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Grassley, Ernst seek probe of pro-Palestinian student group
Both of Iowa’s U.S. Senators have signed onto a letter asking federal agents to investigate whether pro-Palestinian groups on college campuses are linked to Hamas.
Senator Chuck Grassley said he’s concerned Hamas is using “Students for Justice in Palestine” chapters to shape U.S. public opinion. If that’s the case, Grassley said those student groups should be registered as foreign agents.
“We ought to know who’s working for foreign countries as they try to influence foreign policy in this country,” Grassley said in September during a Senate senate about the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
On Thursday, Senator Joni Ernst said student groups can sometimes get federal funding or tax-exempt status and, if Hamas is funding National Students for Justice in Palestine chapters, those federal benefits should be cut off. “If they are engaging in violent protests, if they are encouraging violent protests, then funding needs to be cut off or they need to re-register,” Ernst told reporters after an event in West Des Moines. “We want to make sure that they are following federal government guidelines.”
Over the past year, other members of Congress and dozens of Americans whose loved ones were killed in the October 7th attacks in Israel have called on the U-S attorney general to investigate Students for Justice in Palestine. In a statement to “Jewish Currents” magazine last year, Students of Justice in Palestine said their critics are trying to shift attention away from Israel’s atrocities in Gaza.
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