An anti-Israel convention held in a Chicago suburb provided college students with strategies to make their campuses more “Palestinian.”
According to a report by the Free Press, the 17th Annual Convention for Palestine, hosted by American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), took place last week at the Tinley Park Convention Center. The event claimed to be the “largest gathering for Palestine in the US.”
The event featured a game called “Crisis Room,” designed to help students strategize against the presence of Israeli officials on campus. Jenin Alharithi, a University of Illinois graduate who led the session, posed the scenario: “A war criminal is coming to your campus. What are you going to do?” Attendees proposed organizing protests, recruiting demonstrators through the Telegram app, and partnering with groups like Jewish Voice for Peace to counter accusations of antisemitism.
“The first complaint is going to be ‘Oh, this is antisemitic,’ ” one participant suggested. “I think we need like a JVP, or something like that, with Jewish people. We want White people, Jewish students there.”
Another session at the convention taught college students how to “make your campus Palestinian” in order to “amplify the voices of Palestinian students.” Other sessions included training on media interactions, One session, titled “In Front of the Lens” taught students how to write press releases and answer “tricky questions” from journalists, such as if they “support terrorism” due to supporting the terrorist group Hamas.
“I would say, ‘No, I do not support terrorism,’ and then I would go over the things that Israel does—I would say, ‘I do not support the eviction of innocent Palestinians, I do not support the shooting of Palestinian children,'” a participant commented. “You don’t want them to put you on the defensive. You have to put them on the defensive.”
The Free Press noted that AMP, the event’s host, is currently under congressional investigation for alleged ties to Hamas. The convention also featured Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) executive director Nihad Awad, who previously made headlines for saying he was “happy” after Hamas’ attack of innocent Israeli civilians on October 7.
The convention comes as anti-Israel activism on college campuses has continued to be prominent. The protests over the last year have led to property damage, vandalism, and assaults on Jewish students. Some universities have even been forced to temporarily suspend in-person classes due to the unrest caused by these demonstrations.
