(Radio Iowa) – Both of Iowa’s U-S Senators have signed onto a letter asking federal agents to investigate whether pro-Palestinian groups on college campuses are linked to Hamas. Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s concerned Hamas is using “Students for Justice in Palestine” chapters to shape U-S public opinion. If that’s the case, Grassley says those student groups should be registered as foreign agents. Grassley recently gave a speech about the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

“We ought to know who’s working for foreign countries as they try to influence foreign policy in this country,” Grassley said. Senator Joni Ernst says student groups can sometimes get federal funding or tax-exempt status and, if Hamas is funding National Students for Justice in Palestine chapters, those federal benefits should be cut off.

“If they are engaging in violent protests, if they are encouraging violent protests, then funding needs to be cut off or they need to re-register,” Ernst says. “We want to make sure that they are following federal government guidelines.” Over the past year, other groups of U-S Senators and dozens of Americans whose loved ones were killed in the October 7th attacks in Israel have called on the U-S attorney general to investigate whether the Students for Justice in Palestine is operating as an unregistered branch of a terrorist organization.

A year ago, Florida’s governor ordered that the group’s chapters on Florida campuses be shut down. In a statement to “Jewish Currents” magazine last year, Students of Justice in Palestine said their critics are trying to shift attention away from Israel’s atrocities in Gaza.