CODEPINK co-founder and activist Medea Benjamin speaks at a protest she helped organize outside Pepperdine’s Washington, D.C., building Friday, Oct. 17. Roughly 20 activists attended the event, which Benjamin said was “just the initial one.” Photos courtesy of anonymous Pepperdine alumnus
Editor’s Note: The Graphic uses anonymous sources only in rare cases. An anonymous source would be considered by the Graphic when the source has a serious concern about privacy and that source is considered to be credible by the managing editor and advisers.
A new campaign by CODEPINK, an anti-war and social justice advocacy nonprofit organization known for nonviolently protesting and heckling politicians, has found its next target of its ongoing Palestinian activism: Pepperdine University.
The group organized an Oct. 17 protest in front of Pepperdine’s Washington, D.C., campus in response to the recent hiring of the Rev. Johnnie Moore, Jr., who has served as the executive chairman of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) since early June. The GHF has been the subject of international scrutiny, including from U.N. experts, who called for its immediate dismantling in an Aug. 5 press release, citing mass killings near GHF aid distribution sites enacted by Israeli forces and GHF contractors.
Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK co-founder and a high-profile Jewish-American activist, said she organized the event after reading the Graphic’s Aug. 19 reporting on Moore’s hiring.
“When we read that he [Moore] had been hired by Pepperdine University D.C. campus, I thought it was a joke — it was another Reverend Moore,” Benjamin said during the demonstration. “It couldn’t possibly be the same Reverend Johnnie Moore whose hands are dripping in blood. But lo and behold: it is. And I just am still flabbergasted that this University would hire somebody with such a horrendous past.”
Moore serves as the vice chancellor of Pepperdine’s Washington, D.C., campus and the managing director of the School of Public Policy’s (SPP) D.C.-based Master of Middle East Policy Studies Program (MMEPS), which began this fall. The program was founded as an alternative to what SPP Dean Pete Peterson described in a June 18 op-ed as “anti-Israel bias” across other Middle East programs. According to the program’s website, MMEPS is partnered with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, described as pro-Israel by The New York Times.
A University spokesperson said a full description of Moore’s role was “forthcoming” in an Aug. 19 email to the Graphic. Pepperdine has yet to publish an announcement of Moore’s employment; as of Oct. 18, the only place Moore is listed on Pepperdine’s website is an internal staff directory only available to students, faculty and staff.
A listing for the Rev. Johnnie Moore, Jr. in Pepperdine’s internal Faculty/Staff directory. Moore is listed under the President’s office in the directory.
After beginning his roles at Pepperdine, Moore has repped Pepperdine at multiple speaker events and on a petition demanding the International Association of Genocide Scholars retract its accusations of genocide against Israel.
“Part of what the Palestine movement has done is made it clear that anyone connected to this ongoing occupation and genocide will not be able to do anything without there being noise around it,” CODEPINK organizer Olivia DiNucci said.
Israeli and Israeli-backed forces have killed over 67,869 Palestinians in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, with at least 2,615 confirmed fatalities in aid waiting areas and near GHF distribution points, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. In September, a U.N. commission found Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The Oct. 17 protest grew to around 20 participants over the course of its roughly half-hour span, where several local reverends and activists including Benjamin gave speeches. Demonstrators stood next to a stack of red-stained prop GHF aid boxes and held Palestinian flags and signs with messages such as “PEPPERDINE D.C. FIRE REV. JOHNNIE MOORE!” and “PEPPERDINE WAR CRIMINALS WORK HERE!”
“This man [Moore] is unfortunately responsible for the Gaza Holocaust Foundation, which ran concentration camps in Gaza,” said Michael Beer, co-director of Nonviolence International.
A video posted by CODEPINK on X hours after the Oct. 17 protest. Organizer Olivia DiNucci (left) and CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin (right) are featured in the first 30 seconds.
Prior to the protest, CODEPINK published a petition addressed to President Jim Gash and the Board of Regents calling for Pepperdine to fire Moore, provide transparency on his hiring process and commit to “listening to those whose families waited in those [GHF aid distribution] lines and never came home.”
“This is a moment to decide who Pepperdine really is,” CODEPINK wrote. “Either your faith compels you to stand with the vulnerable and to tell the truth about preventable tragedy, or your faith is merely a slogan.”
Benjamin said she called Pepperdine’s Washington, D.C., campus multiple times in the days leading up to the demonstration, intending to plan a meeting about Moore’s hiring where she could share the petition. D.C. program staff did not return her calls.
The CODEPINK petition, addressed to President Jim Gash and the Board of Regents. Over 80 individuals had signed it as of Oct. 17.
In the hour before the demonstration, Benjamin and a few other activists gathered at Lulu’s Cafe, a Palestinian-owned business located less than a block away from Pepperdine’s D.C. building. Protesters discussed Moore and their perception of Pepperdine’s political identity over coffee and pastries before walking over to the University building shortly after 1 p.m.
Benjamin started the protest by reading through the CODEPINK petition to Pepperdine. At one point, the protesters began chanting, “Shame on Pepperdine.”
“I’m here to let folks know that as a Christian who believes in the concept of love and following Christ that this in no way should ever be tolerated,” the Rev. Kenneth King said during the demonstration.
Several D.C. police officers and vehicles were stationed in front of Pepperdine’s D.C. building before the protest began. Police maintained their presence during the protest, and at one point a verbal argument broke out between several officers and activists. The situation remained peaceful and did not escalate.
One of the demonstrators’ initial goals during the Oct. 17 protest was to walk inside the building and hand-deliver a printed copy of the petition, Benjamin said. Activists were unable to open the building’s doors — which are typically unlocked during business hours — but attempted to get a delivery person and other people entering the building to deliver on their behalf. Ultimately, an activist slipped the petition through the small gap between the glass entrance doors, dropping it on the doormat inside.
Activists at the Oct. 17 CODEPINK protest begin their nonviolent demonstration against Pepperdine at its Washington, D.C., campus. Three police officers gathered to the right of the protesters during the demonstration.
Benjamin told the Graphic the Oct. 17 protest was the beginning of a campaign CODEPINK was starting against Pepperdine’s hiring of Moore. The organization hopes to involve more religious leaders, local student groups, Pepperdine alumni and humanitarian groups at future demonstrations. They also hope to involve their Los Angeles chapter and GHF whistleblower Anthony Aguilar, whom Benjamin has been in contact with.
“It’s [Moore’s hiring] so egregious that we immediately organized a protest very quickly and we will keep going back there because this is just the initial one,” Benjamin said.
Last month, Moore “informed interlocutors” he planned to step down from his role at GHF, according to an Oct. 14 report by The Times of Israel which relied on anonymous sources. In a statement to the Israeli newspaper, a GHF spokesperson denied Moore had left GHF. After the Oct. 10 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect, GHF paused its operations, according to BBC News.
A Pepperdine spokesperson declined to comment on both the CODEPINK petition and Oct. 17 protest. Moore did not respond to a request for comment.
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