4 more activists charged in intimidation campaign against University of Michigan over Israel ties

DETROIT — Four more people have been charged with participating in a criminal intimidation campaign against University of Michigan officials to try to force the school to cut financial ties to Israel, federal authorities said Friday.

The new indictment comes nearly five months after eight pro-Palestinian activists were charged with conspiracy for threats and vandalism at officials' homes, some businesses and the Jewish Federation of Detroit.

Investigators have highlighted several incidents over the past few years, including fake bloody corpses that were placed in a university board member's yard, and the 2024 spray-painting of anti-Israel messages at the home of Santa Ono, who was school president at the time.

Two of the four new defendants were arrested and will make their first court appearance Friday while the other two people were not in custody, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit said.

The eight people charged in June have pleaded not guilty.

“From Pharaoh to Hitler to Hamas, those who terrorize Jews have been the bad guys. As Americans, our job is to fight the bad guys," U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began, pro-Palestinian protesters have demanded that the University of Michigan's endowment stop investing in companies with ties to Israel. But the university has said it has less than 0.1% of its total endowment placed with funds that might include companies in Israel.

After the first round of charges, lawyers who represent pro-Palestinian activists in lawsuits against the university said the indictment appeared to “be a new low in the criminalization of student opposition to the human rights violations, war crimes, and genocide in Gaza.”

“The federal government is seeking to bring federal charges for acts traditionally reserved to local prosecutors,” said John Philo of the Sugar Law Center in Detroit.

In 2024, a pro-Palestinian camp on campus was cleared by police after a month. The university said it was a threat to public safety.

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