SJP Chapter at U. Maryland Pushes Anti-Israel Vote on Yom Kippur

SJP Chapter at U. Maryland Pushes Anti-Israel Vote on Yom Kippur

This has happened before. Students for Justice in Palestine chooses these dates intentionally. It’s meant to offend.

Campus Reform reports:

University of Maryland SJP pushes anti-Israel vote on Yom Kippur

A planned vote on a controversial anti-Israel resolution at the University of Maryland, College Park is drawing criticism for its timing, which coincides with Yom Kippur, a major Jewish holiday.

Leo Terrell, chair of the U.S. Department of Justice’s task force on combating Jew-hatred, accused the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) of scheduling votes during Jewish holy days, such as Yom Kippur, according to an X post.

“This is shameful and unacceptable,” Terrell wrote, noting that the resolution was first slated for Rosh Hashanah and later moved to Oct. 1, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism.

SJP has urged students to attend the meeting, where the resolution calls for ending ties with organizations connected to Israel.

University officials said the date was chosen based on bylaws and academic deadlines, adding that proxy voting is allowed. “While the new date coincides with Yom Kippur, legislators will have the option to vote by proxy,” a university spokesperson told Jewish News Syndicate.

“DIVESTUMD IS BACK,” SJP posted to Instagram on Sept. 23. The group said that although a divestment referendum passed last spring, “UMD has ignored our calls to divest.”

To push the effort forward, it announced a new Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) bill, declaring, “we will not rest until UMD divests.” SJP urged students to attend committee meetings on Sept. 29 and 30 and the final hearing Oct. 1, calling the next two weeks “CRUCIAL” and “mandatory attendance.”

The post concluded: “UMD students will not be complicit in war crimes.”

Just learned a Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) vote at @UofMaryland was first set for Rosh Hashanah and now moved to Yom Kippur. Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) appears to be intentionally picking the holiest days of the year for Jews in order to force them to choose…

— Leo Terrell (@LeoTerrellDOJ) September 26, 2025

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