LANSING — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is continuing to target student activists supporting Palestinian rights, despite mounting criticism in recent weeks, through what the TAHRIR Coalition — a broad coalition of student organizations at the University of Michigan — describes as an ongoing campaign of intimidation and repression. According to the coalition, police and representatives from Nessel’s office visited the homes of two activists earlier this July.

The two activists have been subpoenaed to appear before the Attorney General’s Office on July 30 as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged “acts of vandalism” targeting the University of Michigan campus and the homes and offices of university regents who support Israel and its ongoing assault on Gaza.

These subpoenas follow raids in April that targeted the homes of activists in Ann Arbor, Canton and Ypsilanti. FBI agents and local police departments arrested nine individuals and confiscated electronic devices and personal property. In one raid, a home was forcibly entered without a warrant, according to the TAHRIR Coalition.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel

Repression and intimidation

Nessel, a Jewish American Democrat, stated that her office continues to investigate those responsible for pro-Palestine graffiti at multiple sites — months after she was forced to drop earlier charges against other activists arrested during protests against Israel on the University of Michigan campus.

The TAHRIR Coalition — which consists primarily of students — accused Nessel’s office of deliberately intimidating activists by sending police to deliver subpoenas directly to their homes. On July 17, an Ann Arbor police officer delivered a subpoena to the home of one coalition member. Hours later, “special agents” from Nessel’s office showed up unannounced at the home of another member in West Bloomfield — despite knowing he did not reside there — leaving a note warning that failure to accept the subpoena could “result in retaliation from the judge.”

The coalition called these tactics part of a broader effort to silence dissent after Nessel was forced earlier this year to drop all charges against University of Michigan protesters arrested in Spring 2024. Still, she is adamant about pursuing student activists, bypassing local prosecutors in the cities and counties involved.

Nessel, who was first elected in 2018, is now serving her second four-year term and has approximately 18 months left in office. Her political future remains unclear as she has not declared her candidacy for any other position and Michigan’s constitution bars her from running for a third term as attorney general.

“These attempts to intimidate, target and silence pro-Palestinian protesters have dangerous implications for every resident of Michigan,” said Liz Jacob, an attorney with the Sugar Law Center representing the TAHRIR Coalition in several lawsuits against the University of Michigan.

“If people cannot speak freely against Israel’s ongoing human rights abuses, genocide and apartheid without facing government repression, then free speech is at risk for everyone in Michigan,” she warned.

In a joint statement issued Monday, the organizations Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) and the University of Michigan chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) condemned the intimidation tactics, calling them “a transparent effort to fracture the mass movement for Palestinian freedom, university divestment from Israel and a comprehensive arms embargo.”

“But as we’ve seen time and again — from the release of Mahmoud Khalil from ICE detention to the charges Nessel was forced to drop — repression only strengthens our resolve,” the statement read. “As long as the people of Palestine remain steadfast in their struggle for liberation and return, we will draw strength from them and continue the fight.”

Protest movement continues

The new wave of subpoenas comes after a string of embarrassing episodes for Nessel and the university administration, which summoned police to suppress student protests against Israel in Spring 2024.

In May — one year after the dismantling of the Gaza solidarity encampment on the university’s central campus in Ann Arbor — Nessel dropped all criminal and civil charges against 12 protesters. This tactical retreat came after a judge questioned the prosecutions and raised concerns about Nessel’s political and financial ties to the university’s Board of Regents, according to a report by the Guardian.

The report revealed that six of the board’s eight members had previously donated to Nessel’s campaigns, with one having served as co-chair of her 2018 election bid. Board members had called for harsher penalties against the student protesters and pushed for state intervention after local Washtenaw County prosecutors declined to pursue charges.

The decision to drop the charges came after months of condemnation from civil rights groups and elected officials.

While Nessel denied any political motivation, insisting her actions were based on “criminal conduct” rather than constitutionally protected protest, civil liberties attorneys and activists say her conduct raises serious concerns about selective enforcement and political bias.

Nessel has faced loud protests and boos during public appearances, including at the Michigan Democratic Party convention in Detroit this past February, where she was forced to exit the stage angrily, according to the Detroit Metro Times.

A series of victories

Activists with the TAHRIR Coalition say the latest round of subpoenas, coupled with ongoing disciplinary measures by the University of Michigan against pro-Palestine students, represents a troubling escalation in the state’s crackdown on protest and freedom of speech.

Nonetheless, coalition members say they remain undeterred and committed to defending Palestinian rights. They cite recent victories — including the dropped charges, the resignation of University President Santa Ono and the university’s termination of all contracts with private security firms that had embedded undercover agents to monitor and suppress pro-Palestinian students — as signs of progress. These developments were also reported by the Guardian.

“We strongly condemn the assault by the University of Michigan Board of Regents and Attorney General Nessel on the people’s movement for Palestinian liberation,” the TAHRIR Coalition declared in a statement. “We will stand firm in our demands, regardless of repression or intimidation.”

The coalition renewed its call for a full boycott of the Israeli occupation.