A banner held by Maccabi Haifa fans at a UEFA Conference League qualifying match against Raków Częstochowa on Aug. 14, 2025, in Debrecen, Hungary. Photo: Screenshot/X

Europe’s governing body of soccer UEFA announced on Friday the launch of disciplinary proceedings against Maccabi Haifa after fans of the Israeli team displayed an anti-Polish banner at a UEFA Conference League qualifying match against Poland’s Raków Częstochowa.

Maccabi Haifa is being charged with “transmitting a message not fit for (a) sports event” and “improper conduct.” Meanwhile, Raków Częstochowa is being charged with the lighting of fireworks and also displaying a message “not fit for [a] sports event.” The UEFA said its disciplinary bodies “will decide on the matter in due course.”

During Thursday’s match, which was played at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary, for security reasons, some fans of Maccabi Haifa in the stands held a large banner that said in English “Murderers since 1939,” seemingly referencing the Holocaust and the atrocities committed in Nazi-occupied Poland. Germany invaded Poland in 1939, and more than 3 million Polish Jews were subsequently killed during the Holocaust, as well as 3 million non-Jewish citizens.

A week earlier, during a match on Aug. 7 between Maccabi Haifa and Rakow Częstochowa in Czestochowa, Poland, fans of the latter team displayed a banner that said in Polish: “Israel Murders and the World Is Silent.”

Poland’s Sports Minister Jakub Rutnicki sent a letter to the UEFA requesting “the imposition of severe penalties” against Maccabi Haifa following Thursday’s incident, and Cezary Kulesza, the president of the Polish Football Association, called on UEFA to penalize the Israeli team because of the “scandalous banner and outrageous behavior.”

“There’s no consensus for provocations and falsifying history,” Kulesza said. Polish government spokesperson Adam Szłapka noted that Poland expects “a clear reaction from UEFA.”

The “scandalous” banner “insults the memory of Polish citizens – victims of World War Two, including 3 million Jews,” Polish President Karol Nawrocki wrote in a post on X. “Stupidity that no words can justify.”

Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski called the actions “a distortion of history” and the Israeli Embassy in Warsaw condemned the “disgusting behavior” displayed by Maccabi Haifa fans. “There is no place for such words and actions, from any side, neither at the stadium nor anywhere else. Never!” the embassy said in a post on X. “These shameful incidents do not reflect the spirit of the majority of Israeli fans.”

Poland’s Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said, “Anti-Polonism and the outrageous distortion of Polish history by Israeli hooligans require strong condemnation. There is no, and will never be, agreement to such shameful practices.”

Raków Częstochowa won Thursday’s match 2-0 and advanced to the playoff round of qualification for the 2025 UEFA Conference League. They will face Bulgaria’s Arda Kardzhali on Aug. 21.

Also on Thursday, the UEFA was criticized for preventing the family of Hamas hostage and Israeli teenager Rom Braslavski from displaying signs calling for his release at Beitar Jerusalem’s match against Riga in a Conference League qualifier in Bucharest, Romania. The banners featured Braslavski’s photo and the messages, “I am asking for my brother,” “Bring back Rom,” and “The voice of my brother’s blood is calling to me from the tunnels – Bring Rom and the rest of our hostages home,” according to Ynet.

The incident happened after UEFA invited two children from the Gaza Strip to participate in the medal ceremony at the UEFA Super Cup final in Udine, Italy, and had several refugee children display a banner that read: “Stop killing children – Stop killing civilians.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks on Aug. 14, 2025. Photo: Mike Blake via Reuters Connect

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has called for Harvard University President Alan Garber to resign, citing reports that the chief executive is heading toward a deal with the Trump administration that would restore federal funding to Harvard in exchange for the school’s agreeing to conservative demands for addressing campus antisemitism and shuttering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

“You don’t work with Donald Trump — only FOR Donald Trump,” Newsom posted on Tuesday, writing on X. “Looks like Harvard has chosen to surrender. Alan Garber must resign. An absolute failure of leadership that will have demonstrable impacts to higher education across our country. He should be ashamed.”

He added, “California will never bend the knee.”

Newsom’s remarks followed a series of reports by The New York Times which said that Garber is prepared to shell out $500 million or more to settle Harvard’s dispute with the Trump administration, which began when it impounded over $3 billion in federal research contracts and grants from the institution’s coffers as punishment for its alleged refusal to quell antisemitic activity and discrimination on campus. US President Donald Trump has said Harvard will regain access to federal money if it agrees to a wishlist of policy reforms that Republican lawmakers have long argued will make higher education more meritocratic and less welcoming to anti-Zionists and far-left extremists.

In a letter to Harvard — which Garber later released it to the public — the Trump administration called for “viewpoint diversity in hiring and admissions,” the “discontinuation of [diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives],” and “reducing forms of governance bloat.” It also implored Harvard to begin “reforming programs with egregious records of antisemitism” and to recalibrate its approach to “student discipline.”

According to reports, Garber has told faculty that he will not settle and has resolved to continue on fighting the federal government in court even as Harvard faces a $1 billion budget shortfall caused by the confiscation of funds. Amid this cash crunch Harvard has resorted to leveraging its immense wealth to borrow exorbitant sums of money. In March it issued over $450 million in bonds as “part of an ongoing contingency planning for a range of financial circumstances.” It offered another $750 million in bonds to investors in April, a sale that is being managed by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

According to the Harvard Crimson, Garber has insisted that the Times reporting is erroneous.

“In a conversation with one faculty member, [he] said that the suggestion that Harvard was open to paying $500 million is ‘false’ and claimed that the figure was apparently leaked to the press by White House officials,” the Crimson said, noting that the Times believes its reporting is on the mark. “In any discussions, Garber reportedly said, the university is treating academic freedom as nonnegotiable.”

Garber’s apparent assurances to faculty that the university will not concede to Trump for financial relief came as it took conciliatory steps that seem aimed at reversing an impression that it is doctrinally far left, as well as anti-Zionist. In July, it announced new partnerships with Israeli academic institutions and closed its DEI offices, transferring their staff to other sections of the university. These moves came after it “paused” a partnership in March with a higher education institution located in the West Bank. Some reports, according to the Crimson, suggest that Harvard may even found a “new conservative research institute.”

Newsom, whose name has been floated as a potential candidate for president in 2028, has emerged as a vocal opponent of Trump’s efforts to reform higher education, describing, for example, the administration’s cancelling $584 million in funding for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as “disgusting political extortion.”

However, schools such as Brown University and Columbia University reached a middle ground with the federal government.

In July, Brown University announced that it agreed to pay $50 million and enact a series of reforms put forth by the Trump administration to settle claims involving alleged sex discrimination and antisemitism. The government is rewarding Brown’s propitiating by restoring access to $510 million in federal research grants and contracts it impounded.

Per the agreement, shared by university president Christina Paxson, Brown will provide women athletes locker rooms based on sex, not one’s self-chosen gender identity — a monumental concession by a university that is reputed as one of the most progressive in the country — and adopt the Trump administration’[ definition of “male” and “female,” as articulated in a January 2025 executive order issued by Trump. Additionally, Brown has agreed not to “perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child’s appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex.”

Regarding campus antisemitism, the agreement calls for Brown University to reduce anti-Jewish bias on campus by forging ties with local Jewish Day Schools, launching “renewed partnerships with Israeli academics and national Jewish organizations,” and boosting support for its Judaic Studies program. Brown must also conduct a “climate survey” of Jewish students to collect raw data of their campus experiences.

Only days before, Columbia University agreed to pay over $200 million to settle claims that it exposed Jewish students, faculty, and staff to antisemitic discrimination and harassment — a deal which secures the release of billions of dollars the Trump administration impounded to pressure the institution to address the issue.

US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon commented on the resolution, saying it is a “seismic shift in our nation’s fight to hold institutions that accept American taxpayer dollars accountable for antisemitic discrimination and harassment.”

Claiming a generational achievement for the conservative movement, which has argued for years that progressive bias in higher education is the cause of anti-Zionist antisemitism on college campuses, she added that Columbia has agreed to “discipline student offenders for severe disruptions of campus operations” and “eliminate race preferences from their hiring and mission practices, and DEI programs that distribute benefits and advantages based on race.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), speaking in the Dirksen Senate office building in Washington, DC, on July 15, 2025. Photo: IMAGO/MediaPunch via Reuters Connect

US Sen. Lindsey Graham delivered a forceful defense of the US-Israel alliance at a South Carolina Republican Party meeting on Wednesday, warning that withdrawing American support for the Jewish state would carry both strategic and spiritual consequences.

“If America pulls the plug on Israel, God will pull the plug on us,” Graham told the crowd, framing the alliance as a moral imperative for the US.

The South Carolina Republican, a longtime supporter of Israel, criticized the use of the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, arguing that the label is politically weaponized. “If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they could. They have the capability to do that. They choose not to,” he said. “Hamas … would commit genocide in 30 seconds. They just can’t.”

Graham cast Israel as the most reliable ally of the US and emphatically defended the Jewish state as a force for good in the Middle East.

“Israel is not the bad guys. They’re the good guys. The bad guys are the radical Islamists who would kill everybody in this room if they could,” Graham said.

His speech drew applause from the audience, underscoring the strong pro-Israel sentiment among Republican voters in his home state.

The remarks came amid growing divides in US domestic politics over the Israel–Hamas war, particularly regarding the use of charged terms like “genocide” and the balance between military support and humanitarian aid. While Graham’s comments echoed the staunchly pro-Israel position favored by the Republican Party’s foreign policy establishment, some in the party, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-SC) have called for greater scrutiny of US backing of Israel.

Graham spoke at the Silver Elephant Gala, one of South Carolina’s most prominent political gatherings, which has long served as a platform for party leaders to stake out their positions ahead of key election cycles. This year, Graham used it to reaffirm his belief that America’s commitment to Israel is both a matter of national security and divine mandate.

Graham’s statement sparked backlash from Greene, who falsely accused Israel of attempting to eradicate the Palestinian population. Greene, a conservative Republican with an extensive history of antisemitic statements, has recently accused Israel of committing a so-called “genocide” in Gaza.

“That is quite a statement and is an acknowledgment that nuclear-armed Israel is more than capable of defending themselves, by themselves, and not only defeating their enemies, but completely wiping them out!” Green wrote on X/Twitter.

In recent weeks, Greene has established herself as a vocal critic of Israel, breaking ranks with the rest of the Republican party. In July, she introduced amendments to a House appropriations bill which, if passed, would have stripped Israel of defense funding, claiming that Congress should stop sending “hard-earned tax dollars to foreign countries.”

“We don’t believe we go to heaven based on how much money we blindly give and how many bombs we drop on the secular government of Israel’s enemies,” Greene continued.