Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) says openly it is for the "liberation of Palestine," and does not even try to disguise the fact that this is "from the river to the sea," i.e., the eradication of Israel even as defined by its 1948 borders.

Here are its own words; "We affirm that Palestine will be liberated in its totality, from the river to the sea." The pro-Israel camp must use SJP's status as a credibly alleged anti-Semitic hate group that also venerates a cop killer and a terrorist to discredit it proactively.

We will begin with objective evidence of these statements, and go on to discuss psychological warfare principles with which to put this evidence to work.

Evidence that SJP is an Anti-Semitic Hate Group

The following is from testimony to Congress about white nationalists, white supremacists, and other hate groups.

"…it is common for SJP demonstrators calling for Israel's elimination, screaming 'Jews out [Juden raus!] of their campuses.' 'Jews are racist sons of bitches.' '…When we take control of this campus, we are going to kick you out and make sure you don't graduate.' 'Get out of America.' 'Long live the intifada.'"

That's Jews, not Zionists, and note also the threat to "take control of the campus."

 "Last week at Columbia University, the antisemitic hate group, SJP, distributed a flyer for its apartheid week with a caricature of a Jew that looks like it came from the Nazi's propagandist tabloid, Der Sturmer. The Amcha Initiative data of almost 2,600 incidents confirms SJP and its allies are the perpetrators in most incidents on U.S. campuses."

This leads to questions as to what SJP is doing on U.S. campuses at all. Who let the international students involved into the United States in the first place, and what lawful and nonviolent actions can be taken to get them out? 

Here is a video of SJP in action.

These individuals obviously have no place in any civilized country. Their university slots would be better utilized by Hong Kong Chinese, Ukrainians, and especially women from Iran and Afghanistan who respect our nation's values and would make excellent citizens.

SJP Venerates a Cop Killer and a Terrorist

Here is SJP's official site venerating Assata Shakur, a.k.a., Joanne Chesimard, who is on the FBI's Most Wanted List for murdering a New Jersey State Trooper.

"Last week, Dr. Hill joined the ranks of Malcolm X, Paul Robeson, Muhammad Ali, Kwame Ture, George Jackson, Huey P. Newton, Assata Shakur, Angela Davis, and other leading Black internationalists throughout history that strove for freedom and justice, but were silenced and demonized."

SJP goes even further by equating the nonviolent Black people on the list to a convicted cop killer and domestic terrorist. Black Lives Matter, which also denies the right of Israel to exist, refers to cop killer Chesimard as "Mama Assata."

The ADL states that the Cornell chapter of SJP displayed the logo of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) which is a foreign terrorist organization. The ADL adds that DePaul University's SJP chapter held a fundraiser for PFLP terrorist Rasmea Odeh who was convicted of murdering two Jews with a bomb and trying to kill emergency responders with a second bomb.

As Israel is the only country in the Middle East with equal rights for people of all religions, women, and LGBT people, then anybody who supports a boycott of Israel or calls for Israel's elimination as SJP has done, can be reasonably construed as supporting discrimination and even violence against Christians, peaceful Muslims, women, and LGBT people. The charter of Hamas calls not only for genocide of Jews but also apartheid treatment of Christians who must pay the jizya, or dhimmi tax.

Is SJP on Qatar's Payroll?

"Unreported Foreign Donations to Universities Foment Anti-Semitism" adds: 

"ISGAP's research identified a direct correlation between the funding of universities by Qatar and the Gulf States and the active presence at those universities of groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which foster an aggressive anti-Semitic atmosphere on campus."

While this does not prove SJP is directly on Qatar's payroll, the facts as known suggest it could be.

Now let's see how this information should apply to advocacy for Israel.

Propaganda is Almost Exclusively an Offensive Weapon

Israel and its advocates make the natural but also terrible mistake of seeking to defend Israel from the enemy's propaganda. Colonel Paul Linebarger's Psychological Warfare states, and the emphasis is mine, "Getting and keeping attention is one of its major missions, and psychological warfare which starts by fixing attention on the enemy presentation is doomed from the start. …Therefore, propaganda does not meet propaganda. Combat forces meet; Psychological Warfare forces pass one another in opposite directions." We must therefore attack SJP proactively for blatant anti-Semitism, veneration of a convicted cop killer, and credibly alleged influence from foreign governments.  

There is a strong analogy here to effective use of horse cavalry as depicted by then-Lieutenant George S. Patton, Jr. "The saber is solely a weapon of offense and is used in conjunction with the other offensive weapon, the horse. …No direct parries are taught, because at the completion of a parry the enemy is already beyond reach of an attack. The surest parry is a disabled opponent."

Consider the simple physics of a fight between mounted swordsmen who attack one another from opposite directions, at a closing speed that can exceed forty miles an hour. The one trained by Patton extends his saber in front of him with the intention of running his opponent through. If the opponent parries, the horses' relative motion will carry the first beyond reach of retaliation whereupon he does the same thing to the next enemy he meets. Opposing propaganda messages similarly pass one another in opposite directions and cannot even be parried. The only sure defense is to destroy the enemy's credibility whereupon his propaganda becomes meaningless. Jonathan Swift (author of Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal) stated the same principle roughly four hundred years ago, emphasis is mine:

"Besides, as the vilest Writer has his Readers, so the greatest Liar has his Believers; and it often happens, that if a Lie be believ'd only for an Hour, it has done its Work, and there is no farther occasion for it. Falsehood flies , and the Truth comes limping after it; so that when Men come to be undeceiv'd, it is too late; the Jest is over, and the Tale has had its Effect."

Israel Must Always be the Complainant

The first party to call the police after a violent confrontation becomes the complainant and is presumed to be the victim. The pro-Israel side must accordingly be the complainant in all controversies in which the IDF must use violence. If for example a Palestinian civilian dies in a crossfire or from an attack on a Qassam launcher, our side must, even before the enemy says one word, publicly accuse the responsible terrorists of the felony murder of the civilian in question. Felony murder can indeed happen if criminal X shoots at victim Y, who returns fire and kills bystander Z by accident. X and not Y is guilty of the felony murder of Z. "But for Hamas' use of this person as a human shield, or its initiation of a firefight with the IDF, he or she would still be alive."

The pro-Israel camp currently makes the mistake of, as Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke put it, "awaiting the law of the opponent," or conceding the initiative to the enemy. Offensive doctrine requires our side to choose the music and make the enemy dance to our tune instead of dancing to his, and that dance will not last long if we do it properly.

Civis Americanus is the pen name of a contributor who remembers the lessons of history, and wants to ensure that our country never needs to learn those lessons again the hard way. He or she is remaining anonymous due to the likely prospect of being subjected to "cancel culture" for exposing the Big Lie behind Black Lives Matter.

Image: Quinn Dombrowski, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0