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We, Urbana-Champaign Jews for Ceasefire, are appalled at the recent detentions and arrests of students and workers in the name of protecting us against antisemitism.
We refuse to be involuntarily used for the anti-democratic aims of the Trump administration. We demand that Rumeysa Ozturk from Tufts University and Mahmoud Khalil from Columbia University, and any other students unethically detained be immediately released. In a democracy we take seriously our First Amendment right to protest. This right sets the U.S. apart from dictatorships in other countries.
We will not remain silent as the right to free speech is systematically destroyed. We as Jews denounce the redefining of antisemitism as an attempt to silence those by our side fighting for Palestinian human rights. We fervently insist that opposing Israeli state violence against those in Gaza and against people living under Israeli occupation is not antisemitic.
We draw a bold line between acts of antisemitism, which we believe are proliferating, and justified critiques of Israel. Students and citizens from all countries including the United States must be allowed to protest violence. And we call for the remaining charges to be dropped for all the University of Illinois students and Champaign-Urbana community members, and all people across the country, arrested for peacefully protesting or for participating in campus encampments in support of the people of Palestine.