Funding Sources Behind Tennessee Student Groups Linked to Pro-Palestine, Anti-Israel Causes Under Scrutiny

As anti-Israel protests on college campuses across the country dominate the headlines, higher education institutions in Tennessee have also harbored a presence of student activism on behalf of the Palestinian side of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Two student organizations with chapters at some Tennessee colleges — Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) — are among many activist groups across the country that receive abundant funding and harbor ties to left-leaning groups.

While revealing who exactly is funding many of these pro-Palestinian groups has proven difficult and has sparked the interest of Congress, reporting from The New York Times has traced funding for JVP back to left-wing billionaire George Soros through a network called the Open Society Foundations run by his son Alex Soros.

According to another report, SJP has so far refused to disclose how much it collects in donations and is alleged to be involved with a group that may have past connections to the terrorist group Hamas.

George Soros has also been traced to SJP via reporting by Fox News. The Westchester Peace Action Committee Foundation (WESPAC) is a fiscal sponsor of SJP, and WESPAC reportedly received a six-figure donation from another nonprofit funded by George Soros. WESPAC does not publicize its fiscal sponsorships, however.

JVP has two local organizations in Tennessee — one at Vanderbilt University and another in Knoxville, according to JVP’s website.

This year at Vanderbilt, JVP staged a walkout of a campus event headlined by Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. The head of the left-leaning organization was “[threatening] marginalized communities” by being present via a video call, the organization said in an Instagram post at the time.

In October 2023, JVP, along with many other activist groups, was involved in organizing the nationwide All Out for Palestine rallies, one of which occurred in Nashville. SJP was another organization involved in the All Out for Palestine rallies.

SJP also has chapters at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (UTK) and Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt SJP has made open demands that Vanderbilt “divest” from Israel and Israeli companies and has accused the school of being complicit in genocide against Palestinians. The Palestine Solidarity Encampment at Vanderbilt’s campus recently taken down after a forty-day stint was also officially recognized by SJP.

A six-day string of protests at UTK’s campus began with a vigil held by the school’s chapter of SJP, which also demanded the university “divest” from Israeli entities.

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Matthew Giffin is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Matthew on X/Twitter.