Federal prosecutors on Wednesday unsealed an indictment charging eight pro-Palestinian activists with conspiracy to conduct a criminal intimidation campaign targeting University of Michigan officials. The charges also include vandalism against companies operating in Michigan and against the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
The indictment details a series of incidents that drew public attention during the 2023–2024 academic year, including the placement of fake bloody corpses on the lawn of an elected university board member and the spray-painting of anti-Israel messages at the home of Santa Ono, who was president of the university at the time.
US Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said in a statement, “In America, we rule by law not by fear. These alleged threats and attempts to terrorize government officials, businesses, and the Jewish Federation are anti-American. We will counter intimidation with justice.”
According to the indictment, the activists “marked their victims with threatening symbols used by Hamas, including red inverted triangles and red handprints.” The document alleges that they used the internet and social media to broadcast their messages “to ensure their threats and commitment to continuing criminal activity were heard by their victims and others who support Israel.”
Six of the eight defendants were expected to make initial appearances Wednesday in federal court in Detroit, according to Gina Balaya of the US attorney’s office. One person was arrested in Wisconsin and another was not in custody. The Associated Press reported it could not immediately reach any of the defendants or their attorneys for comment.
The charges stem from protests that have roiled the University of Michigan campus since the Israel-Hamas war began. Pro-Palestinian activists have demanded that the university’s endowment divest from companies with ties to Israel, including Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which supply weapons to the Israeli military. The university has said it has no direct investments in such companies and less than $15m placed with funds that might include companies in Israel.
The University of Michigan and state officials have faced scrutiny over their handling of the protests. In October 2024, The Guardian reported that school officials had taken unusual steps to recruit Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to bring felony charges against protesters. A subsequent Guardian investigation found that the school had hired private investigators to surveil students involved in campus protests. One of those students sued the university last month.
The Trump administration has deployed aggressive investigations against universities, along with a detention and deportation campaign targeting international students, in its crackdown on institutions over the 2023–2024 campus protests. The indictment unsealed Wednesday is among the more aggressive federal prosecutorial actions taken against pro-Palestinian activists — thousands of students arrested during the protests have faced charges at local and state levels, and most of those charges were ultimately dropped.