The facade of George Washington University’s library was lit up with anti-Israel slogans. Photo by Daniel Heuer/The GW Hatchet

By Beth Harpaz October 25, 2023

Pro-Palestinian students at George Washington University projected the words “Glory to our martyrs,” “Divest from Zionist genocide now” and other anti-Israel messages on a building named for Jewish donors.

The projections appeared Tuesday night on the Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library on the university’s Washington, D.C., campus. Images of the slogans lighting up the library’s exterior were widely disseminated on both social media and traditional media. 

Other messages included “Free Palestine from the river to the sea” and “GW the blood of Palestine is on your hands.”

On Wednesday, the university issued a statement saying “leadership intervened to ensure that these projections were removed” and that the incident was “unauthorized” and “violated university policy.” The projected slogans “in no way reflect the views of the university,” the statement added. “We are reviewing this incident and will take any appropriate steps with respect to the individuals involved in accordance with university policies.”

The American Jewish Committee said the university’s response to “the shocking messages glorifying Hamas projected onto the university’s library is inadequate and unacceptable. Antisemitism needs to be named and condemned unequivocally and immediately. Jewish students deserve better from the administration.”

A story published online by GW’s independent student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, said the projections were the work of Students for Justice in Palestine. The Hatchet said four students used a slideshow projector to display the messages on the building for two hours despite campus police telling them to stop. The student group did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Forward.

Several projections named GW President Ellen M. Granberg, saying she “is complicit in genocide in Gaza.” Granberg had issued two statements in the days following Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacres of Israeli civilians at a music festival and on kibbutzim, saying she was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the attacks and condemning Hamas’ “brutal violence” as “acts of terrorism.”

Granberg had also said in those statements that while free speech is a “foundation” of university life, “I also abhor the celebration of terrorism and attempts to perpetuate rhetoric or imagery that glorifies acts of violence. Such messages do not speak on behalf of me, our administrators, or GW.”

She acknowledged that “there is a long and complex history associated with this conflict. Still, this does not justify the evil we have collectively witnessed.”

The Hatchet quoted an anonymous representative of Students for Justice in Palestine saying that the “divestment” messages in the projections referred to GW’s investments in weapons companies. According to the progressive nonprofit Action Network, GW receives funding from and invests in Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics. 

The library was originally named for Melvin Gelman, a builder, realtor, philanthropist and GW alumnus whose family established a posthumous endowment in his honor. It was renamed the Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library after the death of his wife Estelle, a GW trustee. 

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