RSS
‘Pro-Hamas’: Hillary Clinton Laments Extremism, Lack of Knowledge Among Anti-Israel Campus Protesters
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks on the first day of the 2024 Clinton Global Initiative Meeting at the Hilton Hotel in New York City, US, Sepy. 23, 2024. Photo: MediaPunch/INSTARimages via Reuters Connect
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke over the weekend about how disheartened she was at the extremism and lack of knowledge among anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University, where she teaches, last academic year.
“I am willing to sit down and have a conversation with anybody, but it’s difficult to have conversations with people who hold strong opinions with no factual and historical basis,” Clinton, who served as the top US diplomat under former President Barack Obama, told CNN host Fareed Zakaria on Sunday during an interview. “And so in trying to talk to students, not just at Columbia but elsewhere, I would be met with slogans. I would be met with attacks and, you know, very inflammatory language.”
Columbia was the epicenter of massive anti-Israel protests on college campuses across the US. The Algemeiner documented dozens of cases of explicit pro-terrorist rhetoric on and around the New York City campus in the beginning days of its “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” which popped up in April.
One protester stood in front of pro-Israel students who were waving Israeli and American flags with a sign reading, “Al-Qassam’s next targets,” referring to the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization. Meanwhile, one of the leaders of Columbia’s encampment said on Instagram Live that “Zionists do not deserve to live” and that people should “be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”
During the interview, Clinton noted “a lot of the videos on social media” from the anti-Israel protests on US campuses “gave not just a one-sided view of the conflict, but a totally anti-Israel, pro-Hamas, not just pro-Palestinian view.”
Beyond extremism, Clinton said some protesters she spoke to knew almost nothing about the Middle Eastern conflict.
“And when I would ask, well, what about, you know, what happened in 2000 at Camp David? No. Do you know what happened in 1947? No. Do you know how difficult the relationships have been? No. Do you know that there are Arab Israelis, and some are serving in the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]?” Clinton recounted. “None of that. And this whole chanting of, you know, from the river to the sea, what does that mean? What river, what sea?”
“From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free” is a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists that has been widely interpreted as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Clinton, a former US senator and Democratic presidential candidate, also charged that there was a more organized, outside force that was guiding many of the protests.
She recounted that, in the days following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, the class she taught had “a respectful, informative. open dialogue … And literally at the end of it, the students applauded. But that was on Wednesday.”
“By a few days,” however, “we were doing an event, and we started being protested,” Clinton said. “The dean and I and our guests, and being screamed at, being called, you know, all kinds of names. What happened in that period? And the best I can sort of unpack it is that there were already existing groups within our country and particularly on certain campuses like Columbia who had talking points. They had a plan for protests and disruption.”
“And I watched it sort of morph into something that was not student led,” she speculated. “Even though students participated, but which had outside funding, outside direction and I still to this day, I’m not quite sure all that was going on with it.”
US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned in July that “actors tied to Iran’s government” have encouraged and provided financial support to rampant protests opposing Israel’s defensive military operations against Hamas in Gaza, including on university campuses.
Haines noted that many of the individuals participating in anti-Israel protests “may not be aware that they are interacting with or receiving support from a foreign government.”
Iran openly seeks Israel’s destruction and is the main international sponsor of Hamas, providing the Palestinian terrorist group with weapons, funding, and training.
The post ‘Pro-Hamas’: Hillary Clinton Laments Extremism, Lack of Knowledge Among Anti-Israel Campus Protesters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.