a call for FJP groups to be formed on campuses to support Students for Justice in Palestine. USACBI called the Israeli response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack a “genocidal assault on Gaza.” 7

People

Faculty for Justice in Palestine is managed by a national steering committee including Sophia Azeb of University of California Santa Cruz, Lara Deeb of the Claremont Consortium, Fida Adley of Georgetown University, Greta LaFleur of Yale University, Nadine Naber of University of Illinois Chicago, and Neferti Tadiar of Barnard College. The “facilitator” of the national steering committee is Sheren Seikaly of University of California Santa Barbara and the secretary of the national steering committee is Andrew Ross of New York University. 3

References

  1. “Principles of Unity.” Faculty for Justice in Palestine Network. Accessed October 16, 2024. https://fjp-network.squarespace.com/about-us.
  2. “JFP Statement About Campus Repression.” Faculty for Justice in Palestine Network. Accessed October 16, 2024. https://fjp-network.squarespace.com/fjp-statement-on-campus-repression
  3. “Faculty for Justice in Palestine Network.” Faculty for Justice in Palestine Network. Accessed October 16. 2024. https://fjp-network.squarespace.com/
  4. “Study Abroad in Israel Violates Your Campus Policies.” Faculty for Justice in Palestine Network. Accessed October 16, 2024. https://fjp-network.squarespace.com/study-abroad.
  5. “Divestment.” Faculty for Justice in Palestine Network. Accessed October 16, 2024. https://fjp-network.squarespace.com/divestment
  6. “Network Chapters.” Faculty for Justice in Palestine Network. Accessed October 16, 2024. https://fjp-network.squarespace.com/chapters-2.
  7. “Faculty for Justice in Palestine.” USACBI. Accessed October 16, 2024. https://usacbi.org/faculty-for-justice-in-palestine/.
  See an error? Let us know!