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University of Wisconsin Launches Investigation Into Pro-Hamas Group
Illustrative: A pro-Hamas demonstrator uses a megaphone at a college campus in New York City, US, Oct. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has opened an investigation into whether its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter (SJP) — one part of an inter-campus network of anti-Zionists with ties to jihadist terror organizations — violated school rules when it disrupted a regents board meeting on Dec. 5, according to reporting published by The Daily Cardinal.
“A source familiar with SJP shared documents with The Daily Cardinal that said the organization may have violated the rules in the [registered student organization] Code of Conduct through the ‘use of university facilities and grounds,’ ‘obstructing orderly conduct,’ and failing to comply with administration when around 50 protesters disrupted the board of regents meeting … demanding the university financially and socially divest from Israel,” said the Cardinal, the official campus newspaper of UW-Madison.
According to another source who spoke to the paper, SJP’s alleged misconduct, which resulted in the arrests of some 19 students, could lead to “sanctions up to and including termination of [recognized student organization] status.” The university already disciplined the group in October, however, placing it on probation for 10 months as punishment for its commandeering of a section of campus with a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” during spring semester. The university, according to documents cited by the Cardinal, noted the group’s cooperation with administrative officials in May as a “mitigating factor” which saved it from a full suspension.
The university is gearing up a second time to determine whether SJP should be held accountable for its members’ alleged transgressions, and, according to the Cardinal, it has asked the group to respond to a request for an “investigatory interview” by Dec. 15 and make other arrangements for a formal hearing in the case against it.
SJP maintains its innocence, and on Friday its spokeswoman, Dahlia Saba told the paper that the university is guilty of suppressing free expression and subjecting its students to police brutality.
“SJP protested the business and finance meeting of the board of regents to demand that they disclose their investments and, in accordance with Wisconsin law, divest from companies complicit in Israeli apartheid,” Saba proclaimed. “Now, the university is again putting SJP through a disciplinary process to punish us for calling out the university’s unethical and illegal investment practices.”
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), as well as its spinoff groups, are responsible for the lion’s share of pro-Hamas agitation on college campuses since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last October.
Last month, a mob of its members took over the Westlands administrative building at Sarah Lawrence College in New York and vowed not to surrender it unless school officials adopt the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
The action, the first of its kinds since the spring “uprising” of encampments on colleges across the US, was reportedly precipitated by the college’s declining to accept SJP’s divestment recommendations — which aim to compromise Israel’s national security and leave the world’s lone Jewish state vulnerable to jihadist extremists.
“Westlands is occupied,” SJP said in a series of statements published on Instagram during the occupation. “Students have occupied Westlands to demand immediate action on the genocide of Palestinians. Administration has failed to meet our disclosure deadline. Westland residents are safe: they can come and go at will. We need your support: Walkout to the south lawn, bring food donations, sign divestment proposal.”
SJP also called on students to obstruct justice, imploring them to amass “as many bodies blocking doors as possible” and instructing them to wear “mask [sic] and indiscernible clothing, hats, scarves, etc to support the student intifada.” Since then, National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), which coordinates activities at individual colleges, has cheered the insurrectionist behavior, using the same incendiary language as the students.
“ALL OUT TO SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE! DEFEND THE STUDENT INTIFADA! For over 400 days our institutions have ignored the genocide for our people in Gaza, we demand that they disclose their financial investments and they DIVEST FROM DEATH 
,” the group tweeted.
NSJP further urged the students to “bring keffiyehs, noise makers, and flags.”
In October, when Jews around the world mourned on the anniversary of Hamas’s invasion of Israel last Oct. 7, a Harvard University student group called on pro-Hamas activists to “Bring the war home” and proceeded to vandalize a campus administrative building. The group members, who described themselves as “anonymous,” later said in a statement, “We are committed to bringing the war home and answering the call to open up a new front here in the belly of the beast.”
Some universities, such as the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, are at their wits end. Earlier this month, school officials there reportedly suspended and demanded financial restitution from seven pro-Hamas activists who were arrested for commandeering the Morrill Hall administrative building on Oct. 21.
According to a statement from Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and other anti-Israel campus groups posted on social media, seven of eight students charged with rules violations on that day have been “found guilty” by a university disciplinary tribunal. Each has been fined about $5,500, the statement further alleged, and suspended for periods ranging from one to five semesters. Following the action, SJP claimed that the university is cynically quelling dissent.
“Alongside arbitrary suspensions, the university intends to withhold the transcripts of those arrested,” it said. “This means for the duration of the suspension the students are unable to transfer to a different institution without forfeiting the credits they have rightfully earned and paid for. To even be readmitted after suspensions, the students have to do 20 hours of community service and write a 5-10 page essay about the ‘difference between vandalism and protest.’”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post University of Wisconsin Launches Investigation Into Pro-Hamas Group first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel’s Supreme Court Orders Improved Food for Security Prisoners
Israel’s Supreme Court. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday instructed the Prison Service (Shabas) to guarantee adequate food supplies for security prisoners, ruling that current conditions fall short of minimum legal standards. The decision followed an appeal filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
In a 2–1 ruling, the court found that the food situation posed “a risk of non-compliance with legal standards.” Justice Dafna Barak-Erez stressed that the matter concerned “basic conditions necessary for survival, as required by law,” not comfort or privilege. Justice Ofer Grosskopf agreed, noting the state had not shown the policy was consistently applied to all inmates.
Justice David Mintz dissented, maintaining that the existing policy already met legal requirements.
The court underscored that Israel’s legal obligations remain binding, even in light of the ongoing hostage crisis in Gaza and the fact that many of the prisoners include Hamas members involved in the October 7, 2023 attack.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir condemned the ruling, arguing that while hostages in Gaza lack protection, “terrorist murderers, kidnappers, and rapists in prison” benefit from the Court’s intervention. He added that prisoners would continue receiving only the minimum conditions required by law.
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Ukrainian Government Building Set Ablaze in Record Russian Airstrike
Illustrative. More damage caused by the Russian drone that hit the Perlina school in Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct. 30, 2024. Photo: Jewish community JCC in Kyiv, Kyiv municipality, and Yan Dobronosov
i24 News – The Ukrainian government’s main building in Kyiv was hit overnight Saturday by Russian airstrikes for the first time since the war, igniting a fire in the building, authorities said. Firefighters are working to put out the flames.
“The government building was damaged by an enemy attack — the roof and upper floors,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko said. The blaze is is burning in the area of the office of the prime minister.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched a total of 805 drones and 13 missiles overnight on Ukraine — a record number since the start of the war.
Also as a result of the strike, a baby and a young woman were killed after a nine-story residential building was hit in the Svyatoshynsky district, also in Kyiv. Rescuers are still looking for a third body, authorities said. A woman was also reported killed in the strike in Novopavlivka village.
“The world must respond to this destruction not only with words, but also with actions. We need to increase sanctions pressure – primarily against Russian oil and gas. We need new restrictions that will hit the Kremlin’s military machine. And most importantly, Ukraine needs weapons. Something that will stop the terror and prevent Russia from trying to kill Ukrainians every day,” wrote Sviridenko after the attack.
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‘Trump’s Legacy Crumbles’: Israelis Call on US President to End Gaza War
Israeli protestors take part in a rally demanding the immediate release of the hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, and the end of war in Gaza, in Jerusalem September 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, issuing direct appeals to US President Donald Trump to force an end to the Gaza war and secure the release of the hostages.
Protesters packed a public square outside the military headquarters, waving Israeli flags and holding placards with images of the hostages. Some carried signs, including one that read: ‘Trump’s legacy crumbles as the Gaza war persists.’
Another said: “PRESIDENT TRUMP, SAVE THE HOSTAGES NOW!”
“We think that Trump is the only man in the world who has authority over Bibi, that can force Bibi to do this,” said Tel Aviv resident Boaz, 40, referring to the Israeli prime minister.
There is growing despair among many Israelis at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has ordered the military to capture a major urban center where hostages may be held.
Families of the hostages and their supporters fear the assault on Gaza City could endanger their loved ones, a concern the military leadership shares, according to Israeli officials.
Orna Neutra, the mother of an Israeli soldier who was killed on October 7, 2023 and whose body is being held in Gaza by militants, accused the government of abandoning its citizens.
“We truly hope that the United States will push both sides to finally reach a comprehensive deal that will bring them home,” she told the rally. Her son, Omer, is also American.
Tel Aviv has witnessed weekly demonstrations that have grown in size, with protesters demanding that the government secure a ceasefire with Hamas to obtain the release of hostages. Organizers said Saturday night’s rally was attended by tens of thousands. A large demonstration was also held in Jerusalem.
There are 48 hostages held in Gaza. Israeli officials believe that around 20 are still alive. Palestinian terrorists abducted 251 people from Israel on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led its attack. Most of the hostages who have been released were freed after indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
NO PURPOSE
Trump had pledged a swift end to the war in Gaza during his presidential campaign, but nearly eight months into his second term, a resolution has remained elusive. On Friday, he said that Washington was engaged in “very deep” negotiations with Hamas.
Israeli forces have carried out heavy strikes on the suburbs of Gaza City, where, according to a global hunger monitor, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are facing famine. Israeli officials acknowledge that hunger exists in Gaza but deny that the territory is facing famine. On Saturday, the military warned civilians in Gaza City to leave and move to southern Gaza.
There are hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltering in the city that was home to around a million before the war.
A video released by Hamas on Friday featured Israeli hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24, saying that he was being held in Gaza City and feared being killed by the military’s assault on the city. Rights groups have condemned such videos of hostages as inhumane. Israel says that it is psychological warfare.
The war has become unpopular among some segments of Israeli society, and opinion polls show that most Israelis want Netanyahu’s right-wing government to negotiate a permanent ceasefire with Hamas that secures the release of the hostages.
“The war has no purpose at all, except for violence and death,” said Boaz from Tel Aviv. Adam, 48, said it had become obvious that soldiers were being sent to war for “nothing.”
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since it launched its retaliatory war after Hamas fighters attacked Israel from Gaza in October 2023. Around 1,200 people were killed in that attack on southern Israel.
The terrorist group, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades but today controls only parts of the enclave, on Saturday once again said that it would release all hostages if Israel agreed to end the war and withdraw its forces from Gaza.
Netanyahu is pushing for an all-or-nothing deal that would see all of the hostages released at once and Hamas surrendering.
The prime minister has said Gaza City is a Hamas stronghold and capturing it is necessary to defeat the Palestinian militant group, whose October 2023 attack on Israel led to the war.
Hamas has acknowledged it would no longer govern Gaza once the war ends but has refused to discuss laying down its weapons.