(JTA) — A dozen pro-Israel groups issued a joint statement deploring the attack on a Jewish student at Temple University and asking for the monitoring of a pro-Palestinian campus organization.
In their statement released Friday, the groups urged universities to monitor Students for Justice in Palestine and other like-minded groups.
Among the 12 organizations that signed on to the statement were StandWithUs, the Zionist Organization of America and the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting, or CAMERA.
The groups condemned the incident at the Philadelphia university in which Daniel Vessal, a fellow with CAMERA, was struck in the face on Wednesday by someone at an SJP informational booth. Students at the booth, set up at a campus fair, also allegedly shouted anti-Semitic slurs at Vessal.
Students for Justice in Palestine, the groups said, “has a proven track record of intimidation, harassment, and incitement merging into anti-Semitism against Israel and its supporters on campus.”
The statement also called on Temple to condemn the attack; the university had issued such a statement the previous day.
SJP issued a statement condemning the attack while denying the assailant was a member of the organization or that any anti-Semitic slurs were used.
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