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Jewish Groups, Leaders Denounce Shooting of Palestinian Students in Vermont: ‘We Reject Hate’
First responders wheel a victim to an ambulance after a gunman shot and wounded three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont, US, Nov. 25, 2023 in a still image from video. Courtesy Wayne Savage via REUTERS.
Jewish groups and leaders were quick to denounce anti-Palestinian hate following the shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent in Vermont over the weekend.
Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahseen Ali Ahmad — all age 20 — were walking near the University of Vermont in the city of Burlington when a gunman shot them, injuring the students and sending them to the hospital. All three students are alive — two were stable as of Sunday and one had sustained more serious injuries, according to police.
The victims — all of whom attend colleges in the northeast region of the US — were reportedly speaking in a mix of English and Arabic and two of them were also wearing black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves at the time of the shooting. Both local and federal authorities are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.
The suspect in the shooting, Jason J. Eaton, 48, pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted second-degree murder on Monday and was ordered by a judge to be held without bond.
The Jewish community wasted no time in condemning the shooting, as well as hatred directed against Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians.
“We are aware of the tragic shooting of three college students of apparent Palestinian descent last night in Burlington and share in the concern for their recovery,” the New England office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) tweeted on Sunday. “At a time of rising incidents of identity-based hate all too often targeting the Muslim and Jewish communities in increasingly violent ways, we join in the call to law enforcement to investigate this as a possible hate crime.”
Arizona State Rep. Alma Hernandez (D) posted to social media that Jews stand together against anti-Palestinian hate.
“I don’t know any Jew who is celebrating the shooting of Palestinian students,” Hernandez wrote. “We reject hate and violence against all. And a friendly reminder that just because we always show our support does not mean that others will do so for us, but even if we don’t receive the same support, we must never remain silent…hate and bigotry against anyone should be denounced full stop. I can’t believe this even needs to be said.”
Jewish on Campus, an antisemitism watchdog that tracks anti-Jewish hatred on college campuses, tweeted, “We stand in solidarity with the victims and their families and hope for their quick recoveries. Now and always, we stand against Islamophobia and anti-Arab discrimination.”
Pro-Israel advocates, both Jewish and non-Jewish were also quick to condemn the shooting in Vermont.
“The United States should have zero tolerance for anti-Palestinian hate and violence. America belongs to all Americans, and the safety of each American is sacrosanct,” added Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), a progressive lawmaker who has been a vocal supporter of Israel in the US Congress.
The shooting and show of support for the victims from the Jewish community came amid a rise in anti-Muslim incidents as well as a global surge in antisemitism since Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, with the US and several European countries experiencing record numbers of antisemitic incidents.
College campuses across the West have been hubs of such antisemitism in the weeks since Hamas’ attack, with students and faculty both demonizing Israel and rationalizing Hamas’ terror onslaught. Incidents of harassment and even violence against Jewish students have also increased. As a result, Jewish students have expressed feeling unsafe and unprotected on campuses. In some cases, Jewish communities on campuses have been forced to endure threats of rape and mass slaughter.
A striking 37 percent of Jewish college students reporting feeling the need to hide their Jewish identity on campus since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, according to a poll published last week by Hillel International, the largest Jewish campus organization in the world.
The survey found that 35 percent of respondents said there have been acts of hate or violence against Jews on campus. A majority of those surveyed said they were unsatisfied with their university’s response to those incidents.
The Biden administration has opened multiple civil rights investigations into universities accused of ignoring antisemitism. The administration has also issued guidance reminding colleges of their obligation to respond to and deter bigotry of all kinds.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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