The Columbia University Apartheid Divest coalition that led the encampment at the college has issued a statement of support for an alleged anti-Israel serial arsonist.
The Jewish Voice for Peace Columbia, Students for Justice in Palestine Columbia, and CUAD, a coalition of around 100 student groups, published on Instagram a statement of support for Casey Goonan, who was arrested on Monday for involvement in four firebombing and arson attacks at the University of California, Berkeley.
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“CUAD stands in full support of Casey Goonan and all of our comrades who have bravely undertaken the call to escalate for Palestine,” said the coalition in the Thursday statement. “Even if Casey G[oonan] is innocent, the entire Palestine solidarity movement must support them as if they truly did take bold and heroic actions to protect millions of lives.”
The series of arson attacks
Goonan’s alleged arson spree of a UC Berkeley Police Department vehicle, a construction site, a brush area near a library, and a building was described by the coalition as a “rational action of targeting state infrastructure” in response to US support for Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
“The fires on UC campuses have been in direct response to the university’s violent police repression of their own students. The spark ignited on US campuses during the intifada of the last few months cannot be quelled, and further repression will only continue to transform these sparks into flames,” said CUAD.
CUAD denounced those who attacked Goonan’s tactics as ineffective or unwise, saying that they had clear “ethical content.”
CUAD said that Palestine Action US, which reposted the statement of solidarity, would soon share how to support Goonan. Escalate Network said on social media that it would organize a fundraiser for Goonan, who has a $1 million bail.
Goonan is charged with multiple felonies, including “the possession and use of destructive devices and multiple counts of arson,” the California State Fire Marshal’s Office announced on Tuesday.