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Brown University Sends a Message: Extremism Works
More than 200 Brown University students gathered outside University Hall where roughly 40 students sat inside demanding the school divest from weapons manufacturers amid the Israel-Hamas war. Photo: Amy Russo / USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect
At Brown University, extremism works. The tale of how the university’s leadership responded to two very different sets of concerns clearly demonstrates this.
Let’s start with the first set of concerns. Last year, CAMERA authored two reports highlighting serious issues of antisemitism and extremism at Brown University. These reports, which contained copious amounts of evidence about faculty and departments systematically indoctrinating students in their radical worldviews, were sent directly to Brown University’s leadership, including President Christina Paxson.
We documented how university professors, events, and journals were openly spreading blood libels about “Jewish mobs … thirsty for Palestinian blood,” glorifying Hamas and other terrorists, and even teaching students that Jewish identity is nothing but a colonial conspiracy.
Our letters to Paxson not only highlighted these issues, but also made clear our willingness to work with the university to help address these issues in a cooperative manner. We know that students and alumni also raised our reports and other concerns with the university, and that Paxson privately acknowledged to some that our reports “reflect broader concerns about whether universities like Brown maintain integrity and balance in their programming and scholarship on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
And yet, Paxson refused to publicly engage on these issues. More importantly, she refused to address the serious ethical questions we raised regarding anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred being promoted at her university’s Center for Middle East Studies.
Contrast that with Paxson’s response to the displays of extremism and antisemitism pervading the anti-Israel demonstrations on and off campus, including the encampment on the university’s “Main Green” lawn. (Violence and chaos that our reports warned about.)
These “anti-Israel” demonstrators have not just repeatedly violated university rules by setting up camp on university property and violating other reasonable policies. They have also spent months engaging in hateful, extremist displays.
Just days after Palestinian terrorists butchered and raped their way through Israeli communities on October 7, dozens of student organizations described the atrocities as a “just” act and as legitimate “resistance.” At the same time, Brown University’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter was organizing rallies, where signs openly declared such “resistance” was “justified” and featured calls to free “political prisoners” (i.e., terrorists) and even genocidal slogans.
Jewish institutions at Brown have been threatened, and chants of “Glory to our martyrs” — a chant literally glorifying terrorists — have rung out on university grounds, as Jewish students have been subject to an assortment of antisemitic and intimidating behavior.
To her credit, Paxson has refused to drop criminal charges against a number of demonstrators who violated the law. That decision should be applauded.
And yet, she caved to their demand to advance a discriminatory Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) vote against the Jewish state in an upcoming meeting of the Brown Corporation.
Think about these actions.
On the one hand, Paxson refused to publicly acknowledge and address serious concerns of antisemitism and extremism brought to her in a professional, respectful manner.
On the other hand, Paxson caved to those who raised their concerns by breaking the law, violating university policies, and polluting the campus with violent and hateful rhetoric.
And to be clear, we know that those professors CAMERA identified in its reports have been involved in stoking this behavior.
All of this raises obvious questions. Why should students bother composing well-reasoned and well-evidenced arguments? Why should students follow the rules, abide by the law, and engage in respectful dialogue? When seeking change at Brown University, under Paxson’s leadership, those methods clearly don’t work.
Is breaking the law and university policies the only way for Jewish students and alumni to have their concerns taken seriously, too? Instead of treating the university administration with respect, should they also have marched through campus chanting genocidal slogans?
Two things are certain, though. First, as American universities are aflame with extremism, antisemitism, and lawlessness, universities have only themselves to blame for the decades-long promotion of faculty members who abuse their role, and indoctrinate students in “resistance.” Second, by rewarding bad behavior instead of respectful dialogue, Paxson, et al. are sowing the seeds of yet more chaos and lawlessness.
David M. Litman is a Research Analyst at the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA).
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Antisemitic Incidents at Argentina Local Soccer Match Spark Official Investigations, Condemnations
Fans of Argentinian soccer club All Boys marched through the streets before their match against Atlanta soccer club, carrying a coffin draped with an Israeli flag alongside Iranian and Palestinian flags. Photo: Screenshot
Argentinian authorities and soccer officials have launched investigations following antisemitic incidents by Club Atlético All Boys fans during Sunday’s local match against Atlanta.
Atlanta, a soccer team based in the Villa Crespo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, has deep historical ties to Argentina’s Jewish community, which has long been a significant presence in the area.
This latest antisemitic incident took place outside the stadium before the game had even started.
All Boys fans were seen waving Palestinian and Iranian flags, carrying a coffin draped with an Israeli flag, and handing out flyers bearing messages like “Free Palestine” and “Israel and Atlanta are the same crap.”
Before a football match today against the Argentine sports club Atlanta, which is closely associated with the Jewish community, fans of the opposing team, All Boys, waved Islamic Republic and Palestinian flags while parading a coffin draped in an Israeli flag through the streets.… pic.twitter.com/IQs4v6eoFz
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) June 29, 2025
Then, during the match — which ended in a 0-0 draw — a drone carrying a Palestinian flag flew over the stadium, while some fans reportedly chanted anti-Israel slogans.
Local police confirmed they have issued citations to individuals accused of inciting public disorder and related offenses.
On Monday, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) condemned the incidents as “abhorrent” and confirmed the organization has opened a formal inquiry into the events.
“This is not folklore. This is discrimination,” the statement reads.
Argentina’s Security Minister Patricia Bullrich also announced that a criminal complaint has been filed, citing “acts of violence, expressions of racial and religious hatred, and public intimidation.”
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, condemned the incidents and called on both local authorities and the soccer officials to “take firm action against these acts of hatred.”
“We urge the authorities to take all necessary actions and apply the full force of the law,” the statement reads. “Violence and discrimination must have no place in our society.”
Repudiamos enérgicamente las expresiones antisemitas ocurridas hoy en las inmediaciones del estadio Malvinas Argentinas.
Exigimos a las autoridades correspondientes, a la AFA y al Club All Boys que actúen con firmeza ante estos hechos de odio.
La violencia y la discriminación no… pic.twitter.com/3AmY7IQscY— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) June 29, 2025
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Argentina has experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents and anti-Jewish hate crimes.
According to a recent report by DAIA, Argentina experienced a 15 percent increase in antisemitic activity last year, with 687 anti-Jewish hate crimes recorded — up from 598 incidents in 2023 — marking a significant rise nationwide.
The study indicates that 66 percent of the antisemitic incidents originated in the digital realm, with a significant rise in Nazi symbols and conspiracy theories, but there was also a 34 percent increase in reported physical assaults, with such hate crimes rising in schools and neighborhoods.
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Iranian nuclear program degraded by up to two years, Pentagon says
A satellite image of Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility. Photo: File.
The Pentagon said on Wednesday that US strikes 10 days ago had degraded Iran’s nuclear program by up to two years, suggesting the U.S. military operation likely achieved its goals despite a far more cautious initial assessment that leaked to the public.
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, offered the figure at a briefing to reporters, adding that the official estimate was “probably closer to two years.” Parnell did not provide evidence to back up his assessment.
“We have degraded their program by one to two years, at least intel assessments inside the Department [of Defense] assess that,” Parnell told a news briefing.
U.S. military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22 using more than a dozen 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles.
The evolving U.S. intelligence about the impact of the strikes is being closely watched, after President Donald Trump said almost immediately after they took place that Iran’s program had been obliterated, language echoed by Parnell at Wednesday’s briefing.
Such conclusions often take the U.S. intelligence community weeks or more to determine.
“All of the intelligence that we’ve seen [has] led us to believe that Iran’s — those facilities especially, have been completely obliterated,” Parnell said.
Over the weekend, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said that Iran could be producing enriched uranium in a few months, raising doubts about how effective US strikes to destroy Tehran’s nuclear program have been.
Several experts have also cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of the deeply buried Fordow site before the strikes and could be hiding it.
But US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week he was unaware of intelligence suggesting Iran had moved its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes.
A preliminary assessment last week from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggested that the strikes may have only set back Iran’s nuclear program by months. But Trump administration officials said that assessment was low confidence and had been overtaken by intelligence showing Iran’s nuclear program was severely damaged.
According to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the strikes on the Fordow nuclear site caused severe damage.
“No one exactly knows what has transpired in Fordow. That being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been seriously and heavily damaged,” Araqchi said in the interview broadcast by CBS News on Tuesday.
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Switzerland Moves to Close Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s Geneva Office Over Legal Irregularities
Palestinians carry aid supplies received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Switzerland has moved to shut down the Geneva office of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed aid group, citing legal irregularities in its establishment.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May, implementing a new aid delivery model aimed at preventing the diversion of supplies by Hamas, as Israel continues its defensive military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group.
The initiative has drawn criticism from the UN and international organizations, some of which have claimed that Jerusalem is causing starvation in the war-torn enclave.
Israel has vehemently denied such accusations, noting that, until its recently imposed blockade, it had provided significant humanitarian aid in the enclave throughout the war.
Israeli officials have also said much of the aid that flows into Gaza is stolen by Hamas, which uses it for terrorist operations and sells the rest at high prices to Gazan civilians.
With a subsidiary registered in Geneva, the GHF — headquartered in Delaware — reports having delivered over 56 million meals to Palestinians in just one month.
According to a regulatory announcement published Wednesday in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce, the Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA) may order the dissolution of the GHF if no creditors come forward within the legal 30-day period.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Swiss decision to shut down its Geneva office.
“The GHF confirmed to the ESA that it had never carried out activities in Switzerland … and that it intends to dissolve the Geneva-registered branch,” the ESA said in a statement.
Last week, Geneva authorities gave the GHF a 30-day deadline to address legal shortcomings or risk facing enforcement measures.
Under local laws and regulations, the foundation failed to meet several requirements: it did not appoint a board member authorized to sign documents domiciled in Switzerland, did not have the minimum three board members, lacked a Swiss bank account and valid address, and operated without an auditing body.
The GHF operates independently from UN-backed mechanisms, which Hamas has sought to reinstate, arguing that these vehicles are more neutral.
Israeli and American officials have rejected those calls, saying Hamas previously exploited UN-run systems to siphon aid for its war effort.
The UN has denied those allegations while expressing concerns that the GHF’s approach forces civilians to risk their safety by traveling long distances across active conflict zones to reach food distribution points.
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