Recent events prompt tensions between Israel, Palestine supporters at Chapman

Chapman’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) held an event on April 12 with TikTok influencer Maya Abdallah in attendance, which prompted outcry from supporters of Israel in regard to their safety on campus. Photo collage by EMILY PARIS, Photo Editor

An April 12 speaker event hosted by Chapman’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has recently contributed to the rise in political activism seen across campus over the past few weeks.

The event featured actress and TikTok influencer Maya Abdallah, who SJP chose as a speaker since she is a “big Palestinian advocate,” according to Myth Moos, a junior philosophy and psychology double major who is on the executive board of SJP.

“We had reached out to invite (Abdallah) to speak on campus because she’s a big Palestinian advocate, especially on TikTok,” Moos told The Panther. “She’s very outspoken on the topic, so we thought she’d be a great speaker to come to campus, and she had just spoken at Fullerton earlier this month.”

In an email sent to Chapman Jewish student organizations that was later shared in a Students Supporting Israel (SSI) Instagram post, President Daniele Struppa and Dean of Students Jerry Price stated that they had received “many emails and calls” expressing concerns about Abdallah.

“We understand your concerns about the troublesome statements this speaker has made in other forums, including antisemitic tropes, a denialism of Jewish history in the Middle East and of the atrocities on Oct. 7,” Struppa and Price wrote in an email sent to Chapman Jewish student organizations.

Struppa and Price continued: “It goes without saying that the speaker is not being hosted by the University; student organizations are hosting the speaker. Furthermore, this person only speaks for herself, certainly not Chapman or our student body. While we were not involved in the selection of the speaker, please rest assured that we have a thoughtful, comprehensive safety and security plan to ensure that the event proceeds without incident.”

SSI president Eli Schechter spoke with The Panther about the reactions that Jewish students had to Abdallah and her TikTok account.

“(Abdallah) says a quote (referring to Hamas), ‘Our freedom fighters that America has just coined as terrorists,’” said Schechter. “And that’s just really offensive to a lot of the Jewish students here. They have family in Israel, and they know people who were killed in the terrorist attacks.”

Schechter also told The Panther about concerns that the club received from members of the Chapman community regarding the event. 

“There were a lot of teachers, community members, parents (and) non-Jewish people who were equally outraged,” said Schechter. “The school doesn’t filter any speaker on their speech. If they did have any sort of filter, they probably would have not let this person speak.”

The night of the event, Chapman’s Public Safety team sent out an email to the Chapman community, informing them that the team “received many questions” about the speaker.

“Some in our community have expressed that they feel adversely affected by the upcoming event and fear for their safety,” the team wrote. “The safety and security of our campus community is the university’s top priority. It is imperative to know that nobody is required to attend this event, and the location is provided so that the area may be avoided.”

Despite heightened security and a “counter-programming space” for counter-protestors, the speaker proceeded without significant disruptions. About 70 people attended, according to Moos.

Moos also told The Panther that Price did not reach out to the SJP board about canceling the event. However, SJP did meet with Chapman’s Public Safety team prior to the April 12 event to go over safety protocol.

“I was aware that Public Safety would be there. I had met with them beforehand,” Moos said. “To talk about their presence, I don’t think we were expecting that many Public Safety officers as there were, but we were aware that we would have their presence, and that’s just part of having things happen at Chapman, especially something about topics like this.”

On the day of the event, Chapman SSI published a joint Instagram statement in collaboration with Sababa Sisters and Jews in School, criticizing the university’s decision to allow the event, claiming it compromised the safety and well-being of Jewish students.

“There can be no ‘genuine commitment’ to your Jewish students when you allow this hate speech on your campus,” the caption of the statement read. “Your inaction is, quite literally, the opposite of genuine commitment. It is abandonment, and you are complicit in promoting the dangerous and libelous tropes encouraged by this speaker. Your hypocrisy is unsettling. As Shabbos approaches, you have put the safety and well-being of your Jewish community at risk. Your university is NOT safe for Jews.”

According to its Instagram, SSI had tried to get the event canceled but was unable to do so due to the university’s Statement on Free Speech. 

According to the statement, the university is committed to ensuring that all members of the campus community are given the “broadest possible latitude” to learn, speak, listen, write and challenge various points of view. The university also pushes for thoughtful debate and deliberation among the campus community as an “essential part of the University’s educational mission.”

“In a word, the University’s fundamental commitment is to the principle that debate or deliberation may not be suppressed because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even by most members of the University community to be offensive, unwise, immoral or wrong-headed,” the statement wrote. “It is for the individual members of the University community, not for the University as an institution, to make those judgments for themselves and to act on those judgments not by seeking to suppress speech, but by openly and vigorously contesting the ideas that they oppose.”

Schechter spoke more on the reactions that Jewish students had to Abdallah’s speech. 

“(Abdallah) says a quote (referring to Hamas), ‘Our freedom fighters that America has just coined as terrorists,’” said Schechter. “And that’s just really offensive to a lot of the Jewish students here. They have family in Israel, and they know people who were killed in the terrorist attacks.”

SJP also published a separate statement on its Instagram responding to recent events both on campus and around the U.S., including their recent speaker event.

“(SJP) at Chapman University is disappointed, angered, but not surprised by the University’s abhorrent and racist reaction to our guest speaker,” the statement read. “It is not only wrong, uninformed and ignorant, but it furthers Chapman University’s clear bias towards the aggressive Zionist groups who continue to harass, stalk, threaten and immaturely attempt to provoke us regularly.”

A week after the speaker event, SJP also published a statement on its Instagram on April 15, calling for “a complete and total divestment from all weapon manufacturers and institutions that aid in the occupation of Palestine.” The three companies SJP called for the university to divest from, among other companies, were Aruba Networks, Lockheed Martin and the Boeing Company. The organization also has a divestment petition that has acquired 806 signatures as of May 1.

Additionally, a few days later, SJP began holding weekly all-day walkouts starting April 18. There was a second walkout that took place on April 24 and a third one on May 1. According to Moos, these walkouts will continue until the end of the semester.

In regards to the walkouts and the various protests happening across the country at other college campuses, SSI published a statement on Instagram on April 25 expressing their thoughts on the current situation.

“The protests are inappropriate, disruptive and antisemitic,” the caption of the statement read. “We hope Chapman will learn from this and never let it happen again. We hope America will remember the countless calls, emails and letters written by Jewish students to their universities about the severe anxiety and fear these protests have caused.

SSI also recently announced in an Instagram post that the organization will be hosting Israeli Defense Force soldiers on May 2 at 5 p.m. in Chapman’s Irvine Lecture Hall. The event will allow students who attend the “opportunity to meet the IDF heroes behind the safety of Israel, hear their stories, ask questions and learn from first-hand experiences.”

Renee Elefante contributed to this report.