Activist groups have been training pro-Palestine students for months before campus protests

Left-wing groups and veteran demonstrators offered guidance and support before pro-Palestinian camps emerged, report The Wall Street Journal.

The recent wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses came out of nowhere and shocked people around the world. But the political tactics behind some of the demonstrations were the result of months of preparation, planning and encouragement from veteran activists and left-wing groups, the US journalists write.

At Columbia University, in the weeks and months before police broke up encampments on the New York campus and removed demonstrators occupying an academic building, student organizers began consulting with groups such as the National Students for Justice in Palestine Justice in Palestine), with veterans of campus protests and former Black Panthers.

They researched past protests over Columbia’s expansion in Harlem, went to a community meeting on wealth and development, and studied parallels with the land struggle between Palestinians and Israelis. They attended a teach-in organized by several former Black Panthers, who spoke to them about the importance of managing internal disputes within their movement.

“We took notes from our veterans, engaged in dialogue with them, and analyzed how the university responded to previous protests,” said Sueda Polat, a graduate student and organizer in the pro-Palestinian camp.

Although there is no centralized command overseeing the student movement opposing Israel’s invasion of Gaza, there are links between long-standing far-left groups and the protesters.

National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), or NSJP, has been around for about two decades and has more than 300 affiliates in the US, many of which have helped organize college camps and occupy buildings.

For months, NSJP has called on students to strongly oppose colleges until they divest from investments in entities that do business with Israel. His social media pages have become a scroll of encouragement for student protesters, with videos showing activity in the camps and around the world. Since October, the NSJP has been promoting a “day of resistance” with demonstrations at colleges.

Over time, the messages of the national group became more pointed. “The student movement for the liberation of Palestine will not be silenced; we will escalate until our demands are met,” NSJP posted on social media on April 25.

The same day on X, the group posted cartoons with “friendly advice” for student protesters. One suggested they wear comfortable clothes and running shoes and bring water, an energy bar and a bandana. Another referred to the police as “pigs”.

NSJP did not respond to emails seeking comment.

For the past decade, donations to the NSJP have been received and administered by the Wespac Foundation, according to Howard Horowitz, chairman of Wespac’s board of directors. Donations are being sent to NSJP “for projects in the United States,” he said, declining to provide further details.

Wespac, a nonprofit based in Westchester County near New York, is decades old, according to its website. He has supported humanitarian causes as well as organizations that propagate anti-Semitism, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Wespac took to social media to support pro-Palestinian protests and posted videos of protesters holding signs referring to President Biden as “Genocide Joe.”

Robert Herbst, a representative of Wespac, said: “Wespac did not coordinate, train or strategize with protest participants, nor do we support organizations that have supported violence, anti-Semitism or terrorism.”

In March, a “Resistance 101” training was scheduled in Columbia with guest speakers including longtime activists from Samidoun: The Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based group that celebrated the Hamas attack of October 7 on Israel. The administration has twice banned the event, citing the known support of some of the organizers for terrorism and the promotion of violence. However, Columbia students virtually hosted the event, prompting Columbia President Minouche Shafik to suspend several of them.