As a new anti-war movement has sprung on campuses across the country, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Boston and IfNotNow Boston support the student encampment movement in solidarity with Palestine across this city and the country. We denounce Northeastern University’s discipline of student activists and Boston Police Department’s arrest of peaceful protesters. We denounce false claims from the Northeastern administration that protests were “infiltrated by professional organizers” who used “virulent antisemitic slurs.”
Video posted to X by GBH News reporter Tori Bedford clearly shows the incident in question, in which a pro-Israel counter-protester, holding an Israeli flag, attempts to be disruptive by yelling “kill the Jews.” He goes on to accuse student protesters of being funded by the Qatari government and imply that they are not US citizens. By using this event to slander their own students, the Northeastern University administration is acting in incredible bad faith. They owe pro-Palestine student organizers an apology.