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Midwest Campus Groups Use ‘Pro-Palestinian’ Label as a Way to Attack Jews and Israel
University Hall at Ohio State University. Photo: OZinOH/Flickr
While the Midwest is known for its “Midwest Nice” reputation, on college campuses, pro-Palestinian student groups in the region have used that hospitality to justify open support for terrorist groups and violence against Jews in the Middle East.
In doing so, these groups blur the line between activism and extremism, raising serious questions about their true agenda in our now vulnerable academic institutions.
Take, for example, the recent release of Agam Berger, an Israeli civilian who was held captive by Hamas for 482 days.
Instead of celebrating her survival and release, the group “United With Milwaukee Popular University for Palestine (UWM PUP)” posted an image comparing her being embraced by other former hostages against a faceless, malnourished (assumed to be a Palestinian) man, with the caption: “Difference in treatment between Palestinian hostages held by the genocidal entity vs. Israeli hostages held in Gaza.”
What they’re saying is that Hamas treats the hostages they brutally kidnapped on Oct. 7 with dignity, while Israel abuses its prisoners.
This narrative not only ignores the fact that hostages held by Hamas endured torture, starvation, and sexual violence while the overwhelming majority of Palestinians incarcerated in Israel are treated by Western prison standards — but completely ignores that Palestinians are in Israeli jails because they have been convicted of crimes — often violent ones — while the hostages were illegally stolen by Hamas.
In fact, conditions in Israeli prisons are such that at least one Palestinian prisoner recently slated for release actually begged Israel to keep him rather than return to relative freedom under Hamas in Gaza.
By casting Hamas as more humane than a democratic state, these “pro-Palestinian” groups engage in a false moral equivalence that legitimizes terrorism and dehumanizes Israeli victims.
In St. Louis, a community group active but not affiliated with students on local campuses, Voices of Palestine Network, shared a video with the caption: “Don’t let the killer become the victim.” They claimed to reveal the “truth” about the Israeli hostages’ lack of innocence, as if such context could justify the crimes against humanity committed on October 7 and afterwards.
Eastern Iowa Jewish Voices for Palestine and Ohio State University Jews for Justice in Palestine shared similar posts claiming that Western media have not covered Israel’s actions, which is just plain wrong. Even prestigious private schools are suffering from this kind of hateful bullying. Northwestern University was just defaced with antisemitic graffiti that included statements such as, “Death to Israel” and “Intifada now!”
Many students, faculty, and administrators may believe that this rhetoric — however inflammatory — is merely speech and not action.
But across the country, we’ve already seen how inflammatory expression can evolve into extremely toxic behavior — harassment, bullying, social exclusion, violent attacks, and fear — especially when targeting the minority of students who are visibly Jewish or openly pro-Israel.
When this kind of intimidation replaces discussion, students begin self-censoring to avoid backlash and the foundation of academic freedom erodes.
It is time for universities, student governments, and community leaders across the Midwest to draw a clear moral line between upholding free speech and implicit endorsements of bigoted threats against the Jewish and pro-Israel communities. Administrators must publicly condemn the glorification of terror and demand accountability from groups that harass and intimidate their peers.
Campus spaces are meant for students to wrestle with ideas. But how can that happen when a minority of bullies exploit that freedom to suppress the speech of others?
The choice is simple. Speak out now or allow antisemitic and anti-American radicalization to take root under the guise of activism.
The post Midwest Campus Groups Use ‘Pro-Palestinian’ Label as a Way to Attack Jews and Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.”
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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.
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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.