DOJ indicts eight anti-Israel activists at University of Michigan
The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted eight anti-Israel protesters tied to the University of Michigan, alleging they carried out disruptive “autonomous actions” targeting a Jewish nonprofit group. Prosecutors say the group’s alleged demands focused on divesting from Israel after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack, and that they escalated and mobilized “by any means necessary.”
According to the DOJ, defendants sprayed “Free Palestine” and “Intifada” on the windows of the Jewish Federation of Detroit on the attack’s one-year anniversary, and left behind upside-down triangles associated with Hamas’s military wing. The DOJ also alleges that some defendants threw jars containing a blue substance and food compost at the university provost’s home, and graffitied the property with “Divest” and “Free Palestine” alongside red triangle symbols.
Prosecutors further claim the defendants used violent language, including threats involving medical harm. The DOJ is charging conspiracy related to transmitting threats, destroying property to prevent seizure, and conspiracy to tamper with a witness, with witness tampering carrying a potential maximum sentence of 20 years. The FBI Detroit office investigated the case with support from other local agencies.
The indictments are occurring amid a broader Trump governance effort described in the article as targeting anti-Israel activism on campuses, including actions against both violent and nonviolent protest activity, and using concerns about campus antisemitism to justify revoking federal funding for some universities.
The Department of Justice indicted eight anti-Israel protesters associated with the University of Michigan who it said engaged in disruptive “autonomous actions,” including at a local Jewish nonprofit group.
“In America, we rule by law not by fear,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. said on Wednesday. “These alleged threats and attempts to terrorize government officials, businesses, and the Jewish Federation are anti-American. We will counter intimidation with justice.”
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The defendants, who range in age from 21 to 28, allegedly promulgated a series of demands focused on “divestment” from Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas. One conspirator stated publicly that the group “must escalate, mobilize, and organize to demand divestment by any means necessary,” according to the DOJ.
Group members allegedly spray-painted “Free Palestine” and “Intifada” onto the windows of a Jewish Federation of Detroit building on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack. “Intifada” is the Arabic word for “uprising,” though it holds violent connotations in the Israeli collective memory as a reference to periods of violent terrorist attacks. The group also left behind upside-down triangles, a symbol popularized by Hamas’s military wing.
In another incident, Alexander Matthew Sepulveda and Jonathan Hongru Zou allegedly threw glass jars filled with a blue substance and food compost at the University of Michigan provost’s home. The pair reportedly graffitied the home with the same red triangles, along with the words “Divest” and “Free Palestine.”
The DOJ says the group frequently employed violent language. Ahmet Kerem Korkaya allegedly stated that one victim’s “entire family” was on his “hit list.” Korkaya, then a medical student, allegedly stated that he was “gonna be the dirtiest f***ing doctor ever / I’m gonna be [victim’s] doctor / poison her a** slowly,” referring to another victim.
The DOJ is charging members of the group with conspiracy to transmit a threat, destruction of property to prevent seizure, and conspiracy to tamper with a witness. The latter crime carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The FBI’s Detroit office investigated the case with support from various local law enforcement agencies.
WHY THE CYCLE OF CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM NEVER ENDS
The charges come amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on anti-Israel activism on college campuses, violent and nonviolent alike. In one high-profile case, Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in 2025 days after penning a pro-Palestinian op-ed.
The administration has also used campus antisemitism to justify revoking federal funding from universities across the country.
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