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Lizzo Thanks Pro-Palestinian Activists, Anti-Israel College Protesters While Accusing Jewish State of ‘Genocide’
Lizzo attends the 2024 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on April 13, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: CraSH/imageSPACE/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Lizzo on Monday thanked activists who are protesting on behalf of “Palestine” and other regions in the world, and added that student-led, anti-Israel protests taking place on college and university campuses across the US are “deeply important.”
The singer, whose real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson, said in a video message on her Instagram page that she wanted “to take a second and give a personal thank-you to all of the activists who have been working tirelessly to help the liberation and the freedom of the people who have been genocided all over the world, specifically Palestine, Sudan, and the Congo.”
The About Damn Time singer said that because she “has worked closely with activists” in the past, she knows “the toll it can take on your mental and your physical [health], and it can feel thankless.”
“So if you haven’t heard today, thank you,” she added. “Your work is not in vain. You have helped so many people. You have saved literal lives.”
Lizzo then went on to discuss how she pulled away from the spotlight over the last year because she was in a “deep dark depression,” battling some “mental health crises and episodes.” The singer was sued in August by three of her former dancers for allegedly creating a hostile work environment and other wrongdoings, including sexual harassment and religious and racial discrimination. The lawsuit is on hold while Lizzo appeals a ruling that allows the case to move forward.
“Between the loss I experienced in my personal life and the state of the world, I had been rendered into an emotional state where I cannot process or handle anything. It was very dark,” Lizzo said in her video message. The Truth Hurts singer then explained that the efforts by activists around the world motivated her “to get my ass up and get back to who I am.”
She continued on to thank the many “anti-genocide, anti-war” student-led protests taking place on college and university campuses in the US. “What these students have done and are doing is so deeply important,” she said. “I can’t even express it in one video.”
At many universities, demonstrators have been filmed expressing support for the Hamas terrorist group, calling for Israel’s destruction, and threatening to harm members of the Jewish community on campus.
Lizzo concluded her video by mentioning the work of Operation Olive Branch, a volunteer-led grassroots aid organization that supports and helps secure aid to Palestinian families. She said she is talking to other activists and will soon share “more information on how you can help these ongoing genocides in the world, because we ain’t free until we all free.”
The post Lizzo Thanks Pro-Palestinian Activists, Anti-Israel College Protesters While Accusing Jewish State of ‘Genocide’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld
US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump’s administration will release more than $5 billion in previously approved funding for K-12 school programs that it froze over three weeks ago under a review, which had led to bipartisan condemnation.
“(The White House Office of Management and Budget) has completed its review … and has directed the Department to release all formula funds,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the U.S. Education Department, said in a statement, adding funds will be dispersed to states next week.
Further details on the review and what it found were not shared.
A senior administration official said “guardrails” would be in place for the amount being released, without giving details.
Early in July, the Trump administration said it would not release funding previously appropriated by Congress for schools and that an initial review found signs the money was misused to subsidize what it alleged was “a radical leftwing agenda.”
States say $6.8 billion in total was affected by the freeze. Last week, $1.3 billion was released.
After the freeze, a coalition of mostly Democratic-led states sued to challenge the move, and 10 Republican US senators wrote to the Republican Trump administration to reverse its decision.
The frozen money covered funding for education of migrant farm workers and their children; recruitment and training of teachers; English proficiency learning; academic enrichment and after-school and summer programs.
The Trump administration has threatened schools and colleges with withholding federal funds over issues like climate initiatives, transgender policies, pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s war in Gaza and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Republican US lawmakers welcomed the move on Friday, while Democratic lawmakers said there was no need to disrupt funding in the first place.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon separately said she was satisfied with what was found in the review and released the money, adding she did not think there would be future freezes.
The post Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says
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
Israel will resume airdrop aid to Gaza on Saturday night, the Israeli military said, a few days after more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave.
“The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations,” the military added in a statement.
The post Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – US President Donald Trump on Friday said the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas did not want to make a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.
“Now we’re down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn’t want to make a deal,” Trump said.
The comments followed statements by Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the effect that Israel was now considering “alternative” options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending the terror rule of Hamas in the coastal enclave.
Trump added he believed Hamas leaders would now be “hunted down.”
On Thursday, Witkoff said the Trump administration had decided to bring its negotiating team home for consultations following Hamas’s latest proposal. Witkoff said overnight that Hamas was to blame for the impasse, with Netanyahu concurring.
Trump also dismissed the significance of French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Macron’s comments, “didn’t carry any weight,” the US leader said.
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