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‘Useless Pigs’: Anti-Israel Demonstrations Rage at Yale University, Forcing Police Intervention
Anti-Israel demonstrators at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut on April 22, 2024. Photo: Screenshot
Police were dispatched to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut on Monday to quell an illegal demonstration of anti-Israel activists that has been raging on the campus since Friday and resulted in the assault of a Jewish student.
Some 47 students were arrested early on Monday for trespassing, according to the Yale Daily News. They, and many others, had been camped outside Beinecke Plaza, claiming to starve themselves to protest Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza and the university’s links to Israel and companies that manufacture military armaments. The paper reported on Sunday that Assistant Dean Hannah Peck offered them a chance to leave without consequences.
The reported “deal” included no punishments for the demonstrators as well as a meeting with the chair of Yale’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility — which would provide a platform for the activists to push the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward the Jewish state’s eventual elimination.
Nonetheless, the university’s overture was repelled, and on Monday, Yale Police Department officers arrived at Beinecke Plaza, sealing off the area and dismantling tents in which the students were living for over a week. They were, the News explained, once again invited to leave and avoid criminal charges but refused to do so.
As police entered, a mass of students formed to chant, “Officer, officer, can’t you see? You’re on the wrong side of history” and other slogans comparing the officers, many of whom were Black or non-white, to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). However, the officers ultimately cleared the protesters from the area by 8 am, forcing them to move their demonstration off-campus. Displeased that order had been restored, some students proceeded to verbally abuse the officers, calling them “useless pigs” and shouting “shame on you” at them.
“The university made the decision to arrest those individuals who would not leave the plaza with the safety and security of the entire Yale community in mind and to allow access to university facilities by all members of our community,” a Yale spokesperson told The Algemeiner on Monday. “Yale provides detailed guidance on free expression, peaceable assembly, and requesting the use of on-campus outdoor spaces. Since the protest started, the university and the Yale Police Department worked to reduce the likelihood of confrontations and arrests.”
However, numerous reported confrontations did ensue during the conflagration, despite Yale’s assurances of its efforts. On Saturday, a male protestor — whose identity was concealed by a keffiyeh that he wrapped around his visage — jammed the wooden tip of a Palestinian flag into the eye a Jewish Yale student, Sahar Tartak.
Tartak, who said she was singled out for wearing Hasidic Jewish attire, was at the scene to report on the protest for The Yale Free Press, an effort that the protesters by forming a human chain around the Beinecke Plaza encampment. After the assault, a mob of anti-Zionist protesters prevented Tartak from pursuing the assailant.
“After this Yale student jabbed my eye with his flag, I tried to yell and run after him,” Tartak wrote on X/Twitter. “But the people in this video made a human blockade to stop me from confronting my assaulter. They stood in front of me in a line throughout the night.”
Later, she told Fox News: “He had anonymity because of the keffiyeh. The organizers encourage anonymity at these events because it creates immunity, so that students can physically assault people like me and get away with it.”
Tartak managed to stay on the scene, capturing and sharing footage of the demonstration. In one video shared on X, a throng of students swayed side to side in rhythmic synchronization with an antisemitic hip-hop song, which said, “F—k Israel, Israel a b—ch … N—ga, it’s they land, why you out here tryna [sic] rob it. Bulls—t prophets, y’all just want the profit.”
Other footage showed an apparent melding of minds between Yale University students and Islamist terrorist organizations, with many shouting “Death to America” and other slogans calling for the destruction of Israel and all of Western civilization.
On Monday, Yale University told The Algemeiner that punishments for those involved in this weekend’s events are forthcoming but admitted that administrators will only go so far in holding them to account.
“Students who were arrested also will be referred for Yale disciplinary action, which includes a range of sanctions, such as reprimand, probation, or suspension,” the university said.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Useless Pigs’: Anti-Israel Demonstrations Rage at Yale University, Forcing Police Intervention first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Treasure Trove spotlights a menorah designed in the early years of the State of Israel
This laurel branch Hanukkah menorah, designed by artist Maurice Ascalon (1913-2003), won first prize at the 1950 Tel Aviv Design Competition. Between 2,000 and 4,000 of these were made by the Pal-Bell factory in Israel, and they were sold not only in Israel but in select department stores around the world, including Macy’s in New York and Harrods in London.
The shape of the oil containers resembles ancient Roman lamps, while the large pitcher is a reference to the single jug of oil that lasted for eight days that is at the heart of the Hanukkah story.
These hanukkiyot were manufactured out of cast bronze with a green patina that was created using reactive chemicals, a process developed by Ascalon, resulting in an antique verdigris look.
Ascalon, who was born in Hungary and originally named Moshe Klein, immigrated to Palestine in 1934 after training in Brussels and Milan. He started the Pal-Bell Company in the late 1930s for the production of ritual and secular decorative items. “Pal” is short for Palestine and “Bell” is short for bellezza, Italian for beauty and an allusion to his time in Milan where the artist learned and perfected his sculpting skills. During Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, Ascalon designed munitions for the Israeli army and, at the request of the Israeli government, retrofitted his factory to produce arms for the war effort.
Ascalon closed Pal-Bell and moved to the United States in 1956, where he taught sculpture at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and opened Ascalon Studios, which produces large-scale sculptures for public spaces and houses of worship.
The studio, which is now run by Ascalon’s son David and his grandson Eric, was retooled during the COVID pandemic to manufacture safety boxes that allowed health-care workers to assist a patient on a ventilator while minimizing exposure.
Treasure Trove wishes you a happy Hanukkah , which starts on Dec. 25. This year, as Peter, Paul and Mary sang, “Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice, justice and freedom demand. Don’t let the light go out!”
The post Treasure Trove spotlights a menorah designed in the early years of the State of Israel appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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