Eight pro-Palestinian activists face federal conspiracy charges for allegedly running an intimidation campaign against University of Michigan officials and Jewish organizations. The indictment, unsealed Wednesday, accuses the group of trying to force the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
The charges also include vandalism targeting businesses operating in Michigan and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. stated: "In America, we rule by law not by fear. These alleged threats and attempts to terrorize government officials, businesses and the Jewish Federation are anti-American. We will counter intimidation with justice."
According to the indictment, the defendants allegedly placed fake bloody corpses on the lawn of a university board member and spray-painted anti-Israel messages at the home of then-university president Santa Ono. The indictment notes that activists marked their targets with threatening symbols associated with Hamas, including red inverted triangles and red handprints, and used social media to broadcast their threats.
Six of the eight defendants made initial appearances in federal court in Detroit on Wednesday. One was arrested in Wisconsin, while another was not in custody at the time of the indictment. The Associated Press reported that attempts to reach defendants and their attorneys for comment were unsuccessful.
The charges emerge from ongoing campus activism over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Since the Israel-Hamas war, pro-Palestinian protesters have pressured the University of Michigan to stop investing in companies with Israeli ties, specifically targeting weapons manufacturers like Boeing and Lockheed Martin. University officials have responded that they hold no direct investments in Israeli companies and have less than $15 million invested in funds that might include such companies.
The case represents one of the more aggressive federal prosecutions of pro-Palestinian activists, though thousands of students were arrested during campus protests in 2023 and 2024. Most of those charges were brought at local and state levels and subsequently dropped.
Prior reporting revealed that University of Michigan officials took unusual steps to recruit the state attorney general to bring felony charges against protesters. The school also hired private investigators to surveil students engaged in campus activism, prompting a lawsuit from one surveilled student.
The Trump administration has pursued aggressive investigations into universities and launched deportation campaigns targeting international students as part of its broader crackdown on campus activism. The indictment unsealed Wednesday signals an escalation in federal response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
The University of Michigan has not publicly commented on the charges. The case will now proceed through federal court, where convicted defendants could face substantial prison sentences.