Duke suspends Students for Justice in Palestine following complaints over antisemitic Instagram post

Duke University recently moved to suspend its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) after the university received complaints about a flyer from the group that some claimed was antisemitic. The North Carolina university joins a string of other schools that have taken action against SJP chapters.

On March 13, Duke SJP posted a flyer on its Instagram advertising a meeting to discuss "Iran, Zionism and U.S. Imperialism." The flyer drew criticism, as it depicted two pigs shaking hands, one of which was dressed as the Statue of Liberty and had "U.S. Imperialism" written on its arm, while the other was dressed in a uniform, holding a staff with a Star of David and an Israeli flag. The second pig also had the word "Zionism" written on its sleeve. 

Jessica Costescu, a staff writer at the Washington Free Beacon, noted that the caricature originally appeared in a Black Panther newspaper in the 1970s.

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StopAntisemitism, a watchdog organization, condemned the flyer, saying that "Attempts to reframe or justify such messaging do not change its nature that anti-Zionism and antisemitism are directly intertwined." In a response to its original post, StopAntisemitism lamented that the students responsible for the post "were not reprimanded."

"Duke University deserves credit for taking decisive action and revoking SJP’s campus status following deeply disturbing conduct, including the use of imagery depicting pigs adorned with Jewish Stars of David to promote an event attacking Zionism. That said, the administration stopped just short of full accountability, failing to meaningfully discipline the individuals responsible for this blatant antisemitic imagery," StopAntisemitism told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

"Universities cannot claim to take antisemitism seriously while allowing those who engage in such dehumanizing conduct to escape individual consequences," the organization added.

The flyer sparked 10 complaints from students to the university's Office of Institutional Equity (OIE), according to the Duke Chronicle.

"When 'anti-Zionism' becomes a catch-all justification for rhetoric that vilifies Jews as pigs, particularly when many Duke Jewish students have a personal or familial connection to Israel, it stops being a purely political stance and starts to feel personal. SJP contributes to an atmosphere where Jewish identity itself is viewed with suspicion, and today’s decision is a response to a pattern of such behavior," Noah Hamid, class of 2028 at Duke, told Fox News Digital.

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On March 24, Ben Adams, senior associate dean of students for Duke's QuadEx program, informed SJP that the OIE had received complaints and said that the depiction of the pig holding a Star of David was deemed to be harassment under the university's Policy on Prohibited Discrimination, Harassment and Related Misconduct, the Duke Chronicle reported. The outlet added that Adams asked the group to remove the post, which it did. Subsequently, the university froze the group's funding and later suspended the club.

The suspension came days after Duke SJP announced that it would be teaming up with Student Panthers, a Durham-based group, to launch the "NC Coalition Against The US War Machine." In the announcement of the event, Duke SJP invited people to join them in "Bringing the War Home to fight against Colonialism within the belly of the beast!"

While the flyer led to the suspension, it was not the first time Duke SJP was embroiled in controversy. In September 2025, the group held a "die-in" protest against the Israel-Hamas war. The Duke Chronicle reported at the time that students joined in chants of "Duke admin, you can't hide! You're supporting genocide!"

Duke SJP has yet to make a public statement regarding its suspension. Fox News Digital reached out to the group via email but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Fox News Digital reached out to Duke University and Adams for comment.