SJP UChicago Plans Nakba Day Rally in Support of Iran and the “Axis of Resistance”
SJP UChicago’s Nakba Day rally backs Iran and the “Axis of Resistance,” following a prior event featuring former professor Sami Al-Arian, who pleaded guilty in a PIJ support case.
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Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Chicago, along with several other Chicago-based pro-Palestine groups, announced plans to host a “Nakba Day” rally on May 15 at 12:30 PM in the Central Quad in solidarity with Palestine, Iran and the “Axis of Resistance.”
The announcement marks a further embrace of Iran-aligned “resistance” rhetoric by a group that previously promoted Sami Al-Arian, former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiring to provide services to or for the benefit of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
Praising an Iran-Aligned Terror Network
The “Axis of Resistance” is Iran’s network of terror proxies whose members include multiple Foreign Terrorist Organizations. They include Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Ansarallah (the Houthis), all designated as terrorist organizations by the United States.
The Anti-Defamation League documented that in April 2024, National SJP and several chapters praised Iran’s missile-and-drone attack on Israel. At a conference co-sponsored by Chicago SJP that same month, Chicago-based PressTV writer Shabbir Rizvi taught attendees to chant “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” in Persian. Following Iran’s attack on Israel, he replied to then Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi: “God bless Iran and the heroes of the IRGC.”
Hosting Convicted Terror Operative
The organization’s embrace of the Axis of Resistance follows a documented pattern. In April 2024, SJP UChicago promoted an event featuring Sami Al-Arian.
In May 2025, Al-Arian was photographed at an Istanbul event alongside Majed al-Zeer, whom the U.S. Treasury designated in October 2024 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of Hamas.
The Center for Islam and Global Affairs, which Al-Arian directs at Istanbul Zaim University, has repeatedly hosted Hamas-affiliated individuals. On October 6, 2024, it held a conference featuring Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official designated as a terrorist by the U.S.
In a January 2025 video clip published by MEMRI, Al-Arian was translated as saying that “Al-Aqsa Flood” gave him “a lot of ideas and thoughts” and “the map of how this could be done.”
Pattern of Promoting Terror Leaders
The group previously promoted an International Week of Action for Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned general secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Sa’adat organized the August 2001 assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi and is currently serving a 30-year sentence. The promotional materials were produced by Samidoun, which the U.S. Treasury designated as a terrorist entity in October 2024 for functioning as a “sham charity” and international fundraising apparatus for the PFLP.
In May 2023, an SJP Chicago account that appears to be affiliated with SJP UChicago mourned the death of Khader Adnan, describing him as “martyred” after an 86-day hunger strike. The post praised Adnan as “a leader and symbol of Palestinian resistance,” omitting that Adnan was widely identified as a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad political figure or PIJ-affiliated spokesman.
Broader Ties to Terror-Linked Figures
In February 2015, SJP Chicago promoted a fundraising dinner to support Rasmea Odeh at the DePaul University Student Center.
Odeh, who was deported from the United States in 2017, had been convicted in Israel for her participation in two 1969 terrorist bombings, including placing bombs at a supermarket that killed two people, and for membership in the PFLP. Odeh unlawfully obtained U.S. citizenship by concealing her conviction and PFLP membership.
The group has also praised Basel al-Araj, who was killed in a 2017 shootout with Israeli forces. Israeli police said al-Araj headed a group planning attacks, collected weapons, opened fire during the raid, and was found with firearms at the scene.