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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.
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Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire
Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.
Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”
As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.
Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.
The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.
Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
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Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel
People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas
Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.
“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.
Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.
The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.
In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.
“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.
In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.
Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.
“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.
Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.
To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.
In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.
Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.
The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.
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Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns
Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.
Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.
With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.
The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.
Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.
Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.
According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.
With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.
In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.
The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.
Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.
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