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Eight activists are facing federal charges for their Palestine solidarity activism in Michigan.
On Wednesday morning, the FBI raided the homes of seven of the activists, and prosecutors unsealed an indictment against them and another activist following their arrest. The federal government is charging the activists – most of whom attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor – with carrying out a “criminal intimidation campaign” against university administrators in an attempt to push the university to divest from Israel.
The charges mark an escalation in the Trump administration’s attacks on Palestine solidarity activism, and civil rights groups warn that they veer into attacks on free speech.
The indictment details instances including the activists placing fake corpses on a university board member’s lawn, and spray painting pro-Palestine messages at the home of the university’s then-president.
“The subjects allegedly vandalized the victims’ property, spray painted their homes with messages like ‘Intifada’ and ‘Free Palestine,’ left threatening notes on their doors, and even broke windows of the victims’ homes — throwing glass jars filled with chemicals while children slept inside,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X on Wednesday. The chemicals named were paints and butyric acid, a foul-smelling substance found in butter.
The felony charges carry the possibility of years in prison.
Student activists at the University of Michigan have been calling for the university to divest from Israel since at least 2002. But since Israel launched its U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza in 2023, the University of Michigan has taken harsh action against student activists in solidarity with Palestine.
In 2024, the university recruited the state attorney general, Dana Nessel – a Democrat – to bring state charges against the student protesters after local prosecutors had dismissed most of the charges. This was considered an unprecedented escalation against protesters. Last April, Nessel collaborated with President Donald Trump’s FBI in raids of homes of Palestine solidarity protesters, claiming that it was investigating them for vandalism.
And last June, The Guardian found that the university was using private investigators to surveil pro-Palestine student activists. Undercover investigators were following the students, recording them, and threatening them – and the university spent at least $800,000 hiring these investigators from a private security group.
At a rally at the University of Michigan in January against charges brought against activist students, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) called out the surveillance and targeting of students. “Why do we need ICE when we have the University of Michigan?” she said, highlighting the severity of the university’s repressive tactics.
But the felony charges released Wednesday mark another escalation in the University of Michigan’s — and Trump’s — attacks on Palestine solidarity activism.
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the felony charges are an attempt to “chill speech on campuses.”
“Regardless of one’s views on the underlying issues, students do not lose their First Amendment rights because their speech is controversial or unpopular,” Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR-Michigan, said in a statement. “We are concerned by any prosecutorial approach that appears to broaden criminal allegations by incorporating lawful advocacy and political expression into the narrative.”
“Equally troubling is the apparent reliance on or discussion of the students’ participation in lawful political speech and peaceful advocacy, including calls for divestment, expressions of solidarity with Palestinians, criticism of government policies, and advocacy for Palestinian human rights,” the CAIR statement added. “These forms of expression occupy the highest level of protection under the First Amendment and have long been recognized as core political speech in our constitutional tradition.”
John Philo of the Detroit-based Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice told the Michigan Public that the charges are a specific attack on Palestine solidarity. “They’re not going after the fact of spray painting,” he said. “They’re going after the fact that it says ‘Free Palestine.’” He questioned why charges of vandalism have been escalated to conspiracy charges.
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