The University of California at Berkeley’s ‘Bears for Palestine’ group expressed their support for Hamas’ actions and ‘denounced the framing of Israel as a victim’ hours after the terrorist organization’s attack left more than 1,000 dead, including 25 Americans.
Bears for Palestine, named after the school’s mascot, issued the statement on Saturday, saying it ‘unequivocally denounces the occupation and its military rule’ and supports ‘the resistance, the liberation movement, and indisputably supports the Uprising.’
‘We invariably reject Israel’s framing as a victim. “Whether to demonize and condemn indigenous resistance is to overshadow the decades of oppression, ethnic cleansing, and destruction of the Palestinian people,” their letter, signed by 50 other groups, read.
‘We echo the call to action for all Arabs and Palestinians in the diaspora to rise up to support the liberation of our occupied people. From the River to the Sea, we will continue to support resistance until we are able to return home to a unified Palestine. Glory to Palestine, glory to the resistance, and glory to our martyrs.’
The group will host a vigil for ‘martyrs in Palestine’ on Friday, and have promoted SJP’s calls for a ‘Day of Resistance’ on Thursday across college campuses in support of the Hamas attacks.
The University of California at Berkeley’s ‘Bears for Palestine’ group expressed their support for Hamas’ actions on Saturday
Bears for Palestine, named after the school’s mascot, issued the statement on Saturday
Organizations from other schools in the state that also signed the letter include various groups at UCLA
The statement was signed by several other groups in the notoriously leftist campus, including Koreans for Decolonization and Central Americans for Empowerment
The group will host a vigil for ‘martyrs in Palestine’ on Friday, and have promoted SJP’s calls for a ‘Day of Resistance’ on Thursday across college campuses in support of the Hamas attacks
The statement was signed by several other groups in the notoriously leftist campus, including Koreans for Decolonization, Jewish Students for Palestine, the Iraqi Student Union and Central Americans for Empowerment.
Organizations from other schools in the state that also signed the letter include various groups at UCLA, such as the Arab Student Union and the Asian Pacific Coalition.
Various SJP chapters from other schools in California and other states also supported the statement. Students for Justice in Palestine was founded at UC Berkeley in 2001 and counts over 200 chapters across the United States, Canada and New Zealand.
UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ sent a letter saying on Wednesday saying she was ‘heartbroken by the terrible violence and suffering in Israel and Gaza,’ as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
‘As a moral matter, we condemn all terrorism and mass atrocities. This includes the deliberate attack on civilians this weekend by Hamas,” she wrote.
DailyMail.com has reached out to UC Berkeley for comment on this story.
American elite universities have found themselves in hot water after Hamas’ horrific attack on Israeli civilians was met with praise by various student groups, particularly by SJP chapters.
Tufts’ Students for Justice in Palestine group called the terrorists ‘liberation fighters paragliding into occupied territory,’ adding that they had ‘especially shown the creativity necessary to take back stolen land.’
The group’s statement was first shared on Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League New England chapter, who called it ‘obscene’
The first space of the statement released by the Students for Justice in Palestine and a Jewish Voice for Peace out of Columbia University
The message added: ‘It has not been without cost, as hundreds of Palestinians have been martyred in the past days, fighting to liberate themselves and their land.’
Similar statements have been made by other pro-Palestinian groups from universities including California State, Harvard, Columbia, and NYU, sparking fury.
Harvard University faced massive backlash after 31 of its student societies issued a joint statement ‘holding the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.’
In their statement on Sunday the groups said the attack which left more than 1,000 dead ‘did not happen in a vacuum’, and claimed the Israeli government has forced Palestinians to live in ‘an open-air prison for over two decades’.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman claims that fellow CEOs want to know who they are so ‘none of us inadvertently hire any of their members’.
The CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management said he has been approached by ‘a number of CEOs’, adding: ‘One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists, who, we now learn, have below-headed babies, among other inconceivably despicable acts.’
Columbia University’s Students for Justice in Palestine also released a statement blaming Israel for the terrorist attacks, claiming that Hamas’ actions were a ‘counter-offensive against their settler-colonial oppressor.’
The Ivy-League schools were also joined by a group from Northwestern University named Justice in Palestine who said that they ‘stand unwavering in our commitment to highlighting the profound injustices faced by the Palestinian people.’
The Harvard statements were widely condemned including by former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers who wrote on X: ‘In nearly 50 years of @Harvard affiliation, I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today.’
Meanwhile, the president of New York University’s Law School Bar Association president had a job offer from a pro-LGBTQ+ law firm resigned after she stated that Hamas’ slaughter of children in Israel was ‘necessary.’
Ryna Workman, 24, a non-binary student at NYU’s School of Law sent a weekly newsletter saying the murder of innocent Israeli children, women, and citizens this past week was is Israel’s ‘full responsibility.’
On Tuesday, the law firm Winston & Strawn – which regularly highlights its legal work representing the LGBTQ+ community – told DailyMail.com in a statement that their offer of employment to Workman has been rescinded.
The number of US citizens confirmed to have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war has risen to at least 25. US citizens are among the estimated 150 hostages captured by Hamas militants during their shocking weekend assault on Israel, President Joe Biden confirmed on Tuesday.
The war has already claimed at least 2,200 lives on both sides.
