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UMass student arrested for punching Jewish student at Hillel vigil
(JTA) – A student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was arrested by university police Friday after punching a Jewish student and spitting on an Israeli flag during a vigil for hostages.
According to both the school’s administration and the UMass Hillel, the attack occurred at a solidarity walk organized by the Hillel, which had set up empty Shabbat tables symbolizing the more than 200 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
At first, the student in question was “aggressively giving people the middle finger,” according to a “security message” posted by the Hillel on Sunday alerting people to the incident. After the event’s conclusion, the message said, the same student returned, punched a Jewish student holding an Israeli flag and spat on the flag. A Hillel staff member intervened to “de-escalate the situation,” and campus police arrested the perpetrator.
The UMass administration condemned the assailant’s conduct as “reprehensible, illegal, and unacceptable” and said the student would be held both legally liable and subjected to the student code of conduct. The student has been released on bail and is prohibited from returning to campus. The administration added that the Jewish student who was assaulted had not been injured.
The incident is the latest example of campus antisemitism leading to a law enforcement response during the war between Israel and Hamas, which began on Oct. 7. Last week, a student at Rutgers University was charged with making online threats against an Israeli student who is a member of the Jewish fraternity AEPi, according to the local Patch news site.
The UMass incident also comes less than a week after a student at Cornell University was arrested for making death threats toward the campus Jewish population, and weeks after a suspect was charged with hate crimes for attacking a Columbia University student.
In addition, over the past month, several university faculty nationwide have publicly praised Hamas’ attack or taken aim at “Zionists,” and student groups projected anti-Zionist messages onto a campus library at George Washington University. Some parents of Jewish college students have sought to mobilize around the issue, while some Jewish day schools have pressed universities to better guarantee their students’ safety.
The current war began when the Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 and wounding thousands. Since then, Israel has counterattacked with airstrikes and a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip in which more than 10,000 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. It is unclear how many of those casualties are civilians and how many have been killed by terror group’s misfired rockets.
In a letter to the UMass campus community in the wake of the Friday incident, Shelly Perdomo-Ahmed, interim vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life, and Tyrone Parham, assistant vice chancellor and chief of police, wrote, “Antisemitism, Islamophobia, or any form of bigotry have no place in our community.”
“Let us be clear, these were the actions of an individual who did not speak for nor act on behalf of a group or anyone other than themselves,” they added. “Peaceful advocacy and protest must and will be protected on our campus.”
Rabbi Aaron Fine, director of the UMass Hillel, did not return Jewish Telegraphic Agency requests for comment. Hillel’s statement encouraged the campus community to continue to “model civility.”
“We know this incident is disturbing to many of us, particularly during a time when tensions, emotion and concern are heightened on our campus,” the message reads. “But we must not let the most extreme voices and actions create undue fear or dominate the campus climate.”
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The post UMass student arrested for punching Jewish student at Hillel vigil appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.