CANCELLED: UMD SJP merch order for “Swastika-lite” Palestinian flag sweater shelved by clothing company

"To Jewish students the design is the same as a swastika. The same."

The design for sweaters UMD SJP sent to University Tees to Print

The Cleveland, Ohio apparel shop “University Tees” struggled today with whether they should cancel an order placed by the University of Maryland “Students for Justice in Palestine” (SJP) club.

The sweater design was posted by UMD SJP’s Instagram page a few days ago.

The sweater has “Free Palestine” on the front and a Gaza style flag with the same type of inverted red triangle that political prisoners in the Holocaust wore, except reclaimed as Palestinian warrior symbol with the addition of watermelon seeds.

January 30 was originally going to be the last date for SJP members and allies to order these pieces of merch.

However, on January 26, a parent reached out to the clothing shop to express concern with the design and how it it viewed as a hate symbol by Jewish students and parents. The clothing shop initially gave a milquetoast response early morning on January 26.

“We do not turn away clients or organizations based on their beliefs…. In this case, SJP is a registered organization at the University of Maryland and the shirt design has been fully approved by the school” wrote University Tees.

That response was then posted to a popular Jewish Facebook forum. This led to dozens of parents in the forum today, posting their emails to the clothing shop and expressing their other concerns about UMD faculty, staff and students.

Parents bombarded University Tees with screenshots of their emails to the store and to UMD:

• “In case you've completely lost your moral compass, which seemingly you did, I'm including the Congressional letter to SJP [in this email] specifically stating [SJP] are a terrorist organization responsible for spreading libels and violence against Jews on US college and university campuses.”

• “I am disgusted that you are allowing merch for the UMD SJP to be printed and sold with a flag associated with terror, rate, hostage taking and abuse."

• "Regardless of whether… finds that flag problematic, its history is and promotes hate against a protected minority. To Jewish students it is the same as a swastika. The same.”

Within about two hours, the University Tees site changed course.

They took down their order page for the SJP sweaters. No longer will these specific SJP Nazi sweaters be printed by them. After careful consideration, they claimed they’ve come to the conclusion of cancelling the order to be “fair and ethical” to everyone.

“This order has been cancelled,” University Tees added on their website.

But this doesn’t mean SJP won’t be able to print their shirts. There are thousands of print shops in the United States, and I doubt they’d be blocked from all print shops.

UMD security checks a bag at a metal detector for access to a display where the pro-Israel group Terps for Israel was remembering those killed and kidnapped during Hamas attacks in Israel in 2023/ William J. Ford

One parent in the forum suggested that SJP should be allowed to print their sweater design. “On the other hand, it’s good to know your enemy. With sweaters, you can see them right away!”

One UMD parent who led some of the lobbying efforts against the sweaters said they would only speak anonymously to protect their student from retaliation.

“Just... as a Maryland parent this is very upsetting to me. I thought I was sending my son to a safe school where he didn't have to worry about antisemitism, but I guess I was wrong” they said.

We reached out to UMD to ask whether they actually approved the design on SJP’s sweater, as SJP claimed. But it unclear if UMD’s SJP only claimed to have approval from UMD. We have zero information to figure this out until UMD does an internal investigation and has a response.

What happened at UMD last October 7?

According to their fact-sheet, SJP at UMD “unequivocally states that the Zionist state of Israel has no right to exist.

“Zionist claims of indigeneity do not supersede the claims of the existing Palestinians… Furthermore, the centuries between 70 CE and the creation of the zionist state in 1948 called into question the Indigenous claims of many zionists who have no traceable lineage to the land of Palestine and hail from faraway countries,” they argue.

“The claim of [Jewish] indigeneity [to Israel] following nearly 2000 years of diaspora is certainly not substantial enough” to justify Jewish claims over the land, they claim.

The SJP chapter at UMD was recently embroiled in litigation over whether they could hold a vigil for their Palestinian martyrs on October 7, 2023, the same day two years ago that Hamas invaded Israel, took 250 hostages, raped dozens of women, and killed more than 1200 people.

One SJP-allied student interviewed by local media on October 7th, 2024

They wanted to do this on the same day Jewish students were holding a vigil for the hostages and people kidnapped by Hamas. This caused a big uproar that made national news headlines for weeks.

At one point, the university cancelled the competing vigils that both Jewish students and SJP-allies hoped to put-on. But UMD was forced to allow SJP to hold their “marty’s vigil” due to a lawsuit finding that such a prohibition would violate federal First Amendment by restricting speech.

October 7 2024/ Picture Sent By UMD Parent

SJP students and allies were eventually allowed to hold their “vigil” alongside Jewish students. SJP advocates arrived covered in face-masks to protect their identity, called for Palestinians to take Israeli land, wore keffiyehs and waved Palestinian flags.

Meanwhile, Jewish students held a vigil at the campus Hillel, mourned the hostages that Hamas took, and sung songs, and listened to various high-profile speakers and dignitaries who showed their support.

This report was brought to you by Toni Airaksinen, Senior Editor of Liberty Affair and a journalist based in Delray Beach, Florida. Follow her on Substack, on X @Toni_Airaksinen and on Instagram.