An anti-Israel student group on Yale Law School’s campus, Students for Justice in Palestine, is calling on the school’s administration to rescind a speaking invitation that was extended to an Israeli Defense Forces soldier. The group says that the presence of the soldier would make them feel “unsafe” and “unwelcome.” 

“We are shocked and dismayed at the platforming of an IDF combatant, particularly in light of Israel’s ongoing atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza,” Yale Law School’s Students for Justice in Palestine write on Instagram. “The death toll of Palestinian civilians has surpassed 27,000. Eighty percent of all the people facing catastrophic hunger or famine worldwide are in Gaza. Israel has displaced 1.9 million people.”

“Given these circumstances, we strongly condemn the invitation of a combatant who has participated in actions that the ICJ has found could plausibly constitute violations of the Genocide Convention,” the group continues. 

Students for Justice in Palestine’s statement was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon. 

The soldier in question, Ezra Grushko, was invited by Professor Yair Listokin and the student group Law Students for Israel. Mr. Grushko is still scheduled to appear on campus on Monday evening at the event entitled, “An Insider’s Perspective on the Israel–Hamas War.”

“The platforming of an IDF combatant recently returned from Israel’s atrocities in Gaza makes many of us — especially Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, Black, and brown students — feel physically and psychologically unsafe and unwelcome in our own school,” the student group writes in its social media post. “We implore the administration to take seriously the implications of this militarization of campus.”

Colleges and universities across the country have begun banning their respective Students for Justice in Palestine chapters due to anti-semitic statements that have been made since October 7. 

Brandeis University’s president, Ronald Liebowitz, became the first president to ban Students for Justice in Palestine from his campus. On November 6 of last year, Mr. Liebowitz explained his decision to ban the organization, saying that “chants and social media posts calling for violence against Jews or the annihilation of the state of Israel must not be tolerated.”

Columbia University became the second school to suspend the group just four days after Brandeis. George Washington University suspended their Students for Justice in Palestine chapter just days after the group projected the saying “Glory To Our Martyrs” on the side of a university building. 

“The university determined that SJP’s actions violated university policies, including the Gelman Building Use Guidelines and the university’s policy against non-compliance, as SJP initially refused to comply with university officials’ directives to end the projections,” the school’s administration said in a statement announcing the suspension. “As a result, effective immediately, the university has prohibited SJP from participating in activities on campus.”