(Sam Douglas / Fourth Estate)

Independent organization Palestine Legal sends letter on behalf of Students for Justice in Palestine

BY SAM DOUGLAS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Palestine Legal and Mason’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine issued a statement and sent a letter to Mason on Oct. 29 threatening to sue Mason over the university’s previous demand toward SJP to remove a video posted to their Instagram account on Aug. 24.

“We demand the University take immediate corrective action to remedy the constitutional violation that occurred when GM’s Office of Access, Compliance, and Community (ACC) compelled SJP to remove a video from its Instagram page, selectively applying the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism,” Palestine Legal said in a letter addressed to Anne Gentry, Mason’s University Counsel and senior assistant attorney general.

The video in question was posted on Aug. 24 to the “SJP at Mason” Instagram page. A transcript of the two minute long video can be found in the letter Palestine Legal sent to Mason.

In an analysis by the Office of Access, Compliance, and Community sent to SJP on Sept. 5, Mason referred to the usage of phrases “genocidal Zionist state of Israel,” “belly of the beast,” “Turtle Island” and “full liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea,” as violations of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.

The Office of Access, Compliance, and Community described the phrase “belly of the beast” as a “phrase used as a metaphor for western countries, especially the United States and United Kingdom, which implies that Jews/Israel have geopolitical power over these countries.”

They further described “Turtle Island” as falling under an IHRA example of antisemitism for “accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.” 

Mason said Turtle Island is a name for North America that has been used by Indigenous peoples that is a “phrase used to describe the historic description of North and South America as colonizers.”

“Full liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea,” was described by Mason as calling “for the eradication of Jews in Israel and [denying] individuals a right to self-determination by advocating for the elimination of the Israeli state.”

“We’ve been monitoring the [IHRA] definition for several years now as more and more universities are adopting it, and this is the clearest example we’ve seen to date of that definition being used to censor speech about Palestine,” said Tori Porell, senior staff attorney at Palestine Legal.

The IHRA’s working definition and examples of antisemitism were added to University Policy Number 1201 in Aug. of 2024. 

In Feb. 2025, the Board of Visitors passed a resolution that directed Mason to “refrain from sponsoring or endorsing any organization, event, or other activity whose position or posture is anti-semitic under the IHRA definition.” 

“A recently-posted Instagram video from Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) that has raised safety fears and alarm among members of the university community was taken down by SJP on September 2 at the university’s insistence, citing its non-discrimination policy,” Mason said in a statement released on Sept. 8.

Palestine Legal argues that the removal of the video is a violation of SJP’s right to free speech.

“That demand for them to take down the video was illegal because Mason is a public school and all of the speech in that video is protected by the First Amendment, and it is just unlawful for a school to demand students rescind First Amendment-protected speech,” Porell, the attorney, said in an interview with Fourth Estate.

She described Palestine Legal as a civil rights organization “defending the rights of students, academics and anyone who is speaking out in support of Palestine and facing repression for that speech.”

Palestine Legal demanded that Mason allow SJP to repost the video to their social media by 5 p.m. on Oct. 31, issue an apology to SJP with assurance that SJP “will not face such illegal censorship in the future,” and repeal the IHRA definition and examples of antisemitism.

“George Mason must take corrective action to restore the rights of its students, and repeal the IHRA definition — or we will see them in court,” Porell said in Palestine Legal’s statement.

Mason’s Office of University Counsel declined a request for comment.