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An Open Letter to University Presidents
Pro-Hamas demonstrators at Columbia University in New York City, US, April 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
Recent weeks have seen a surge in anti-Israel protests at universities across the US. As university leaders, you are undoubtedly facing intense pressure from various perspectives. Here are five keys issues and questions you have probably asked yourselves — but you likely got the answers wrong:
1. Isn’t it paramount that we support free speech and allow students to protest?
Free speech is fundamental in American society, allowing diverse opinions to be heard — even controversial ones. However, speech that threatens specific individuals or groups does not qualify as protected speech. At some campuses, rhetoric has escalated to dangerous levels, with calls for violence against Israeli cities and Jewish students. Such expressions exceed the bounds of free speech.
Jewish students have been targeted, physically intimidated, and even violently attacked. All of this puts much of the anti-Israel protests beyond the protection of free speech.
While protecting free speech is part of the equation, creating an environment that condemns and protects against racism and discrimination is also crucial. Imagine if the KKK wanted to protest in the middle of Columbia University chanting that “blacks are not welcome here” or if anti-gay groups were calling for homosexuals to be targeted and harassed. Would any university leader stand for this? Would anyone want to attend a university that allows this?
2. Aren’t these protests against Israel, not Jews? We should not equate the two.
The stated reason for the protests is to condemn Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. However, much of the rhetoric has devolved into antisemitism against Jewish students. Since the war began, 73% of Jewish college students reported experiencing antisemitic incidents, from vandalism to threats of violence. Additionally, 44% of non-Jewish students also stated that they witnessed antisemitism on campus. These are astonishing numbers.
The core of the connection between anti-Israel hate and antisemitism is the centrality that Israel plays in Jewish identity. One cannot separate Israel from Judaism. The Land of Israel is central to Judaism’s history, sacred texts, prayers, and religious observance. Israel cannot be separated from Judaism — it is integral to it. Thus, for so many Jews, an attack on Israel is an attack against the Jewish People. And many Jews have been attacked simply for being Jewish; the numbers and stories are undeniable
3. Since there are Jewish students also protesting, this can’t be antisemitism, right?
Jewish participation in protests does not negate antisemitism. Although some Jewish students participate in these protests, they represent a minority within the broader American Jewish community. Recent studies, including one by Pew, indicate that a significant majority of American Jews validate Israel’s reasons for engaging Hamas (89%), though opinions on the conduct of operations vary. The diversity among protesters, including Jews, doesn’t nullify the antisemitic elements present, particularly when Jewish organizations like Jewish Voices for Peace, which has been critiqued for antisemitic rhetoric, are involved.
4. How do I know when a protest against Israel’s actions becomes antisemitism?
Soviet dissident and human rights advocate Natan Sharansky has defined when criticism of Israel crosses the line to antisemitism. He calls it the “3 D’s”: delegitimization, demonization, and double standards.
Delegitimization: Questioning Israel’s very existence or advocating to ban “Zionists” from campus is delegitimizing and antisemitic.
Demonization: Israel is fighting against an enemy who openly calls for its destruction, attacks civilians, and then hides amongst Palestinian civilians. Accusing Israel of indiscriminately killing innocent people, committing genocide, or other war crimes when it is not factual is demonizing and antisemitic.
Double Standards: Criticizing Israel for actions that other nations are not criticized for is a double standard and antisemitic. Israel is often criticized for actions that other nations are not. While all loss of innocent life is tragic, one has to wonder why there are protests against Israel across all of these campuses when nothing was done for so many other horrible situations. There were no protests when Syria was using chemical weapons against its own people. There were no protests when Nigerian Christians were slaughtered by Islamists. There were no protests standing up for the brave Muslim women marching in the streets against the Iranian regime. There were no protests to stand up for the Kurds or the Yazidi women and children who were used as sex slaves by ISIS. Why not?
5. What do these protestors want and how can we end this?
Hearing from the protestors themselves, it seems like they have many conflicting agendas, including calls for a ceasefire, cessation of US support for Israel, or even the destruction of Israel. Some also express animosity towards Western values and are also expressing hatred toward America and Western culture, while some have no idea why they are protesting in the first place. This may explain the support they are receiving from Hamas and Iran, as the protesters are aligning with groups hostile to liberal democracies. Universities must formulate responses that reject hate and promote a safe academic environment without compromising free speech.
So how do we end this? Certainly not by giving in to haters and those intimidating, harassing, and threatening others. All university leaders must stand strong against this hatred and make it loud and clear that these hate tactics will not succeed
Elliot Mathias is Aish’s Chief Operating Officer for Global Activities, as well as Executive Director of Aish New York. Elliot is also the founder of Hasbara Fellowships, a program he created while studying at Aish in Jerusalem, Hasbara Fellowships grew under his leadership to become one of the premier campus Israel advocacy organizations in North America, training and supporting thousands of students to stand up for Israel.
The post An Open Letter to University Presidents first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Conservative Pro-Israel Advocate Charlie Kirk Assassinated at University Event in Utah
Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist credited with amassing youth support for the Republican Party, speaking at the inauguration of Donald Trump in January. Photo: Brian Snyder via Reuters Connect
Conservative activist and staunch pro-Israel advocate Charlie Kirk died on Wednesday after being shot during an event at Utah Valley University, according to a statement by US President Donald Trump posted to the Truth Social media platform. He was 31 years old.
“The great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump wrote. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family.”
He added, “Charlie we love you!”
Kirk — founder of the Turning Point USA nonprofit, which is credited for drawing masses of young people, typically a reliable voting bloc for Democrats, to the Republican Party — was answering audience questions when a gunman fired off the fatal shot which impacted his neck, causing him to become limp and bleed profusely.
Since the advent of his career, Kirk has been a faithful supporter of Israel, taking on activists of both the far left and far right who promoted rising antisemitism and sought to undermine the US-Israel alliance.
“There’s a dark Jew hate out there, and see it, and I see it,” Kirk told a student during a podcast episode which aired earlier this year. “Don’t get yourself involved in that. I’m telling you it will rot your brain. It’s bad for your soul. It’s bad. It’s evil. I think it’s demonic.”
Born on Oct. 14, 1993, in Arlington Heights, Illinois, Kirk formally entered the political arena in 2012, five months before the reelection of former President Barack Obama, to found Turning Point USA (TPUSA) — which served as a bellwether of declining youth support for the progressive consensus on race, free speech, and economics that took hold in American college campuses in the 1960s.
TPUSA grew rapidly, challenging campus primacy of the College Republicans organization and exuding confidence in conservative ideas at a moment when political scientists and other experts speculated that the Republican Party would decline to the point that the Democratic Party would achieve long-standing majorities in local and federal government.
Following news of Kirk’s death, the Jewish community deluged social media with tributes to Kirk and prayers for his family and friends.
“Please stop what you’re doing and pray for our friend Charlie Kirk. Many in the Jewish community are reciting chapters from the Book of Psalms, and I ask you do the same,” Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Jewish civil rights advocate, tweeted. “Something is deeply broken in America. The political violence must END. GOD HELP AMERICA.”
“We have no words,” StopAntisemitism, a Jewish civil rights advocacy group, tweeted.
Meanwhile, Jewish conservative influencer Emily Austin said, “With deep pain and sorrow, we mourn the passing of Charlie Kirk. May he rest in peace, and may God welcome him into His eternal care. This is a profound loss for the world — Charlie was a truly blessed soul whose impact will never be forgotten.”
Kirk is survived by his wife, Erika, and his two young children.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Lebanon’s Army to Disarm Hezbollah Near Israeli Border Within 3 Months in First Step to Restore State Control
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and members of the cabinet stand as they attend a cabinet session to discuss the army’s plan to disarm Hezbollah, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Lebanon, Sept. 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Lebanon’s army plans to fully disarm Hezbollah near the Israeli border within three months, the first step in the Lebanese government’s plan to restore authority and curb the influence of the Iran-backed terror group within the country.
On Tuesday, Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi confirmed to AFP that the government received a five-stage plan last week from the military to enforce a policy placing all weapons under state control.
The move follows Lebanese authorities’ approval last month of a US-backed initiative to disarm Hezbollah in exchange for a halt to Israeli military operations in the country’s south.
Amid mounting international pressure to disarm the terrorist group, Lebanon’s cabinet tasked the army with developing a strategy to establish a state monopoly on arms.
For years, Israel has demanded that Hezbollah be barred from carrying out activities south of the Litani, located roughly 15 miles from the Israeli border.
However, Hezbollah has pushed back against any government efforts, insisting that negotiations to dismantle its arsenal would be a serious misstep while Israel continues airstrikes in the country’s south.
The terrorist group has even threatened protests and civil unrest if the government tries to enforce control over its weapons.
But as Hezbollah emerged weakened from a yearlong conflict with Israel, calls for the Islamist group’s disarmament have gained new momentum, reshaping a power balance it had long controlled in Lebanon.
Last fall, Israel decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and military capabilities with an air and ground offensive, following the group’s attacks on Jerusalem — which they claimed were a show of solidarity with the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas amid the war in Gaza.
In November, Lebanon and Israel reached a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended a year of fighting between the Jewish state and Hezbollah.
Under the agreement, Israel was given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, allowing the Lebanese army and UN forces to take over security as Hezbollah disarms and moves away from Israel’s northern border.
However, Israel maintained troops at several posts in southern Lebanon beyond the ceasefire deadline, as its leaders aimed to reassure northern residents that it was safe to return home.
Jerusalem has continued carrying out strikes targeting remaining Hezbollah activity, with Israeli leaders accusing the group of maintaining combat infrastructure, including rocket launchers — calling this “blatant violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
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Israeli Military Expert: Doha Strike Was Backed by US and Qatar Coup, Will Bring Hostage Deal Closer
A damaged building, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders, according to an Israeli official, in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Israel’s unprecedented strike on Hamas leaders in Doha this week was not a rogue act of military aggression, but rather the outcome of quiet coordination between Qatar and the US that could bring a hostage deal closer, Israeli intelligence expert Eyal Pinko said on Wednesday.
The strike, which officials have said was planned months ago, came a day after 10 Israelis were killed by Hamas in Gaza and Jerusalem. Four were soldiers who died in an attack on an Israeli tank in northern Gaza. The separate shooting attack in Jerusalem, in which six Israelis were killed and several more wounded, was the “straw that broke the camel’s back,” Pinko, a national security expert who served in Israeli intelligence for more than three decades, said in a press briefing.
Pinko contended that while Qatar publicly condemned the attacks, it also enabled them. “I am sure they were involved and the attack was coordinated with the [Qataris],” Pinko later told The Algemeiner.
The most recent round of negotiations to secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal were nothing more than a “deception” by the US and Israel designed to gather Hamas leaders in one place “in order to set the timing to eliminate them,” he said.
Pinko said the strike should also be seen in light of US President Donald Trump’s impatience with the stalled hostage talks, arguing it showed Trump was on board with assassinations of Hamas leaders despite public declarations that he was “very unhappy” with the attack. He also pointed to Trump’s comments from last month, in which the US president predicted the Gaza conflict would reach a “conclusive ending” within two or three weeks.
Qatar, which has long hosted Hamas’s exiled leadership, benefits strategically from replacing the terrorist group’s leaders loyal to Iran with figures it can trust, Pinko maintained. Doha holds billions of dollars belonging to Hamas officials and has no interest in letting Ankara or Tehran displace it as the group’s patron. The timing of the attack is also significant, Pinko said, coming in the wake of Israel’s strikes against Iran’s nuclear program over the summer. “Iran is in a very bad situation. Qatar can easily overcome Iran,” he said.
Pinko further argued that the strike may serve to bring forward the release of the Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza since Hamas itself was no longer a coherent negotiating partner. The terrorist group operating in Gaza had become fragmented, “divided into five families that are fighting each other” and sometimes giving the impression that “they hate each other more than they hate Israel,” Pinko said. Recent talks proved “there was no longer a decisionmaker in Hamas,” and this disarray had allowed Hamas leaders to drag out the process with unrealistic demands. Removing those figures, he argued, would leave room for Qatar to install leaders who could cut a deal. “This will make the negotiation process much faster,” he said.
Pinko’s assessment stands in stark contrast to the fears of some of the families of the remaining 48 hostages held in Gaza, who said in a statement they had “grave fear” the Doha strike could sabotage the chances of bringing their loved ones home.
He placed the operation in a wider context, linking it to the revival of the Abraham Accords and US efforts to build a trade corridor from India through the Gulf to Israel and Europe as a counterweight to China’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road initiative, ending with Gaza as a key trade hub. “Trump is very serious in making the northern part of the Gaza Strip as [having] US autonomy. That will be the end of the American belt and road initiative to compete with the Chinese,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called on Qatar, which “gives safe haven [and] harbors terrorists,” to expel them or bring them to justice, adding that if they don’t, “we will.”
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, for his part said his country would retaliate over the strike, and accused Netanyahu of “wasting” Qatar’s time in negotiations and “leading the Middle East to chaos.”
Pinko called out Doha for its “duplicity” in pretending to be a peacemaker on the one hand, while “fueling Hamas and hatred” in the US and Europe, on the other.
“They are against Israel in their DNA. They don’t want Israel to exist,” he said. “So Gaza and Hamas are a very important asset for them.”
Some critics have denounced the Doha strike as a violation of international law, but international law experts note that Article 51 of the UN Charter recognizes a state’s inherent right to self-defense and that this right is not confined by geography if attacks are directed from outside its borders. The so-called “unwilling or unable” doctrine holds that if a host country does not act against militants on its soil, the victim state may use proportionate force.
The US relied on this doctrine when it killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in a 2011 operation that was widely hailed by Western governments and the UN, whose then secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said at the time that he was “very much relieved by news that justice has been done” and called it “a watershed moment in our common global fight against terrorism.”