Two pro-Palestinian student groups in New York City said their Instagram accounts had been deleted, depriving them of one of their most important organizing platforms just before the new semester.

The Columbia University branch of Students for Justice in Palestine said Monday that its Instagram account had been deleted. The group said on X that it had 124,000 followers and that a new Instagram page it had set up was also quickly deleted.

A day later, New York University’s People’s Solidarity Coalition announced that its Instagram page had been blocked.

Anti-Israel activists across the city slammed Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, accusing it of unfair treatment. Columbia SJP said the platform had been permanently banned “without explanation and without possibility of appeal.”

“Meta has blood on its hands,” the NYU student group said in a statement shared on the messaging app Telegram. The Palestinian Youth Movement said in a widely shared statement that it “condemns Meta’s ongoing censorship of Palestinian organizations.”

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last month issue new guidelines banning the use of the word “Zionists” to “promote anti-Semitic stereotypes or threaten other types of harm through intimidation or violence against Jews or Israelis.”

In February, Within Our Lifetime, the well-known pro-Palestinian hardline group, announced that it was banned from Instagram. A Meta spokesperson told New York Jewish Week at the time that the group’s accounts had been removed for violating the platform’s community guidelines, including its “Dangerous Organizations and Individuals Policy.”

This week, the NYU administration also released new guidelines on hate speech, which state that The use of “Zionists” is prohibited if it targets Jews or Israelis.

NYU’s People’s Solidarity Coalition, formerly the Palestine Solidarity Coalition, a coalition of university organizations, said it was “attacking the university from multiple angles” to oppose NYU’s “settler colonialism, genocide and imperial wars.” The coalition also said it supported “armed struggle” and the Palestinian “right to resist.”

Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian groups announced a similar coalition last year called Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which remains active on Instagram. It is led by the university’s SJP and Jewish Voice for Peace, both of which were expelled from the university last year for violating campus protest rules. CU Apartheid Divest has been at the forefront of campus protests since its suspension.

Pro-Palestinian groups from both universities and other student organizations in the city regularly share and spread their messages and collaborate with each other and non-student activist groups at events. Many of the groups, including National SJP, the Palestinian Youth Movement and Within Our Lifetime, have their funding was channeled through the same small charity north of the city.

Within our lifetimewhich regularly calls for the destruction of Israel and a “global intifada”, supported Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7. Since then, it has protested against the Remembrance the victims of the attack, Jewish organizations, Holiday celebrations, SynagoguesAnd medical centersIts chairman, Nerdeen Kiswani, said open support for Hamas.

Support New York Jewish Week

Our nonprofit newsroom relies on readers like you. Donate now to support independent Jewish journalism in New York.

Pro-Palestinian groups across the city, led by Within Our Lifetime and including Columbia SJP, announced a big protest on Monday at Union Square.