US university bans Palestinian student group

Brandeis University, a private school outside Boston in the US, has banned a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) as the war in Gaza reverberates across American campuses.

The university notified the student group that it will no longer recognise the organisation “because it openly supports Hamas, which the United States has designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation”.

The SJP chapter had planned to hold a vigil on campus to mourn the thousands of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. After the ban was announced, the vigil was cancelled.

SJP is an active campus-based group for Palestinians and pro-Palestine students. The organisation has 200 chapters at US universities across the country, according to its website.