The impact of the Israeli-Gaza war and pro-Palestinian movement have been felt here in Michigan in different ways.

Tom Perkins reports in The Guardian, a British newspaper with U.S. correspondents around the country:

The University of Michigan is using private, undercover investigators to surveil pro-Palestinian campus groups, including trailing them on and off campus, furtively recording them and eavesdropping on their conversations, the Guardian has learned.

The surveillance appears to largely be an intimidation tactic, five students who have been followed, recorded or eavesdropped on said. The undercover investigators have cursed at students, threatened them and in one case drove a car at a student who had to jump out of the way, according to student accounts and video footage shared with the Guardian.

Students say they have frequently identified undercover investigators and confronted them. In two bizarre interactions captured by one student on video, a man who had been trailing the student faked disabilities, and noisily – and falsely – accused a student of attempting to rob him.

Katrina Keating, part of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), a local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, says the surveillance has made her feel on edge.

“But on another level, it sometimes feels comedic because it’s so insane that they have spent millions of dollars to hire some goons to follow campus activists around... It’s just such a waste of money and time.”

Perkins reports that the undercover investigators appear to work for Detroit-based City Shield, a private security group.

Pro-Palestinian students have demanded that the school stop investing in companies with ties to Israel.

The University of Michigan did not deny the report, telling The Guardian via email:

“Any security measures in place are solely focused on maintaining a safe and secure campus environment and are never directed at individuals or groups based on their beliefs or affiliations."

The security company did not respond to requests from The Guardian for comment.

Former UM President Santa Ono was accused by Jewish students on campus of not doing enough to protect them from harassment by the pro-Palestinian movement. Members of pro-Palestinian groups, who set up encampments on campus, have complained that they were unfairly charged criminally for protesting. Those charges were later dropped.

The Guardian reached out to U-M Regent Jordan Acker, describing him as an outspoken critic of the protesters. He did not respond to requests for comment.

Acker has been the victim of crimes related to the dispute on multiple occasions.

A year ago, in June, the exterior of Acker's Southfield law firm, Goodman Acker, was spray-painted with pro-Palestinian graffiti.

"I am targeted for this because I am Jewish, this neighborhood is Jewish, and because some people, under the pretext of helping Palestinians, feel the obligation to single out Jews—especially liberal ones—for an attack," he said after the incident last June. "It is unacceptable, it is un-American, and it must stop now."

Last December, his Huntington Woods home was vandalized—a window was broken, and his wife's car was spray-painted with pro-Palestinian graffiti while his family was home.