(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.

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The groups condemned the incident at the Philadelphia university in which a student 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.

This story was updated in February 2025 to remove the name of the victim in the incident.

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