RSS
University of Michigan Clears Pro-Hamas Encampment
In the early morning hours on May 21, 2024, police cleared a tent encampment set up by an anti-Zionist group at the University of Michigan. Photo: Dave Boucher via Reuters Connect
The University of Michigan on Tuesday morning cleared a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” with the help of law enforcement, the school’s president, Santa Ono, has confirmed.
The action followed a nearly month-long occupation of The Diag section of campus by Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) — an anti-Zionist group — during which both students and non-students destroyed school property, disrupted university business, and amassed outside the homes of school officials.
An inspection of the encampment by the local fire marshal prompted the university to quell the demonstration as soon as possible, Ono said on Tuesday. The marshal determined that SAFE’s “overloading power sources” and “using open flames” after repeatedly being told not to do so could have started a fire that resulted in “catastrophic loss of life.”
Police struggled to gain compliance with their order to vacate the area, according to footage of their engagement with the protesters which emerged on social media. After police approached the encampment clad in riot gear, the protesters began chanting and, locking arms with one another, tensing up for a fight. In response, the officers deployed pepper spray and began dismantling their tents. At least one non-student was arrested for assaulting an officer.
“Moving forward, individuals will be welcome to protest as they always have at the University of Michigan, so long as those protests don’t violate the rights of others and are consistent with university policies meant to ensure the safety of our community,” Ono said in Tuesday’s statement. “To be clear, there is no place for violence or intimidation at the University of Michigan. Such behavior will not be tolerated, and individuals will be held accountable.”
He added, “We must find productive ways to engage with one another. We must leverage facts and reason in a spirit of open debate and find ways to work toward solutions. If we can manage to do that here — a place that is home to some of the most brilliant minds in the country — then our state, nation, and world will continue to benefit from the diverse perspectives that our university brings together on the most important issues of our day.”
Following the clearing of the encampment, SAFE alleged that law enforcement had “brutalized” the protesters and announced a new demonstration outside the Washtenaw County Jail, where the arrested protesters are being processed.
“Please meet us there,” the group said.
The University of Michigan is one of over 100 schools where anti-Zionists took over sections of campus and refused to leave unless school administrators agreed to condemn and boycott Israel. Footage of the demonstrations has shown the protesters chanting in support of Hamas, calling for the destruction of Israel, and even threatening to harm members of the Jewish community on campus. In many cases, they lambasted the US and Western civilization more broadly.
In the past three weeks, law enforcement has cleared encampments at Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, and George Washington University, among other schools.
In some instances, faculty — dozens of whom attached themselves to the demonstrations — attempted to prevent police from restoring order, resulting in their arrest. That happened, for example, at Emory University in Atlanta, where economics professor Caroline Fohlin intervened to stop the arrest of a student. In response, officers tackled her to the ground while she said repeatedly, “I’m a professor!” Meanwhile, at Northeastern University in Boston, professors formed a human barrier around a student encampment to stop it from being dismantled by officers, and at the University of Texas at Austin, members of the group Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine called for the resignation of their president, Jay Hartzell, because he requested police assistance.
Mass participation of faculty in pro-Hamas demonstrations marks an inflection point in American history, according to Asaf Romirowsky, an expert on the Middle East and executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.
Since the 1960s, he told The Algemeiner earlier this month, far-left “scholar activists” have gradually seized control of the higher education system, tailoring admissions processes and the curricula to foster ideological radicalism and conformity, which students then carry with them into careers in government, law, corporate America, and education. This system, he concluded, must be challenged.
“The cost of trading scholarship for political propagandizing has been a zeal and pride among faculty who esteem and cheer terrorism, a historical development which is quite telling and indicative of the evolution of the Marxist ideology which has been seeping into the academy since the 1960s,” Romirowsky said. “The message is very clear to all of us who are looking on from the outside at this, and institutions have to begin drawing a red line. The protests are not about free speech. They are about supporting terrorism, about calling for a genocide of Jews.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post University of Michigan Clears Pro-Hamas Encampment first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
The Sword and the Shield: Why Iran Still Chooses Death Over Defense
The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
When Iran became the Islamic Republic in 1979, one of its first acts was to redesign the national flag. Gone was the Lion and Sun, an emblem with centuries of history. In its place appeared a stylized “Allah,” where one of the letters forms a sword.
Overnight, the regime declared to its people — and the world — that it was a state built not on protection, but on the threat of force.
That sword has defined the Islamic Republic ever since.
What does it represent? A warning to enemies? A tribute to the Prophet’s conquests? A nod to Imam Ali’s legendary double-edged blade, a symbol of both faith and ferocity? Whatever the interpretation, the message is unmistakable — power through offense, not defense.
And 46 years later, Iran still clings to the sword — while leaving its people without a shield.
We saw this contrast play out during the recent war, when Iran unleashed waves of ballistic missiles on Israel. The attacks were indiscriminate, designed to hit densely populated areas and rack up civilian casualties. If not for Israel’s layered missile defense — the Iron Dome, Arrow, David’s Sling, bomb shelters in the vast majority of civilian buildings — those strikes would have killed tens of thousands, or even more.
That’s the difference between a state that invests in defense and one that idolizes martyrdom. Israel’s national emblem is the Shield of David — a fitting symbol for a country that prioritizes civilian protection. Iran, by contrast, boasts a sword on its flag, and acts accordingly.
Iran’s rulers pour billions into missiles, drones, and proxy militias from Yemen, to Gaza, to Lebanon. They brag about offensive power. But what about defense? Where are the shelters, the warning systems, the plans to protect 85 million people from the wars their leaders keep inviting?
Iran insists that its nuclear ambitions are peaceful. But before the recent war, the regime already had all the materials and uranium it could need for peaceful purposes. It also refused (and refuses) to accept civilian nuclear fuel from other nations. Combined with the regime’s obsession with “resistance,” martyrdom, and slogans like “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” the truth is clear: the atomic bomb is the ultimate sword.
Meanwhile, the shield is nowhere to be found. A country that regards nuclear enrichment as a national imperative is currently reeling from unprecedented water and electricity shortages, primarily caused by the government’s own mismanagement.
I grew up in Iran during the war with Iraq feeling unsafe and vulnerable. Back then, we told ourselves that the absence of bomb shelters was because the country was caught off guard. Saddam Hussein’s invasion came early in the regime’s life; maybe Iran wasn’t ready.
That excuse doesn’t work anymore. After four decades in power, Iran still has no civil defense strategy. It has built underground bunkers — but they are for its leadership, not for its people.
During the recent war, civilians relied on WhatsApp messages and satellite TV to figure out where missiles might land. The government issued vague instructions: go to mosques, schools, subway tunnels. But when civilians sought shelter, some were locked out. Some people in the shelters demanded bureaucratic permission slips — during an air raid. And when Iran cut its Internet access, people couldn’t get basic information about how to stay safe (despite warnings from Israel).
The regime not only failed to protect civilians from the Israeli strikes — but is going even further and entrenching that policy with new legislation that will interrupt Internet access during wartime to prevent the spread of “false information” that could benefit the enemy during military conflict. But that’s not the real story.
The legislation has been widely criticized because it will prevent civilians from accessing vital information regarding warnings and communications with their loved ones. Iran is putting its people in direct danger — because it values victory over their lives.
Evidently Iran’s leaders have a clear message: You’re on your own.
This isn’t incompetence. It’s a choice.
The Islamic Republic thrives on victimhood. It wants to be seen as besieged, heroic, and sacrificial. High civilian casualties aren’t a bug — they’re a feature. A bloodied population strengthens the regime’s narrative of resistance, and invites international sympathy.
So instead of building shelters, the regime builds slogans. Instead of enhancing their warning systems, it invests in propaganda.
When Iran changed its flag in 1979, it wasn’t just art — it was policy. The sword in the center declared that this state would not be a fortress, but a weapon. Four decades later, that choice still dictates strategy.
Iran could learn something from the country it calls its enemy. Israel’s greatest innovation isn’t its missiles — it’s its shields. Technology can save lives, but so can the decision to value life over death.
Until Iran makes that choice, its people will remain exposed — sacrificed on the altar of a regime that prizes the sword and martyrdom.
Born and raised in Iran, Marjan Keypour Greenblatt is a human rights advocate and an Iran analyst.
RSS
The NY Times’ Non-Apology for Its Nasty Blood Libel
The New York Times building in New York City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Nearly 25 years ago, HonestReporting began its mission by taking on The New York Times over a photo it published of a young man — bloodied and battered — crouching beneath a club-wielding Israeli policeman. The caption identified him as a Palestinian victim of recent riots — with the clear implication that the Israeli soldier was the one who beat him.
The effort to fix the incorrect reporting started with the boy’s father writing a letter to the Times, explaining the truth about his son, a Jewish student from Chicago who was pulled from his Jerusalem taxi by a mob of Arab people who beat and stabbed him and his friends.
A half-hearted correction was issued about “an American student in Israel” — but not a Jew beaten by Arabs. Only after additional public outrage did the Times reprint Tuvia Grossman’s picture — this time with the proper caption — along with a full article detailing his near-lynching at the hands of Palestinians.
Fast forward to last Thursday, when the Times put on its front page a moving photo of a skeletal child, Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, cradled in his mother’s arms. The photo, taken by a photographer for a Turkish news agency, looked like a gut-wrenching snapshot of starvation in Gaza.
The underlying message was that Israel was deliberately starving Gazan children.
It took five days of pressure from the Israeli consulate in New York and organizations like HonestReporting for the Times to admit their mistake.
“After publication of the article, The Times learned from his doctor that Mohammed also had pre-existing health problems,” an editor’s note added to the article said.
A New York Times spokeswoman issued this statement on Tuesday night:
Children in Gaza are malnourished and starving, as New York Times reporters and others have documented. We recently ran a story about Gaza’s most vulnerable civilians, including Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, who is about 18 months old and suffers from severe malnutrition. We have since learned new information, including from the hospital that treated him and his medical records, and have updated our story to add context about his pre-existing health problems. This additional detail gives readers a greater understanding of his situation. Our reporters and photographers continue to report from Gaza, bravely, sensitively, and at personal risk, so that readers can see firsthand the consequences of the war.
In other words, The New York Times ran a picture without properly checking the truth behind it. The Times continues to stand behind the underlying message against Israel that it tried to convey by running the photo in the first place.
Instead of being self-critical about its reporters and photographers who got the story wrong, the Times praised their bravery and sensitivity.
No, New York Times, the new information does not merely add context about Mohammed’s pre-existing health problems. It proves that the way he looks has nothing to do with Israel and the war that began with the October 7 massacre.
Thank you for your non-apology, but the damage of this blood libel has already been done. It has been weaponized and used to demonize Israel around the world, resulting in dangerous policy changes by the leaders of France, Canada, and the United Kingdom and the president of the United States saying “That’s real starvation. I see it, and you can’t fake that.”
The New York Times’ lies about the photograph and the resulting international condemnation of Israel led to Hamas hardening its positions in negotiations to end the war. There are up to 20 live Israeli hostages, who are actually known to be starving, whose horror has been prolonged by the irresponsibility of the Times and other media outlets that ran the photo without doing their due diligence.
There have also been antisemitic incidents throughout the world since the photo ran, and the connection between the rapid rise in anti-Jewish violence and its connection to dishonest reporting since October 7, 2023, has been well documented.
Instead of running a front-page apology online and in print and showing true accountability, the Times hid its correction by posting it on its PR account, which has 89,000 followers on X, not its regular account with 55 million followers.
The Times also has not taken back another incorrect report, published Saturday, claiming in a headline that is shameful since it’s not satirical: “No Proof Hamas Routinely Stole U.N. Aid, Israeli Military Officials Say.”
The article quotes unnamed, anonymous “military sources.” Even after official IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said and proved that the opposite was true, there has still been no admission from the Times that it made yet another dangerous mistake. There has been no statement by the newspaper’s spokeswoman and no editor’s note.
But at least with its statement about the photo, The New York Times did somewhat more than nothing to update its readers. Other media outlets have not even done that.
The Daily Express issued this editor’s note: “Following the publication of this article, we have learned that Muhammad was also suffering pre-existing health problems that affected his brain and his muscles. We have updated the article to reflect this.”
The author is the Executive Director of HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
RSS
Palestinians ‘Praised and Cheered’ Oct. 7, Admits Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor
An Israeli soldier stands during a two-minute siren marking the annual Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day, at an installation at the site of the Nova festival where party goers were killed and kidnapped during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, in Reim, southern Israel, May 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Criticizing Hamas for the “disaster” suffered by Palestinians because of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 massacre and ensuing war, Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor admitted that the massacre itself was “praised and cheered” by Palestinians.
In fact, the murder of over 1,100 Israelis, including over 800 civilians, the wounding of over 5,000, and the kidnapping of 251 “stirred their emotions”:
Abbas’ advisor Al-Habbash: “On Oct. 7, [2023,] everyone praised [it] and cheered as if we had liberated Jerusalem, [but] things are not achieved this way. Things are judged by their results and consequences…
Oct. 7 was a disaster for the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause – in terms of results. Emotionally… it stirred the emotions of all of us. That is something else. But in terms of consequences, the political results, and the realistic considerations, no, it was a disaster.” [emphasis added]
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube, July 5, 2025]
Not once has the PA condemned Hamas’ murder, beheading, rape, and torture of Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. The only criticism ever voiced by PA officials has been against Hamas’ unilateral decision to launch the attack without consulting the PLO, and against the destruction they have brought on the Gaza Strip.
Al-Habbash — who felt that Oct. 7 was celebrated “as if we liberated Jerusalem”– has repeatedly defended Hamas’ atrocities:
Al-Habbash: “What Hamas carried out on Oct. 7… resistance is legitimate. We agreed from the start that the resistance is legitimate… What happened on Oct. 7 is a legitimate thing, okay? It’s legitimate.” [emphasis added]
[Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, March 11, 2025]
On the other hand, he is explicit in condemning Hamas, and its parent organization the Muslim Brotherhood for Palestinian suffering in Gaza:
Al-Habbash: “The Muslim Brotherhood organization, the satanic brotherhood, is the greatest disaster that has befallen the Arab and Islamic region during the last century… Give me one state where the Muslim Brotherhood is present and they haven’t created a civil war there and destroyed the society.” [emphasis added]
[Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, July 5, 2025]
But he still did not condemn Oct. 7, 2023, for targeting and massacring Jewish civilians.
The author is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this story first appeared.