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Rhode Island School of Design Considering BDS Proposal by Pro-Hamas Group
Students protest outside the Rhode Island School of Design building at 20 Washington Pl. on Monday afternoon where classmates are staging a sit-in and calling on RISD President Crystal Williams to divest from Israel. Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), a neighbor of and frequent academic collaborator with Brown University, has agreed to consider a boycott, sanctions, and divestment (BDS) proposal submitted by the vocal pro-Hamas student group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
According to The Brown Daily Herald, the news was announced during an anti-Zionist demonstration held on the RISD campus Thursday. The original proposal, however, was submitted in March, while campuses across the country, RISD included, were convulsed by pro-Hamas protests which called for further mass casualties of Israeli civilians of the kind Hamas perpetrated on Oct. 7. RISD administrators reportedly agreed to advance the boycott resolution in exchange for a promise that SJP would not disrupt spring commencement.
“In May RISD President Crystal Williams agreed to convene a meeting between the members of the Board of Trustees Investment Committee and a select number of student activists, under the condition that RSJP would not disrupt commencement activities,” the Daily Herald reported.
SJP, the Herald added, is demanding that RISD reject any future investments in defense conglomerate Textron, whose subsidiaries have sold Israel various aviation products and other technologies. Previously, the group had insisted on severing ties with a vital source of RISD income — the Rayon Foundation Trust, currently valued at over $28 million— because the man who established it, Royal Little, founded Textron. The group also has demanded divestment from Airbnb, founded reportedly by RISD alumni, for permitting rentals of West Bank properties owned by Israelis. President Williams said in May that RISD has no holdings in Airbnb.
The Rhode Island School of Design has not yet responded to The Algemeiner’s request for comment on this story.
Despite the college’s concession to SJP, campus chapter leader and spokesperson Jo Ouyang still harbors suspicions of its intent.
“I think this trustee meeting is really a crucial step for us to remain in communication with the Board of Trustees, and we hope to have future meetings,” Ouyang told the Herald. “But this will also not stall our tactics and strategies of protesting on this campus and calling for divestment now.”
American universities have largely rejected demands to divest from Israel and entities at all linked to the Jewish state, delivering blows to the pro-Hamas protest movement, which students and faculty pushed with dozens of illegal demonstrations aimed at coercing officials into enacting the policy.
Earlier this month, Brown University Corporation voted down a proposal — muscled onto the agenda of its annual meeting by an anti-Zionist group which held the university hostage with threats of illegal demonstrations and other misconduct — to divest from ten companies linked to Israel. According to the university, the Corporation heeded the counsel of the Advisory Committee on University Resources Management (ACURM), which witnessed earlier this semester a presentation — delivered by the pro-Hamas group Brown Divest Coalition (BDC) — in support of divestment and determined that the idea is unviable.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Israel Wants More Peace Deals With Arab Countries After War, Netanyahu Says
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a memorial ceremony for those murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and those who fell in the “Iron Sword” war, at the Knesset, the Parliament, in Jerusalem, Oct. 28, 2024. Photo: DEBBIE HILL/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he hopes to reach peace deals with more Arab countries once the war against Iranian terrorist proxies Hamas and Hezbollah is complete.
“The day after Hamas no longer controls Gaza and Hezbollah no longer sits on our northern border [in Lebanon], we are working these days on plans to stabilize those two fronts. But the day after includes something else of utmost importance,” Netanyahu said in a speech to parliament.
“I aspire to continue the process I led a few years ago of the signing of the historic Abraham Accords, and achieve peace with more Arab countries,” he said.
Israel, under the US-brokered 2020 accords, normalized relations with four Arab countries: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan.
Since then, Israel, with US support, has sought to also include other nations, particularly Saudi Arabia. Riyadh says it will not recognize Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
“These countries, and other countries, see clearly the blows we are landing on those who attack us, the Iranian axis of evil,” he said. “They aspire, like us, for a stable, secure, and prosperous Middle East.”
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Over 100 US Lawmakers Threaten UN Funding if Global Body ‘Downgrades’ Israel’s Status
US Congressman Mike Lawler (R-NY) speaking at a housing roundtable event, March 8, 2023. Photo: Lawler for Congress
A bipartisan group of 105 members of the US Congress threatened to reduce American funding to the United Nations if the organization successfully downgrades Israel’s status in retaliation for the Jewish state’s defensive military operations against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
“We write to express our deep concern about prospective efforts of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to downgrade Israel’s status at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and strip the State of Israel of its key privileges in the body,” read a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres that was co-signed by the lawmakers.
“Any downgrade in Israel’s status or standing at the UNGA will result in a corresponding downgrade of US financial, material, and political support to the UN,” the message continued.
The letter, spearheaded by US Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), was drafted as a response to what the lawmakers described as the Palestinian Authority’s attempt to to strip Israel of “key privileges” within the UNGA.
The lawmakers also said they were “outraged” by the UNGA’s recent adoption of a “one-sided” resolution to implement an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, demanding Israel withdraw completely from the West Bank and East Jerusalem “with no recognition or consideration of Israel’s legitimate security concerns.”
The letter, which was signed by dozens of Republicans and 12 Democrats, added that Congress has been alarmed by the “numerous UN actions to delegitimize Israel’s right to self defense,” arguing that the global organization’s posture toward the Jewish state calls into question its fairness and impartiality.
“We remind you that the US is the largest donor to the UN. Our contributions account for one-third of the body’s collective budget. We will not accept the UN’s ongoing hostility to our ally Israel,” the letter stated.
The members of Congress then reminded the UN of a recently introduced piece of American legislation which would “prohibit US funding to the UN” if the organization downgrades Israel’s status or impacts its ability to “participate fully and equivalently with other member states.”
According to Lawler’s office, a slew of pro-Israel organizations endorsed the letter, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Jewish Federations of North America, and the Combat Antisemitism Movement.
The letter came after the PA reportedly kick-started an initiative to get Israel expelled from the UN General Assembly.
US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) warned that Congress would consider revoking funding to the UN if the PA were successful in its attempt to remove Israel from the UN General Assembly.
“If the Palestinians succeed in suspending Israel from the United Nations General Assembly, they may well end up disintegrating the US-Palestinian Authority relationship and triggering a full reevaluation of US participation in and funding of all parts of the United Nations,” Cruz said earlier this month.
The post Over 100 US Lawmakers Threaten UN Funding if Global Body ‘Downgrades’ Israel’s Status first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Montrealers say limits are needed for boisterous Friday evening demonstrations against Israel
There’s a way for everyone within earshot to know when Shabbat has arrived in the west side of downtown Montreal. Chants begin almost every Friday evening as the crowd—varying from […]
The post Montrealers say limits are needed for boisterous Friday evening demonstrations against Israel appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.