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Hamas Supporters Rally at Al-Quds University

Months after Brandeis University cut ties with the school over a similar protest

by
Hannah Dreyfus
March 25, 2014
Hamas rally at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. (Facebook)
Hamas rally at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. (Facebook)

Hamas supporters organized a rally at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem on Sunday, the Times of Israel reports. Members of the Islamic Bloc of Al-Quds University, a student organization associated with Hamas, wore black face masks and carried green banners and cardboard replicas of missiles like the ones recently launched from Gaza into Israel.

According to the group’s Facebook page, the rally was titled “Alerting the loyal–on the path of the great leaders” and was organized to commemorate Hamas leaders killed by Israel.

A similar demonstration four months ago led to academic sanctions against the university. On November 5, 2013, members of the same student group dawned black military gear and fake automatic weapons and marched through the campus giving Nazi salutes. Following the incident, Brandeis University suspended its longtime partnership with the university. Al-Quds president Sari Nusseibeh issued a statement at the time, saying, “Without these ideologies, there would not have been the massacre of the Jewish people in Europe; without the massacre, there would not have been the enduring Palestinian catastrophe.”

It was rumored earlier this year that Brandeis was considering reestablishing their partnership with Al-Quds, which they established in 1998, and students at the Jerusalem university also reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with the university’s continued tolerance of the campus rallies. That prospect seems less likely after Sunday’s rally.

Hannah Dreyfus is an editorial intern at Tablet.