Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the LGBT Center at Tufts University are planning to host a screening on November 10 for a documentary that brandishes Israel as faking support for LGBT rights. This appalling film claims America’s greatest ally and the only democracy in the Middle East is weaponizing support for her LGBT community in order to gain acceptance from the international community. 

 

By spreading this disgusting claim among students, both groups are inflaiming the myth that Israel’s LGBT citizens are purely tokens for Israel’s government. In reality, anyone who has traveled to Israel understands it is the only country in the region where members of the LGBT community can live safely and pursue happiness in one of the most progressive nations on earth. To encourage students to attend an event that escalates this antisemitic trope about the only Jewish state further alienates Jewish students on campus while insulting Israel’s LGBT community. 

 

Unfortunately, this is far from the first time SJP has ignited controversy at Tufts University through the group’s radical, anti-Israel activism. Last year, the university’s president, provost and various deans denounced the group for blaming Israel for racism and police brutality in America, a stain that our nation has faced since long before the State of Israel ever existed. After falsely accusing Tufts University Police Department of receiving training in Israel, members of SJP further attacked Jewish students through attempting to exclude them from leadership.

 

Enough is enough. We must not allow SJP’s anti-Israel attacks to insult the LGBT community in one of the world’s most volatile regions while ostracizing Jewish students on campus. Take action now to urge Tufts LGBT Center to withdraw support for this screening while demanding the university’s leadership denounce this bigoted event.