Inside the campus playbook to build a nationwide ‘unity intifada’ in support of Hamas

The National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) anticipated a conflict in the Middle East and was prepared to unleash its army of adherents on college campuses across America.

By Adam Kredo, the Washington Free Beacon

Just a day after Hamas’s Oct. 7 rampage through Israel, the nation’s largest anti-Israel campus group snapped into action, issuing a call for “unity intifada” at colleges across the country and mobilizing its network of pro-Palestinian agitators for a “national day of resistance” that would “normalize” terrorism against Israel, according to a strategy document reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

The materials provide insight into National Students for Justice in Palestine’s (NSJP) campus playbook and suggest the anti-Israel umbrella group anticipated a conflict in the Middle East and was prepared to unleash its army of adherents on college campuses across America.

“National liberation is near—glory to our resistance, to our martyrs, and to our steadfast people,” the document states. It includes a series of directions and guides to help students learn the “how-tos for the protest day of action and troubleshoot any support needed.” NSJP also ran “how to organize a protest” workshops and “highly encouraged” its network to organize “a sit-in, disruption, or educational event.” At every step in the process, NSJP was prepared to help its campus protesters foment anti-Israel unrest and “normalize the resistance,” according to the planning materials.

The organization makes it clear that students are part of a global “unity intifada,” stating: “We as Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement.”

The toolkit was cited as evidence in a landmark court case filed last week against NSJP by Israeli victims of Hamas’s terror attack. The case—which also named American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a parent group for NSJP branches across the country—alleges that both organizations are providing material support to Hamas through their campus protests. The toolkit is cited as evidence the groups serve as chief “collaborators and propagandists for Hamas.”

“On October 8, the day after Hamas’s terrorist attack, AMP and NSJP were prepared and responded to Hamas’s ‘call for mass mobilization’ by disseminating a manifesto and plan of attack which includes materials that appear to have been created before the attack,” the lawsuit states.

The court case and toolkit are drawing congressional interest, with Rep. Tom Emmer (R., Minn.), the House majority whip, telling the Free Beacon the materials illustrate how campus protesters consider themselves under Hamas’s banner.

“By these students’ own admission, they’re not just standing in solidarity with this pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic movement—they ARE the movement,” Emmer said. “Perhaps they’d be happier studying at Terrorist University before pursuing their careers in Gaza.”

The “day of resistance toolkit” was meant to prepare students for a large-scale Oct. 12 protest against Israel on campuses across the country. It provides resources for students to foment unrest and organize protests and encourages its anti-Israel army to defend Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack that killed more than 1,200 and left numerous others hostage in the Gaza Strip.

“On the 50th anniversary of the 1973 war, the resistance in Gaza launched a surprise operation against the Zionist enemy which disrupted the very foundation of Zionist settler society,” the toolkit states. “The resistance has taken occupation soldiers hostage, fired thousands of rockets, taken over Israeli military vehicles, and gained control over illegal Israeli settlements.”

It goes on to amplify calls by Hamas for Palestinians across the globe to rally in their defense, urging students to serve as the terror group’s champions in America.

“We witness a historic win for the Palestinian resistance: across land, air, and sea, our people have broken down the artificial barriers of the Zionist entity, taking with it the facade of an impenetrable settler colony and reminding each of us that total return and liberation to Palestine is near,” NSJP wrote in the toolkit. “As the Palestinian student movement, we have an unshakable responsibility to join the call for mass mobilization.”

Students were instructed to call in for a national “day of resistance” planning session on Oct. 9 of last year and document the events being held on a database maintained by NSJP. “These will be posted and publicized on our social media,” the group wrote.

The group says its aim is to dismantle Zionism and boost the “Palestinian resistance.”

“National Students for Justice in Palestine is calling for a national day of resistance from the student movement for Palestine liberation on college campuses across occupied Turtle Island (so-called U.S. and Canada) and beyond,” the toolkit states. “We must continue to resist directly through dismantling Zionism, and wielding the political power that our organizations hold on our campuses and in our communities.”

Students are also urged to attend NSJP’s “how to organize a protest” session and contact the group for personal consultations on ways to disrupt their campuses.

“Challenging Zionist hegemony and popularizing our resistance is a critical part of advancing our national movement!” the group wrote in a section outlining the various types of protests students can organize. “Make sure people on your campus know what’s happening in Palestine, and are armed with a framework which advances national liberation.”

Additional sections of the toolkit instruct campus allies to frame Hamas’s terrorism against Israel as “a prolonged war for liberation.”

“The Palestinian people have the right to resist colonization and oppression,” the toolkit states in its “messaging and framing” section. “The Palestinian people have the right to return to their homeland and free themselves from the complete land, air, and sea siege they’ve been subjected to; this requires resistance, and it is both morally just and politically necessary. These events are the natural and justified response to decades of oppression and dehumanization.”

It also justifies Hamas’s attack on innocent Jews, stating: “Settlers are not ‘civilians’ in the sense of international law, because they are military assets used to ensure continued control over stolen Palestinian land.” The Gaza Strip, it notes, is “the cradle of resistance.”

The toolkit provides hashtags that should be used on social media to promote various protests and also includes “day of resistance” images that students can personalize to promote their various activities on campus.

Arsen Ostrovsky, an attorney and CEO of the International Legal Forum, one of the groups spearheading the court case against NSJP, said the materials demonstrate that AMP and NSJP “do not merely assist Hamas’s ongoing terror campaign abroad—they perpetuate it in the United States, as their agents on campus.”

“Within hours of the massacre, NSJP answered Hamas’s call to action for ‘mass mobilization,’ including by disseminating a toolkit to its affiliates on campuses across the United States, with materials that appear to have been created even before the attack, echoing Hamas’s terminology on how to advance and support their goals, including ‘armed struggle’ and ‘confrontation by any means necessary,'” Ostrovsky said.

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