PEC Statement: Response to Raids Targeting Gaza Protesters

On April 23rd, Attorney General Dana Nessel released a statement on “X” stating that search warrants were executed at the homes of several people in southeast Michigan to search for evidence of their involvement in crimes such as vandalism around the state. No search warrants were produced at the time of the raids. Residents were handcuffed while officers of the State police, local police, and FBI broke down doors and searched their homes.

Though Nessel stated that these raids were not connected to these people’s involvement in campus protests against the ongoing war in Gaza, all of those targeted had been involved in such protests at the University of Michigan. The fact that her statement mentioned their involvement leads one to the conclusion that they are indeed connected.

We are confused and appalled at Attorney General Nessel’s overreach to seemingly punish students for their participation in protests against the Israeli government’s war on Gaza. Protest on college campuses has long been a high mark in our nation’s push for justice and is a legitimate expression of free speech. In the past year and a half, we have witnessed the killing and maiming of the largest percentage of noncombatants in modern warfare, with over 13,000 children killed, 25,000 maimed and 25,000 hospitalized for malnutrition. The bombing of schools, even those housing refugees, ALL hospitals and colleges in Gaza and the destruction of over 90% of houses is a concern that should not go without protest.

For the top law enforcement officer in the great state of Michigan to harass and arrest students for somewhat minor infractions as they rally against these ongoing horrors is a crime itself. Several U of M students are already facing felony charges for opposing police action to tear down their protest encampment. Felony charges are for “conduct such as ignoring police commands to move back, throwing tables and chairs in the path of police and linking arms and refusing to move.”

The Peace Education Center has advocated for justice for the people of Palestine for fifty years as the state of Israel has marched through their lands claiming ever more territory and control. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the United Nations and others have called Israel’s bombings that began in retaliation for the October 2023 incursion into Israel by Hamas a war crime. For Nessel to pursue university students and others protesting these atrocities with felony charges is to disregard legitimate concerns for the humanity of all.