Just when you think the lack of foresight, pragmatism, strategic planning, realistic visions, or sound organizing couldn’t get any worse among some “pro-Palestine” groups, think again. The national umbrella organization of Students for Justice in Palestine is doubling down on support for a group (Within Our Lifetime) that is explicitly pro-Hamas, celebrates October 7, glorifies the armed resistance narrative, and calls Rashida Tlaib, AOC, and Democratic Socialists of America Zionists for not adopting their maximalist, ideological, extremist, and hateful positions. Sometimes, I genuinely wonder if SJP and other such groups are really working for Palestine and an actual resolution or if they’re part of a long-term con psyop that’s meant to discredit Palestinians and their cause in the diaspora. A historic opportunity to harness and drum up support for Palestinian independence and sovereignty through an occupation/settlement-free Two State/ Two Nation solution continues to be squandered in pursuit of academic theories, extremist rhetoric, far-left ideologies, and theoretical frameworks that will never set the Palestinians free. The issue isn’t that SJP and detrimental groups discredit themselves by acting the way they do; the serious and primary problem is that they harm and undermine the pro-Palestine narrative, which is always framed as being mutually exclusive of any scenario in which Jewish Israelis exist and live side by side with Palestinians. I understand the deep pain and resentment due to the continuous annihilation of Gaza and the death and destruction that has befallen the Palestinians in the coastal enclave. But to ignore the role of Hamas in triggering this catastrophe, and to adopt extremist positions that will never create a free Palestine is immensely irresponsible and amounts to a dereliction of duty to represent the best interests of the Palestinian people.