WSJ: Pro-Palestinian Encampments Trained for ‘Months’; Wespac Denies Role

The Wall Street Journal reports that many of the pro-Palestinian activists in campus “encampments” around the nation trained for “months” with veteran activists and groups before launching their invasions last month.

As Breitbart News and others have noted, many of the “encampments” have used similar tactics, and the activists are well-trained in methods such as linking arms to push people (including journalists) out of their enclosures. Veteran activists have been onsite, such as Lisa Fithian, who was recently seen at the Columbia University encampment. And the New York Police Department has stated that funding for the encampments has come from around the world.

The Journal adds depth in its report, adding that National Students for Justice in Palestine (NJSP), which is involved in the encampments, has been receiving funding from a group in New York called Wespac:

The recent wave of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses came on suddenly and shocked people across the nation. But the political tactics underlying some of the demonstrations were the result of months of training, planning and encouragement by longtime activists and left-wing groups.

…

Though there isn’t a centralized command overseeing the student movement opposing Israel’s invasion of Gaza, there are connections between longstanding far-left groups and the protesters.

…

For the last decade, donations to NJSP have been received and administered by the Wespac Foundation, according to Howard Horowitz, Wespac’s board chairman. The donations are passed on to NSJP “for projects in the United States,” he said, declining to provide further details.

Wespac denied being involved in the encampments or coordinating in any way with the participants in the campus protests.

However, NGO Monitor also listed Wespac among the non-governmental organizations involved in “orchestrating” the protests: “WESPAC Foundation, a Westchester, New York-based organization registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, serves as the fiscal sponsor for National SJP.” It adds (original emphasis):

WESPAC (Westchester Peace Action Committee Foundation) – founded 1974

• WESPAC serves as fiscal sponsor for some of the NGOs responsible for antisemitism on campuses, including Students for Justice in Palestine and Within Our Lifetime. WESPAC also fulfills this role for U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Adalah-NY, and the Palestinian Youth Movement USA.
• WESPAC’s sources of income are mostly unknown. Public records reveal a handful of foundational donors, including from large donor-advised charities that further obscure the original donors.
• WESPAC uses “apartheid” and other demonizing rhetoric, campaigned for convicted PFLP terrorists, and contextualized the October 7th atrocities.

Wespac also told the Journal that it does not support violence, antisemitism, or terrorism.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.