Shed a Tear for Virginia’s Poor, Persecuted Antisemites
by James A. Bacon
George Mason University has issued No Trespass Orders against two leaders of the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organization, Jena and Noor Chanaa. In writing about the inevitable controversy, The Washington Post led with the angle that faculty, staff, students, and advocacy groups are accusing the university police of acting improperly in banning the two women and also in searching their family’s home.
Only by the fourth paragraph does the Post get around to noting that, oh, by the way, here’s what police found in the Chanaa home: four guns, 20 magazines with 30 bullets each, Hamas and Hezbollah flags, and arm patches in Arabic which, when translated, read “Kill them where they stand,” and patches that call for “death to Jews and America.”
The discovery of an arms cache hasn’t stopped self-styled defenders of Muslim rights from bestowing victimhood upon the sisters — see this open letter — and it hasn’t stopped the WaPo from using their claims to distract from news of armed pro-Palestinian militants in Northern Virginia.
“This case reeks of racial and religious profiling,” said Abdel-Rahman Hamed, the family’s attorney, in a statement. “The items found were part of a historical collection, not evidence of any threat. … This is yet another example of the police state targeting American Muslims without cause.”
No charges were filed, presumably because it’s not a crime to own firearms or to read literature calling for violence. Moreover, the materials are said to belong to the sisters’ father and brother. Why, then, did GMU issue a No Trespass Order against the Chanaa women?
Here’s some added context provided by The Washington Free Beacon:
A group of student radicals defaced George Mason’s student center in August, spray painting messages that warned of a “student intifada.” …
Those activists caused thousands of dollars in damage, a felony in the state of Virginia, and police suspect the SJP leaders, sisters Jena and Noor Chanaa, led the group of vandals. Weeks after the incident, in November, a county judge granted a warrant—which is under seal until February, according to a Fairfax County court representative—allowing police to seize electronics from the Chanaa family home. …
Under Jena and Noor’s leadership, George Mason’s chapter of SJP has endorsed Hamas and its “martyrs.” In a statement issued two days after the Oct. 7 attack, the group lauded the “liberation of the Palestinian people” and endorsed “the right to resist for Palestinians living under the zionist occupation.” It said “Palestinian resistance fighters” mobilized “into surrounding occupied areas” on Oct. 7, “reclaiming land and settlements considered illegal” in the name of “decolonization.”
“Decolonization entails the struggle for liberation of a colonized people from the grasp of their colonizers,” the statement read. “This struggle for the much-sought after liberation from the colonizer is not meant to be metaphysical—but material.”
“Every Palestinian is a civilian even if they hold arms. A settler is an aggressor, a soldier, and an occupier even if they are lounging on our occupied beaches.”
Did the GMU police engage in “racial and religious profiling?” A better case can be made that police “profiled” the students based upon their violent rhetoric and illegal actions. Police are in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation. Imagine the uproar if they had ignored the red flags and then violence had occurred. Only two years ago University of Virginia officials failed to act upon multiple warning signs of that a student, Christopher Jones, was stashing guns and ammo in his dormitory room. UVA officialdom failed to act, and Jones shot five fellow students, killing three.
University police also have to consider that antisemitism is a growing problem — especially on college campuses. While Students for Justice in Palestine insist that they’re anti-Zionist (opposed to the state of Israel), not antisemitic (hostile to Jews generally), so-called anti-Zionists often lash out against Jews that happen to cross their path.
Last month in Charlottesville a Jewish student at the University of Virginia, claimed that he had been bullied by a roommate after an argument over the hosting of a party at their house. The Jewish student accused another student, Robert Romer, of making antisemitic remarks on social media, blocking his movements in an intimidating manner, and on one occasion entering his room and clutching a pistol. “At approximately 12:30, I am going to free Palestine,” Romer allegedly texted roommates. “Anyone is welcome to join in the beating.”
Romer’s family has issued a statement disputing the claims.
According to the Jewish student’s father, another roommate, a Pakistani by origin, purchased the gun.
I have seen no evidence to suggest that Romer or his roommates had any connection to the UVA chapter of the Students for Justice in Palestine. But it’s a good bet that they’ve been soaking up the anti-Israeli rhetoric that is widespread at UVA, and it appears that they took no pains to distinguish between “Zionists” and “Jews.”
My understanding is that UVA administrators responded promptly to the incident and placed two students on suspension. Remarkably, however, university leadership, which was outspoken in its public outcry over incidents perceived to be biased against Black students (and later proven not to be so), has issued no public statement in connection with antisemitism in the student body.
Antisemitism is hardly a monopoly of the left. Memories are still fresh of the white supremacists’ chants of “Jews will not replace us” in the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. The difference was that the Klansman and neo-Nazis were roundly condemned by all segments of Virginia society. No one stood with the white supremacists. Today, most people say antisemitism is bad, but some are ambivalent about applying that standard too rigorously. As members of “oppressed” classes, Palestinians and Muslims get special dispensation.
As Virginia residents, Noor sisters are entitled to due process, the right to defend themselves, and the right to appeal. I hope they feel a surge of gratitude for living in the United States. They should bear in mind what Hamas-style justice looks like. According to Wikipedia, 77 crimes are punishable by the death penalty under Palestinian law. Between 1994 and 2022, approximately 230 death sentences have been issued in Gaza and some 40 executions were carried out. Says Wikipedia: “Many of the executions have been described as extrajudicial killings to an incomplete or unaccountable court procedures.”
Just sayin’.
