UNC prepares to confront anti-Israel group called ‘Hamas voice’ that tolerates ‘armed rebellion’: ‘By any means necessary’

Anti-Israel agitators at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill are vowing resistance “by any means necessary” as the 2024-2025 school year officially begins on August 18.

An unofficial anti-Israel student group called UNC Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which represents Chapel Hill, posted a pledge to “resist by any means necessary” and said it endorses “all forms of principled action” in a July 31 Instagram post.

The group, which has received funding from Hamas-linked groups, according to research by the Institute for the Study of Antisemitism and Global Policy, is responding to the arrest of about 40 rioters on campus in May when they set up camp in the school’s courtyard to protest the war between Israel and Gaza.

“We will not be silenced. We will not be intimidated,” SJP wrote in an Instagram post on her account with more than 14,000 followers. “A group of the accused have posted these points of unity to express their commitment to collective defense, fighting as a unified bloc to have ALL charges against them dropped without losing sight of the ultimate goal of Palestinian liberation.”

UNC CHAPEL HILL BOARD OF TRUSTEES VOTES TO DISMANTLE DEI PROGRAMS AND USE FUNDS ON CAMPUS POLICE FOLLOWING ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS

Red paint stains the steps of the Chancellor’s Building at UNC Chapel Hill on May 11, 2024. Earlier in the day, students vandalized the building in protest of the war between Hamas and Israel. (The image is provided directly to Fox News Digital)

Points highlighted in the Instagram post include support for “the right to resistance, not just in Palestine, but here in the imperial core.”

“We endorse all forms of principled action, including armed rebellion, necessary to stop Israel’s genocide and apartheid, and to dismantle imperialism and capitalism more broadly.”

—NCSJP Instagram Post

The publication also says that the “objectives” of the United States and Israel “are the same: to colonize, kill and steal in the service of capitalist greed.”

Anti-Israel protesters replaced the American flag with the Palestinian flag during a demonstration on the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus on April 30, 2024. (Heather Diehl/The Tar Heel Journal)

Irina Tsukerman, a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and the Arabian Peninsula Institute and also president of Scarab Rising, Inc., a strategic advisory firm on security and geopolitical risk, told Fox News Digital that SJP is a national organization with local chapters and that while some of the group’s followers may be on college campuses, it also has supporters who are not college students and some who are not even U.S. citizens.

ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS GATHER AT UNC-CHAPEL HILL CHANCELLOR’S OFFICE AND SPRAY RED PAINT ON BUILDING

Anti-Israel protesters clash with police at UNC Chapel Hill on April 30, 2024. (Travis Long/News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

“They do an extraordinary job of presenting themselves as the voice of the Palestinians, when in fact they are the voice of Hamas,” Tsukerman said. “I think a lot of people follow them without really knowing them or their intentions… Also, people who follow SJP are lulled into believing that this is a genuine human rights initiative… these are people who are born activists, and not all of these people are even American citizens.”

Steve McGuire of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), a Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, told Fox News Digital that schools should take the rhetoric posted by SJP on social media “seriously” because they have a duty to “protect their campus communities.”

UNC STUDENT WHO DEFENDED U.S. FLAG FROM CAMPUS CROWD “FEELS HONORED TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE NATION”

UNC Chapel Hill students hold the American flag during a protest on campus on April 30, 2024. Anti-Israel agitators had replaced the American flag with the Palestinian flag during the demonstration. (Parker Ali/The Tar Heel Journal)

Similarly, he described the group as “anti-Western and anti-civilizational revolutionaries.”

“Their goals are political or ideological. Obviously they have to do with Gaza… They have been one of the organizations that has helped students organize and stage the various protests and encampments that we have seen on campuses across the country. Now… they say that we tolerate all forms of principled action, including armed rebellion. Well, another word for armed rebellion in this context is terrorism,” McGuire said.

UNC FRATERNITY BROTHERS DEFEND REINSTALLATION OF AMERICAN FLAG FROM CAMPUS MOB WHO REPLACED IT WITH PALESTINIAN FLAG

Steve McGuire of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni said UNC administrators should be prepared for protesters to set up camps and rallies in the fall as they did in the spring. (Makiya Seminera/Archive)

She added that administrators should be prepared for protesters to set up camps and demonstrations in the fall, as they did in the spring. On Tuesday, ACTA will release guidance for colleges to respond to campus encampments, in order to help universities prepare for a response.

“They see universities as an instrument they can use to try to advance their revolutionary cause.”

—Steve McGuire

“I think that’s one of the reasons why university leaders need to recognize that… while freedom of speech is something that needs to be protected in the United States, on the other hand, they have every right and responsibility to protect the rights of others, to ensure the safety of members of their university communities and also to protect the integrity of their institutions,” McGuire explained.

Tsukerman noted that social media misrepresents how many students actually follow the group’s support and activity among students.

Protesters leave red handprints on the Chancellor’s Building at UNC Chapel Hill on May 11, 2024. (The image is provided directly to Fox News Digital)

Tsukerman said the group’s members bring together those who align themselves with “generic radical left and anti-capitalist movements that have no specific agenda beyond opposing Western systems.” They use “21st-century media to amplify their voices” and share goals, which are “anti-Israeli, anti-capitalist and anti-democratic,” he added.

Chapel Hill made headlines in the spring when anti-Israel protesters replaced an American flag on the Chapel Hill quad with a Palestinian flag and UNC interim Chancellor Lee Roberts intervened with law enforcement officers to return the American flag.

POLICE ARREST AT LEAST 30 ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS AND CROWDS TRYING TO FORCEDLY ENTER BUILDINGS

About 1,000 anti-Israel protesters gather at the South Building after police dismantle a “Gaza solidarity camp” early on April 30, 2024 at UNC Chapel Hill. (Travis Long/News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

When the activists, some of whom were not affiliated with Chapel Hill, attempted to remove the flag a second time, a group of students, including fraternity brothers, intervened to prevent the flag from falling to the ground. A photo of the moment went viral on social media.

Last week, the UNC Board of Trustees approved Roberts as Chapel Hill’s 13th chancellor despite criticism he received for calling campus police to respond to protests and encampment in May.

EMORY UNIVERSITY POLICE ARREST CONVICTED FELONY WHO CROSSED STATE BORDERS TO JOIN ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS

UNC Chapel Hill students hold the American flag during a protest on campus on April 30, 2024. (Parker Ali/The Tar Heel Journal)

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“There is no greater calling than to support our mission every day,” Roberts said after being named chancellor, according to a news release. “To me, this University represents, above all else, the ideal of public service, to help the people of this state and all those touched by this place reach their full potential. As chancellor, I promise to be guided by that principle as we work together to lead North Carolina into the future.”

SJP’s Chapel Hill branch and the Southern Student Action Coalition, along with other progressive student groups, called Lee an “authoritarian” and a “general” after he was named chancellor.