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‘You’re Next’: Anti-Israel Activist, Ex-Barnard College Student Promotes Death Threat Against Netanyahu

A pro-Hamas demonstrator uses a megaphone at Columbia University. Photo: Mike Segar via Reuters Connect.

Amid concerns about rising political violence in the US following the murder of Charlie Kirk, anti-Israel campus activist and former Barnard College student Maryam Iqbal shared a social media post this week calling for the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“You’re next,” said the post by an account named EV HardSnipe, in response to Netanyahu’s writing that he was praying for Kirk, a prominent conservative activist who was shot and killed at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

“Praying for @charliekirk11,” read the original post by Netanyahu.

EV HardSnipe’s death threat was shared by Iqbal, who along with US Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter was suspended from school during the 2023-2024 academic year for their role in a riotous, unauthorized anti-Israel protest at Columbia University in New York.

“Political killings are heinous acts; the reactions have been equally disturbing. Within the campus context and beyond, free speech has become limited only to some groups, especially on the progressive left, and discouraged and silenced when it concerns topics like antisemitism, Israel, and Zionism — and for that matter, any subject that is perceived to be conservative,” Asaf Romirowsky, executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME), told The Algemeiner in a statement. “As we are still coming to grips with the assassination of Charlie Kirk who was a staunch advocate of discourse and free exchange of ideas no matter what opinions were shared, we are now seeing students on campus engaging in vilification of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu using Kirk’s Zionist views as an excuse to do so.”

Responding to The Algemeiner‘s request for comment on the incident, a Barnard College spokesperson said, “The person associated with the tweet did not enroll at Barnard College for the current academic year.”

She added, “Barnard is committed to maintaining a campus that is safe, welcoming, inclusive, for all members of our community. We do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or threats of violence, which is made clear in our expectations for community conduct and policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment.”

Columbia University and Barnard College have been hubs of campus antisemitism, with particular hostility directed toward Israelis and Zionists, amid the war in Gaza. After Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Columbia produced several indelible examples of campus antisemitism, including a student who proclaimed that Zionist Jews deserve to be murdered and are lucky he is not doing so himself and administrative officials who, outraged at the notion that Jews organized to resist anti-Zionism, participated in a group chat in which each member took turns sharing antisemitic tropes that described Jews as privileged and grafting.

Amid these incidents, the university struggled to contain the anti-Zionist group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which in late January committed an act of infrastructural sabotage by flooding the toilets of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) with concrete. Numerous reports indicate the attack may have been the premeditated result of planning sessions which took place many months ago at an event held by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP) — a literary society, according to the Washington Free Beacon. During the event, the Free Beacon reported, ADP distributed literature dedicated to “aspiring revolutionaries” who wish to commit seditious acts. Additionally, a presentation was given in which complete instructions for the exact kind of attack which struck Columbia were shared with students.

In July, Barnard College settled a lawsuit brought by 36 Jewish students who accused the administrations of Barnard and Columbia of failing to address a toxic outbreak of antisemitism that roiled their campuses.

Barnard administrators themselves effectively facilitated anti-Zionist activity on campus, according to the students’ complaint, citing an incident in which school officials invited anti-Israel activist Hatem Bazian, known for saying, “It’s about time we had an intifada in [the US],” to speak at a “Day of Dialogue” event in January 2024. While Jewish community advocates criticized the invitation for platforming ideologies which openly call for the destruction of Israel, the college defended Bazian as a “renowned scholar.”

Meanwhile, pro-Hamas students allegedly responded to dog whistles they heard emanating from the administration.

“Why are you here?” a pro-Hamas activist asked a Jewish student identified in court documents as John Doe, during a period of campus unrest, several days after Bazian spoke on campus. “Are you here as a Jew? … Well, we’re fighting against you.”

In a major victory for Jewish students, the college also agreed never to engage with CUAD, which emerged after the Oct. 7 attacks as one of the most militant anti-Israel groups in American higher education for its role in building takeovers and physical assaults on Jewish students.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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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.

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