Metro East Sun

A progressive activist group based in Glen Carbon is central to pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University in New York that have ignited at college campuses across the country. 

The Adalah Justice Project (AJP) says it stands with students and is "unwavering in our conviction that we are on the right side of history...Call your reps, hit the streets, support the student encampments and pressure institutions to divest from the genocidal regime," according to a recent AJP social media post.

It's headed by Sandra Tamari, a Palestinian American who says her focus has been on "building joint liberation efforts between Palestinians and Black Americans" since the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014. She states that she was a lead organizer of the Palestinian contingent to Ferguson that year.

Tamari also is a co-founder of the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee and co-chairs the Steering Committee of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, according to her LinkedIn account.

She also served as assistant director of International Affairs at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville from 2007-2017, where among other things she managed the university's J1 visa program "facilitating immigration process for visiting international faculty and exchange students."

The AJP is funded by the Tides Foundation, which also supports other organizers of protests at Columbia and beyond - Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. 

The Tides Foundation receives its funding in part by Susan and Nick Pritzker - cousin of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker - as well as George Soros and other major donors to the Democratic Party. 

A recent Politico article notes that groups organizing protests - and whose acolytes call President Biden "Genocide Joe" - receive funding from donors also supporting Biden's re-election. 

"The donors include some of the biggest names in Democratic circles: Soros, Rockefeller and Pritzker," the May 5 article states. 

On its X account, the AJP said the majority of its funding is from "small, individual gifts."

"Politico has gone mad drawing imaginary lines between funders and orgs," it said. "The reality is that more than 70 percent of our budget comes from small individual gifts. That's not dark money, that's grassroots support."

More About AJP

The organization says it seeks to "shift American attitudes and policy concerning Israel/Palestine" to guarantee "historic justice and equality for Palestinians."

According to its website, the AJP began as the US Program of Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. The two organizations "cooperate closely to advance a shared vision of full human rights for all people living in historic Palestine, the end of the occupation, and historical justice for all Palestinians," it states.