RUSA Leader Targeted by Large Outside Zionist Hate Group for Proper Administration of Rutgers Referendum for Israel Divestment
March 15, 2024
Endowment Justice Collective Statement in support of Jack Ramirez, President of the Rutgers University Student Assembly, presently facing a targeted harassment intimidation campaign from an external organization named ‘Israel War Room’ in an attempt to undermine the democratic process of the student assembly.
Since Friday, Jack Ramirez, the President of the Rutgers University Student Assembly (RUSA), has been the subject of a targeted harassment and intimidation campaign organized by an external Zionist organization named ‘Israel War Room.’ This organization has directed its massive following to harass Ramirez by his Rutgers email address, in an effort to intimidate him into vetoing RUSA’s unanimous passing of a referendum allowing students to voice their opinion on the Rutgers endowment fund’s investments in human rights violations committed by the Israeli government. We, the Endowment Justice Collective, extend our full solidarity to President Jack Ramirez and voice our dissent over this egregious attempt to harm and endanger our fellow student.
The referendum, which passed unanimously on March 7th, poses the following two questions to New Brunswick undergraduates:
1: “Should Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, divest its endowment fund from companies and organizations that profit from, engage in, or contribute to the government of Israel’s human rights violations?”
2: “Should Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey terminate its partnership with Tel Aviv University, including in the New Jersey Innovation and Technology Hub?”
It is expected to go before the student body in the upcoming spring election from March 25th to 29th. In response, Israel War Room has launched a harassment and intimidation campaign targeting Ramirez, pressuring him to veto the decision. This campaign seeks to infringe on the democratic process of the Rutgers University Student Assembly, thus thwarting the will of the student body, who are extremely concerned with the issue of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people. Furthermore, Israel War Room is not affiliated with Rutgers University, and whether the organization is even based in the United States or North America is unclear. That an outside organization, with no connection whatsoever to the University, is seeking to influence campus policy speaks to the importance of this issue and the threat rightfully felt by supporters of Israel’s genocide — Rutgers University students are a morally sound body that will not allow this to stand.
Included in Israel War Room’s campaign as well are Islamophobic stereotypes relying on tropes of Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim students in support of the referendum as “terrorists” and “radical extremists.” It also explicitly denies the ongoing genocide and apartheid system in Palestine, despite numerous international non-governmental organizations affirming it. As students engaged in efforts toward justice, we fully condemn this bigotry and recognize it as an attempt to encourage harassment against Ramirez by stoking Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism.
This harassment campaign further exposes the Rutgers University administration’s inability to maintain student safety. The administration has not addressed the harassment Ramirez is facing, and we cannot expect that it will, when so much of its efforts this year have been to directly harm students advocating for justice. The Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at Rutgers– New Brunswick, for example, was recently suspended by the administration with no just cause — and then reinstated within weeks due to campus mobilization.
We, the students, know that this injustice will not —can not— stand. In less than a week, more than 700 hundred of us have signed the Endowment Justice Collective’s petition urging Rutgers University to divest from Israeli human rights violations, and even more will vote yes on the upcoming referendum. It is deeply upsetting, however, that justice comes at the cost of our personal safety. At this time, we extend our full solidarity and support to President Jack Ramirez, and condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the harassment he is currently facing.
Link Tree for EJC: https://linktr.ee/EJC
The following connects you to some of the organizers and provides a slide show presentation on this situation from Instagram:
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