George Washington University recently suspended its chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace for violating university policies in late April, prompting the organization to disaffiliate from GW.
JVP GW entered into disciplinary proceedings this summer after university officials received reports in April alleging instances of misconduct. GW’s Conflict Education and Student Accessibility decided that JVP violated policies by holding an on-campus event without approval from an advisor and publishing a social media post that “created a hostile environment” for Jewish students, according to The Hatchet, GW’s student newspaper.
As a result, the organization is suspended through May 2026. This move comes more than a year after GW officials suspended JVP through fall 2024 and placed it on probation through spring 2025 for its involvement in the pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.
A spokesperson for GW told Washington Jewish Week that JVP “created a hostile environment that targeted Jewish identity, a protected characteristic” under Title VI, in an April 22 social media post.
On April 22, JVP GW published an Instagram post condemning the university’s approval for a number of Jewish campus organizations to host Israel Fest, which JVP called an “egregious display normalizing the ongoing ethnic cleansing and colonization of the Palestinian people.”
Israel Fest 2025 was hosted by GW for Israel, Hillel, Chabad, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Tamid and StandWithUs.
“Jewish students and institutions at GWU celebrate horrific genocide,” JVP GW wrote in a joint post with national campaigns Judaism On Our Own Terms and Drop Hillel. “They flaunt [Israeli Occupation Forces] symbols, attempt to manufacture a pseudo-culture rooted in the erasure of the Palestinian people, and dance in disgrace. They are an embarrassment.”
The post’s caption continued to call out GW President Ellen Granberg for “welcom[ing] the most overt display of white supremacy.”
“Let us dismantle every trace of Zionism from every corner of this campus,” the caption read.
JVP’s suspension is a result of its not abiding by the terms from previous conduct proceedings. The organization hosted an April 20 event without advisor approval while under a “limitation of privileges,” according to The Hatchet.
“These updates include the resolution of two cases in which JVP was the respondent,” a university spokesperson wrote in an email to Washington Jewish Week. “These two cases were heard together and collective sanctions were issued, as is often the process when incidents occur in close time proximity.”
An anonymous member of JVP told The Hatchet that the chapter decided to disaffiliate from the university but will continue in its mission.
“At this critical moment, anti-Zionist Jewish students will continue to organize and pressure the university to divest from genocide and protect its students amid an attack against immigrants and anti-Zionists in academia and across the country,” the JVP member told The Hatchet.
CESA started investigating these incidents after receiving a report in April, according to the GW spokesperson.
The JVP member told The Hatchet that in May, CESA informed the organization of three conduct violations from three different instances.
“Without meeting a preponderance of evidence for such allegations, involving absurd claims of antisemitism, on July 7, we were found responsible for two of these charges and suspended until at least May 18, 2026,” the member wrote in an email to The Hatchet.
JVP is required to finish a return from suspension plan and a return from probation plan at the end of its suspension in 2026 and probation until 2027.
Part of the suspension stipulates that JVP must get advisor approval for all social media posts, as well as other conditions, The Hatchet reported. The organization must create social media guidelines, change its social media handle and develop a semesterly review of conduct history for the next 10 semesters.
“Following the period of suspension, sanctions will continue to various degrees until 2032 — a blatant and cowardly attempt to muzzle and incapacitate the only anti-Zionist Jewish organization on campus from functioning entirely,” JVP told The Hatchet.
JVP chose not to appeal CESA’s decision because the JVP member alleged that every appeal the organization had previously submitted had been rejected by university officials, according to The Hatchet.
I don’t care to see JVP opinions but would find it interesting to read interviews with some of their members. Something seems off, assuming they really are Jewish.
Specifically, what is their family background? Did they grow up attending synagogue services? Which Jewish movement? Did they have a bar/bat mitzvah? Have they ever read Jewish traditional texts? What do they know about Judaism? What do they know about the century-long Arab-Israeli dispute (1921 to present)? Do they have Israeli relatives?