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2024 Dishonest Reporter of the Year Awards

The New York Times building in New York City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Following the horrific events of October 7, 2023, news and analysis related to Israel’s war against Hamas dominated the headlines around the world for months on end. But instead of rising to the challenge of covering the fast-moving, multi-front battle accurately and impartially, media outlets did their viewers and readers a great disservice by producing a plethora of skewed coverage.
And with the alarming spike in antisemitism, fueled by the warp-speed dissemination of baseless accusations against Israel and its motives for fighting Hamas, the negative impact of dishonest reporters in 2024 was felt more acutely than at any other time in recent memory.
Some of this year’s nominees for the Dishonest Reporter of the Year Award are old favorites — outlets that incessantly delegitimize Israel by distorting the truth, not providing relevant context, using loaded language, publishing misleading headlines, as well as other sleights of hand that are part of the biased journalist’s bag of tricks.
And then there are the influencers with massive online followings who contributed to the wave of anti-Israel bias that swept through the media in 2024. By perpetrating a distinct narrative, that of unbridled Israeli aggression in contrast to perpetual Palestinian victimhood, these online activists have had an impact on the public discourse over the last year.
Our hope is that by tracking and spotlighting the most egregious examples of journalistic malfeasance and presenting our findings, the serial offenders will be held to account for their spreading of malicious untruths about Israel.
Before we reveal the winner of the 2024 Dishonest Reporter Award, here are all the nominees, those publications and individuals who excelled in getting it totally wrong about Israel…
(nominees presented in no particular order)
Most Useful Idiot: Adam Schrader, UPI
UPI’s Adam Schrader in 2024 repeatedly used terror groups and state-run Palestinian agencies as the primary sources in his articles. Among Schrader’s many offenses, the one that stood out this year was when he produced a biography of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar that depicted the arch-terrorist in heroic terms.
According to UPI, Sinwar — a mass murderer and the mastermind behind the October 7 massacre in southern Israel — is a “Palestinian militia” leader who had been arrested in Israel “for supporting a free Palestine.”
While he may have supported a Palestine free of Jews, Sinwar was most definitely not a militia leader. Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organization that has ruled all aspects of life in Gaza for almost two decades.
In the same abysmal story, Schrader referred to the October 7 attack, “which many have characterized as a terror attack” and “Jewish settlers during the 1948 war.”
He even had the gall to accuse Israelis of raping Palestinians in 1948 while singularly ignoring the very real Hamas rape cases that had literally just occurred on October 7.
We’ve seen a lot of poor journalism but this from @UPI‘s Adam Schrader is truly an embarrassment.
Let’s start with how Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was previously arrested for merely “supporting a free Palestine” rather than actual terror activities.
And there’s more.
https://t.co/gKPTFOsr7i pic.twitter.com/xXpDxAzav8
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 19, 2024
Biggest Car Crash Interview: Michael Moore (on CNN)
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore’s April 2024 interview on CNN was difficult to watch. Among many, many gaffes, Moore suggests that anti-Israel campus demonstrations are a hallmark of healthy “democracy and free speech,” and complains that protesters have been beaten and clubbed by police in response, even though no protesters are “committing any acts of violence.”
Another stand-out moment is when he states that 98% of protesters are not antisemitic — something he suggests is impossible “because the Palestinian people are Semites.”
The fact that the there was virtually no pushback from CNN anchor Kaitlin Collins allowed Moore to reimagine facts and rewrite history.
This is can’t-miss viewing in the worst conceivable way.
Michael Moore on @CNN: “98% of them [protesters] are not saying anything that’s antisemitic because they don’t believe in antisemitism, in part, because Palestinian people are Semites.”
How to prove you know nothing about antisemitism while talking about antisemitism.
pic.twitter.com/Ci8xOqmhxG
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) April 30, 2024
Most Malicious Mouthpiece for the Iranian Regime: Seyed Mohammad Marandi, (Interviews on BBC, Sky News, and Channel 4 News)
In the aftermath of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel in April 2024, several British media outlets provided a platform for Seyed Mohammad Marandi. While he was presented innocuously enough as a University of Tehran professor, he is nonetheless an educator in a closed society, where the Iranian regime maintains control over every facet of life, including education. Moreover, Seyed Mohammad Marandi has been exposed as a former IRGC soldier. Despite this revelation, UK media continue to turn to the good professor for sage analysis.
None of the various UK-based news channels alerted their audience that Marandi is effectively a representative of the Iranian government. And so, viewers were fed a feast of lies by the ever-smirking professor who accused Israel in various interviews of genocide, and the Israeli government of being a Nazi regime – an overt act of antisemitism. The fall of the Iran-led axis of resistance will be that much sweeter if it manages to knock that irritating grin off Marandi’s face.
If you are going to give a platform to a blatant liar, @SkyNews, at least inform your viewers that any Iranian university academic will be, at best, an apologist for the Iranian regime.
Unfortunately, @s_m_marandi is a smirking mouthpiece for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. https://t.co/BUzl8sz2to
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) April 14, 2024
New Master Race: Owen Jones, The Guardian
Having published a lengthy screed exposing the BBC for being pro-Israel, Guardian columnist Owen Jones liked a couple of blatantly antisemitic comments posted by his supporters. After being called out, Jones sort of backtracked, posting that “the lesson here is don’t scan through comments reading the first line and pressing ‘like,’ which is what I did.”
A heartfelt apology this most assuredly was not.
Then again, Jones is no stranger to the Dishonest Reporter of the Year Award. This is, after all, the same man who, after watching 47 minutes of footage from the October 7 Hamas massacre, concluded that Israel still hadn’t provided enough proof of horrors like the gang-rape of women and the deliberate killing of children.
I don’t think Owen Jones realises that you can see which comments he has liked underneath his BBC investigation piece…
‘The Zionist project has sought to make Jews the new master race’
‘as long as Zionist voices in the governing party continue to pull Starmer’s strings’ pic.twitter.com/uvbCrJSjRP
— Danny Morris (@DannyMMorris) December 20, 2024
In Memoriam: Mehdi Hasan, On Leaving Legacy Media (Hopefully for Good)
In late 2023, MSNBC announced the cancelation of long-time detractor of Israel Mehdi Hasan’s regular show. Hasan eventually chose to quit the network and launch his own independent media company, Zeteo, in early 2024.
In theory, Hasan now has even more freedom to pursue his obsessive attacks on Israel through his own outlet and on social media.
How did he fare without MSNBC as a platform? Based on his performance in the Munk Debate on anti-Zionism, where he spoke against the motion that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, Hasan’s flame-throwing days may be behind him. Between the beginning of the debate and the end, support for Mehdi’s position dropped by 5%.
Left: @mehdirhasan intentionally misleads his audience about a quote by Arthur Balfour
Right: @UKLFI‘s Natasha Hausdorff calls out his shameless lie pic.twitter.com/SrS9KuXk3w
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) June 18, 2024
Most Dysfunctional News Network: CBS
In July, HonestReporting revealed that a CBS News journalist in Gaza praised terrorists at an official event of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and had contacts with terrorists as a member of the Gaza City municipal council.
Marwan al-Ghoul has been working as a CBS News producer in Gaza for more than two decades, and his affiliation with a proscribed terror group, as well as his official public role in the Hamas-ruled Strip, raises alarming questions regarding the network’s journalistic standards.
Unsurprisingly, Al-Ghoul’s reports from Gaza are typical — they include destruction and victims, not Hamas terrorists.
Despite having no problem with al-Ghoul’s continuing employment, CBS did take issue when its anchor Tony Dokoupil pressed author Ta-Nehisi Coates on the most contentious parts of his new essay collection, The Message, which tackles the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Instead of engaging in an open debate, CBS succumbed to internal backlash and forced Dokoupil to apologize. The resulting fallout led to Paramount Global’s CEO, Shari Redstone reportedly admitting that CBS’s decision to reprimand Dokoupil was a “mistake.”
CBS reprimands a journalist for asking tough questions about Ta-Nehisi Coates’ misleading claims on Israel. Why is challenging anti-Israel narratives treated as taboo? When facts are uncomfortable, integrity shouldn’t take a back seat.https://t.co/soWkkK30R0
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 10, 2024
Al-Ghoul gets a free pass but Dokoupil gets hauled over the coals? Something just isn’t right at CBS News.
Biggest New Influencer Antisemite: Dan Bilzerian
Like many other influencers, Dan Bilzerian’s sudden interest in Israel ignited after the October 7 Hamas massacre that sparked the current war in Gaza. His public embrace of anti-Jewish bigotry is part of a wider online trend that includes such luminaries as Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens, and Jackson Hinkle.
In 2024, Bilzerian posted dozens of disturbing comments about the Jewish state, including conspiratorial claims that Israel murdered U.S. soldiers, that Israel’s Mossad controls the U.S. government, and that Israel orchestrated October 7 as a pretext to seize land in Gaza.
Another antisemitic social media trend that Bilzerian has latched onto involves using either fake or manipulated quotations from the Talmud to supposedly “prove” that Jews are evil, thereby “contextualizing” the war in Gaza.
Bilzerian’s post-October 7 boost in popularity underscores how antisemitism is flourishing online, resulting in real-world consequences.
Most Creative Use of Hezbollah to Correct a Story: Washington Post
The Washington Post in September managed to “correct”’ an error of its own making with … Hezbollah propaganda.
Comments in Post connected with an interview conducted with Alma, an independent research and education center focused on Israel’s security challenges along its northern border, implied that the Galilee region in northern Israel is “disputed” territory. After confirming with Alma that its representative never made any such statement during her interview with the Washington Post, the publication issued a correction…of sorts.
Instead of doing the right thing and simply removing the word “disputed” from the article, journalist Loveday Morris appeared to double down, attempting to justify or explain why the status of the Galilee region could be considered disputed.
Yet even after HonestReporting called out The Washington Post for Morris’s shoddy journalism and subsequent ‘correction,’ the media outlet continued to platform Hezbollah’s false claims.
After we called out @LovedayM for misquoting an Israeli expert, @washingtonpost replaced the misquote with bogus Hezbollah propaganda that was also not given as background context by @ZehaviAlma in her interview.
Is this what passes for journalism in the Washington Post? https://t.co/DTsBl3p0ZS pic.twitter.com/3M1W4BWzyY
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 29, 2024
Biggest Disappointment: The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal, long seen as a reliable voice on Israel, is now pushing a dangerous narrative by drawing disturbing moral equivalencies between Hamas terrorists and Israelis defending their lives.
Case in point: One of their reporters, Abeer Ayyoub, was caught spreading terrorist propaganda on social media. On October 7, Ayyoub posted a violent Hamas propaganda video. It showed terrorists lynching and executing Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border.
Ayyoub’s anti-Israeli sentiment is often hidden behind the facade of the Arabic language, making it easier to conceal from her bosses and colleagues in Western media.
But this is no excuse.
However, despite Ayyoub’s rampant hate-mongering, The Wall Street Journal apparently believes that she can report on Israel and Gaza objectively, without letting her views contaminate her coverage.
Perpetuation of 2,000-Year-Old Blood Libel Prize: Sky News
Sky News reached a journalistic low in July with a report by special correspondent Alex Crawford, detailing the aftermath of the Hezbollah rocket attack on the Golan Heights that killed 12 children playing soccer in the Druze town of Majdal Shams.
Crawford prominently highlighted Hezbollah’s vehement denials of involvement in the attack, yet omitted the fact that the group had earlier that day boasted about launching at least 100 rockets at Israel.
But the most disturbing part of the piece wasn’t Crawford’s almost sympathetic portrayal of the terror group as unflinching in the face of “threats and accusations from their Israeli neighbors.” Below, is a direct quote from the piece:
The war has entered a very dangerous stage and the Lebanese authorities who’re in direct contact with their Hezbollah partners are urging restraint whilst encouraging the Americans to leverage pressure on the Israelis to reign [sic] in their lust for revenge.
Dear @SkyNews,
Thank you for your empathy for the loss of 12 children murdered by Hezbollah. Israelis want and deserve security and to return safely home. Your calling that a “lust for revenge” while our children are being buried is deeply offensive.https://t.co/IIZrgMfOVD pic.twitter.com/L3Lj6OoNAq— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 29, 2024
The People’s Choice: BBC News
Last year’s Dishonest Reporter Award winner has had a stellar year for anti-Israel bias and that was reflected in a vote held on X (formerly Twitter) that demonstrated just how poorly BBC News is thought of around the globe. Despite coming up against The New York Times in the final round of voting, the BBC delivered a knockout blow to take the people’s choice for the worst coverage of Israel this year.
A damning report exposed the full extent of the BBC’s anti-Israel bias during the Israel-Hamas war. The analysis, spanning four months of the broadcaster’s coverage starting on October 7, uncovered a staggering 1,500 breaches of the BBC’s editorial guidelines and highlighted systemic failures to maintain its commitment to impartiality and accuracy during a conflict that has fueled a troubling rise of antisemitic bigotry worldwide.
The Asserson Report reveals not just isolated errors, but a consistent pattern of bias that undermines the BBC’s journalistic integrity. But how can the BBC begin to address its failings when it refuses to acknowledge that there is a problem?
According to @BBCNews, “It’s simply not the BBC’s job to tell people who to support and who to condemn – who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.”
And yet the BBC does a damn good job of portraying Israel as the bad guys. https://t.co/syr6Kvi2ys
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 11, 2023
The BBC has recently come under fire from The Guardian’s Owen Jones and Al Jazeera for being “pro-Israel.”
We’ll respectfully disagree.
If you want an illustration of biased @BBCNews coverage, look no further than this mess.
https://t.co/3miqo8F2az
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 28, 2024
2024 Dishonest Reporter of the Year: The New York Times
In a disturbingly crowded field, The New York Times stood out in 2024. One of America’s leading publications, the Gray Lady repeatedly played fast and loose with news about the Israel-Hamas conflict. While there were notable instances where the newspaper of record for the United States distinguished itself with compelling fact-driven articles and investigations, even earning a Pulitzer Prize for its Israel-Hamas war coverage, such examples of journalistic excellence, unfortunately, proved to be the exception.
Instead, people around the world looking for clear and sober reporting and reasoned analysis about Israel were generally treated to a steady diet of advocacy journalism that put a premium on pushing a certain narrative.
Below, are but a few of the ways the NYT’s readership was thoroughly misled:
Doctors Plot
In October, The New York Times opinion essay “65 Doctors, Nurses and Paramedics: What We Saw in Gaza” blew up, as weapons and forensic ballistic experts debunked and questioned X-ray images featured in the piece claiming to be 5.56 caliber bullets inside the skulls of Gazan children.
Despite The New York Times’ vigorous defense of the essay, the mounting evidence that discredited both the accounts and the purported evidence within the piece raises serious questions about how thoroughly The Times vetted the doctors involved.
7 Reasons Why The New York Times’ ’65 Doctors’ Guest Essay Fell Apart
pic.twitter.com/82VCke4Cfu
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 29, 2024
Another doozy also occurred in October, when The New York Times published an investigation alleging that IDF soldiers were using Gazans as human shields during operations in the Gaza Strip. NYT’s investigation relied heavily on highly problematic sources, including the organization Breaking the Silence.
In doing so, The New York Times turned on its head the substantiated fact that Hamas deliberately embeds itself within civilian infrastructure as a means of protecting its terrorists and their weaponry from Israel. Not only are the accusations against the IDF baseless, but they are also a distraction from the very real human rights violations Hamas perpetrates when it uses Gazans as human shields.
When @nytimes uses individual cases that go against the IDF’s own Code of Ethics to tarnish Israel’s entire army yet fails to address Hamas’ policy of using Gaza’s entire population as human shields, that’s not journalism, it’s a double standard. https://t.co/TnITu8Mmgv
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 14, 2024
Apartheid Roads
The New York Times failed mightily when it published an interactive feature titled “Roadblocked.”
The piece implied strongly that Israel’s road network exists solely to “restrict Palestinian movement.” The truth is that these barriers and security measures were put in place to protect Israelis from terrorism. And, crucially, they likely would not exist if there were a Palestinian leadership committed to peace with Israel.
No Campus Antisemitism Here
The Times posted a piece in July that failed to portray the full and accurate picture of events surrounding the outburst of antisemitism on U.S. college campuses. In an entire discussion of the campus protest arrests, the article does not make a single mention of the extreme nature of these demonstrations.
Effectively, the NYT uncritically ran with the narrative that student protesters were simply exercising their right to free speech. Such fact-free reporting trivializes the incitement perpetrated by those present and enforces the idea that they do not deserve any consequences for their violent behavior.
These protests were pro-Hamas, not pro-Palestinian, @nytimes. This story ignores the extreme antisemitism, the blocking of Jewish students from their classes, the paper mache pig with a Jewish star, the money bags, the blood, etc:https://t.co/4jcm4npwXLhttps://t.co/Z4Lku55YmD
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 22, 2024
Lancet Libel
The Lancet medical journal published a piece in July that claimed it wasn’t “implausible” that the overall number of deaths in Gaza could be higher than 186,000 — a figure the authors concocted by comparing Gaza to other conflicts with no substantial basis.
To her credit, New York Times Opinion Editor Meher Ahmad was one of the few journalists to correctly describe the piece as a “letter,” not a peer-reviewed study or anything remotely rigorous. However, she still attempted to contextualize the authors’ “staggering” number, describing the contents of the missive as “more a call for open documentation of casualties than anything else.”
Seen the wild claim “186,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza”?
Here’s the scoop: they multiplied current, inaccurate death tolls by 4 to get this number. Even worse, the media ran with it, spreading false info far and wide. pic.twitter.com/dPfRM9mVlN
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 9, 2024
Legitimized By Pulitzer Prize
The awarding of the Pulitzer Prize to the Times for “its wide-ranging and revelatory coverage of Hamas’ lethal attack in southern Israel on October 7, Israel’s intelligence failures, and the Israeli military’s sweeping, deadly response in Gaza” gave the ultimate seal of approval for all of the paper’s Israel-Hamas war coverage — including all of those times that the Gray Lady has not lived up to appropriate standards.
To fulfill its mission to cover “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” one can forgive The New York Times for the occasional case of sloppy journalism, inevitable in a 24/7 news cycle. However, the publication’s biased reporting on the Israel-Hamas war was part of a pattern. On a topic as complex and impactful as the Israel-Hamas war, the paper has a major responsibility to get the facts right. Instead, the publication sacrificed its journalistic standards on the altar of a narrative that aligns neatly with that of Israel’s most vociferous detractors.
“Congratulations” to a worthy winner of this year’s Dishonest Reporter Award.
Gidon Ben-Zvi, former Jerusalem Correspondent for The Algemeiner newspaper, is an accomplished writer who left Hollywood for Jerusalem in 2009. He and his wife are raising their four children to speak fluent English – with an Israeli accent. Ben-Zvi’s work has appeared in The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, The Algemeiner, American Thinker, The Jewish Journal, Israel Hayom, and United with Israel. Ben-Zvi blogs at Jerusalem State of Mind (jsmstateofmind.com). The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post 2024 Dishonest Reporter of the Year Awards first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Criticizes Arab-Islamic Summit Statement, Flags Objections After Doha Meeting

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, attends the emergency Arab-Islamic leaders’ summit in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 15, 2025. Photo: Hassan Bargash Al Menhali / UAE Presidential Court/Handout via REUTERS
Iran has criticized the final statement of the Arab-Islamic Summit held in Doha on Monday as insufficient, in the wake of last week’s Israeli attack targeting the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Qatar.
In a statement released shortly after the summit, Iran reaffirmed its “unwavering support for the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination,” while arguing that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot adequately address the Palestinian issue.
According to the Iranian delegation, “the only real and lasting solution is the establishment of a single democratic state across all of Palestine, through a referendum involving all Palestinians inside and outside the occupied territories.”
On Monday, Qatar held a summit of Arab and Islamic nations in the aftermath of last week’s Israeli strike on Hamas, with leaders gathering to express support and discuss regional responses.
The Sept. 9 strike targeting leaders of the Palestinian terrorist group in Doha marked a significant escalation of Israeli military operations, reflecting Jerusalem’s broader efforts to dismantle the terrorist group amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
Expressing solidarity with Qatar, summit leaders condemned Israel’s strike, labeling it “cowardly, illegal, and a threat to collective regional security.”
In the final statement, the heads of state declared that “an assault on a state acting as a neutral mediator in the Gaza crisis is not only a hostile act against Qatar but also a direct blow to international peace-building efforts.”
Alongside the United States and other regional powers, Qatar has served as a ceasefire mediator during the nearly two-year Gaza conflict, facilitating indirect negotiations between the Jewish state and Hamas.
However, Doha has also backed the Palestinian terrorist group for years, providing Hamas with money and diplomatic support while hosting and sheltering its top leadership.
During the summit, Arab and Muslim leaders called for a review of diplomatic and economic relations with Israel while firmly opposing any attempts to displace Palestinians.
In the final statement, the heads of state also emphasized resisting Israel’s efforts to “impose new realities on the ground,” urged enforcement of International Criminal Court (ICC) warrants for Israeli leaders over war crime allegations adamantly denied by Jerusalem, and coordinated actions to suspend Israel’s UN membership.
Although Iran participated in the summit and endorsed the declaration, its delegation issued a separate statement shortly afterward clarifying that doing so “must in no way be interpreted, explicitly or implicitly, as recognition of the Israeli regime,” reaffirming its rejection of the Jewish state’s right to exist.
Iranian leaders regularly declare their intention to destroy Israel, the world’s lone Jewish state.
The statement also stressed that the Palestinian people have the right to employ “all necessary means to achieve their inalienable right to self-determination,” emphasizing that backing this cause is “a shared duty of the international community.”
As the heads of Arab and Islamic states convened for a summit on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned he did not rule out further strikes on Hamas leaders “wherever they are.”
During a diplomatic visit to Israel, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed strong support for Israel’s position, even as Washington previously voiced concerns over the strike in Qatar, a US ally.
Speaking alongside Netanyahu, Rubio said the only way to end the war in Gaza would be for Hamas to free all hostages and surrender. While the US wants a diplomatic end to the war, “we have to be prepared for the possibility that’s not going to happen,” he said.
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“Your Name Was Included”: UC Berkeley Cooperating With Trump Administration, Admits to Disclosing Names

Students attend a protest encampment in support of Palestinians at University of California, Berkeley during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Berkeley, US, April 23, 2024. Photo: Carlos Barria via Reuters Connect
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) is cooperating with the Trump administration’s inquiry into campus antisemitism, providing materials containing the names of some 160 people identified in disciplinary reports and other official documents.
As first reported by The Daily Californian, UC Berkeley’s official campus newspaper, the university’s Office of Legal Affairs notified every person affected by the mass disclosure, writing to them on Sept. 4.
“Last spring, the [US Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, or OCR]] initiated investigations regarding allegations of antisemitic harassment and discrimination at UC Berkeley. As part of its investigation, OCR required production of comprehensive documents, including files and reports related to alleged antisemitic incidents,” chief campus counsel David Robinson wrote. “This notice is to inform you that, as required by law and as per directions provided by the UC systemic Office of General Counsel, your name was included in report as part of the documents provided by OGC [Office of General Counsel] to OCR for its investigations on Aug. 18, 2025.”
He added, “These documents contained information about reports or responses related to antisemitic incidents.”
Anti-Israel activists told the Californian that the university is helping the Trump administration hunt witches.
“I think the message was sent to anybody has who has ever been accused of antisemitism, which of course, includes a lot of Palestinians,” one said, claiming that he has been falsely accused. “Whenever we teach about Palestine, it usually leads to an investigation. I think they flagged and sent all of that information to the federal government.”
Students for Justice in Palestine, infamous for its ties to jihadist terror organizations, also criticized the move, charging that the administration had promised to conceal their identities and thereby obstruct the government’s inquiry.
“Chancellor Rich Lyons should not have given assurances that he wouldn’t be giving our information to the federal government,” the group said. “Beyond that, he should never have bowed down so easily. I would think that a university that prides itself on being this liberal haven would at least stand up to a fascist like Donald Trump.”
UC Berkeley came under scrutiny in 2024 after a mob of hundreds of pro-Palestinian students and non-students shut down an event at its Zellerbach Hall featuring Israeli reservist Ran Bar-Yoshafat, forcing Jewish students to flee to a secret safe room as the protesters overwhelmed campus police.
Footage of the incident showed a frenzied mass of anti-Zionist agitators banging on the doors of Zellerbach. The mob then, according to witnesses, eventually stormed the building — breaking windows in the process, according to reports in The Daily Wire — and precipitated the decision to evacuate the area. During the infiltration of Zellerbach, one of the mob — assembled by Bears for Palestine, which had earlier proclaimed its intention to cancel the event — spit on a Jewish student and called him a “Jew,” pejoratively.
Other incidents, including the university’s employment of a lecturer who tweeted antisemitic images — one of which accused Israel of organ harvesting, a blood libel — the rewarding of academic benefits for participating in anti-Zionist activity, and the banning of Zionist speakers from Berkeley Law, have raised concerns about anti-Jewish hated on campus. In 2017, The Algemeiner ranked UC Berkeley as number five on “The 40 Worst Colleges for Jewish Students.”
In August, an Israeli professor sued the university, alleging that school officials denied her a job because she is Israeli — a claim its own investigators corroborated in an internal investigation, according to her attorneys at the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.
Filed in the Alameda County Superior Court, the complaint is seeking justice for Dr. Yael Nativ, who taught in UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies as a visiting professor in 2022 and received an invitation to apply to do so again for the 2024-2025 academic year just weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel.
A hiring official allegedly believed, however, that an Israeli professor in the department would be unpalatable to students and faculty.
“My dept [sic] cannot host you for a class next fall,” the official allegedly told Nativ in a WhatsApp message. “Things are very hot here right now and many of our grad students are angry. I would be putting the dept and you in a terrible position if you taught here.”
Berkeley’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination (OPHD) later initiated an investigation of Nativ’s denial after the professor wrote an opinion essay which publicly accused the school of cowardice and violations of her civil rights. OPHD determined that a “preponderance of evidence” proved Nativ’s claim, but school officials went on to ignore the professor’s requests for an apology and other remedial measures, including sending her a renewed invitation to teach dance. After nearly two years, the situation remains unresolved.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Israel Issues Travel Warning Ahead of Jewish Holidays Amid Rising Attacks, Discrimination Targeting Israelis Abroad

A flag is flown during a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, outside the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, Nov. 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
Israel has issued a travel warning ahead of the upcoming Jewish high holidays and the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities, alerting citizens of heightened terrorist threats against Israelis and Jewish communities abroad.
On Sunday, the National Security Council (NSC) urged travelers to stay alert, cautioning that the two-year anniversary of the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel could trigger attacks by Iran-backed or Hamas-linked terrorist groups targeting Jews and Israelis abroad.
“The recent period has been characterized by continued efforts to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets by the various terrorist organizations (most of them led by Iran and Hamas),” the NSC said in a statement.
“Oct. 7 may again serve as a significant date for terrorist organizations,” the statement read.
Israeli officials warned that the threat mainly stems from Iran and its terrorist proxies, which have increasingly targeted Jews and Israelis beyond Israel’s borders.
In recent months, the NSC reported that dozens of plots have been thwarted, even as violent incidents — including physical attacks, antisemitic threats, and online incitement — have continued to rise.
“With the war ongoing and the terror threat growing, we are witnessing an escalation in antisemitic violence and provocations by anti-Israel elements,” the NSC said in its statement.
“This trend may inspire extremists to carry out attacks against Israelis or Jews abroad,” it continued.
According to the NSC, Iran remains the leading source of terrorism against Israelis and Jews worldwide, acting both directly and through proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
“Iranian motivation is growing in light of the severe blows it suffered in the framework of ‘Operation Rising Lion’ and the growing desire for revenge,” the NSC said in a statement, referring to the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Amid rising tensions over the war in Gaza, Israeli officials have previously warned of Iranian sleeper cells — covert operatives or terrorists embedded in rival countries who remain dormant until they receive orders to act and carry out attacks.
In light of this reality, the NSC also warned that social media posts revealing ties to Israeli security services could put individuals at risk of being targeted.
“We advise against posting any content that suggests involvement in the security services or operational activities, including real-time location updates,” the statement read.
This latest updated warning comes amid a growing hostile environment and a shocking surge in anti-Jewish hate crimes targeting Jews and Israelis worldwide.
Across Europe, Israelis are facing a disturbing surge of targeted attacks and hostility, as a wave of antisemitic incidents — from violent assaults and vandalism to protests and legal actions — spreads amid rising tensions following recent conflicts in the Middle East.
On Saturday, a 29-year-old Israeli and his sister were attacked by three Palestinian men while on vacation in Athens, Greece.
According to local media reports, the two siblings were walking through the city’s center when three unknown individuals carrying Palestinian flags approached them, shouting antisemitic slurs.
The attackers assaulted the Israeli man, a disabled Israel Defense Forces (IDF) veteran, scratching him, throwing him to the ground, and striking him with their flagpoles, while his sister attempted to intervene and protect him.
October 7 is a global war against Jews & Israelis.
Pro-Palestinian radicals just attacked an Israeli man in Syntagma Square, Athens. via @N12News https://t.co/IZR2IdNrUI pic.twitter.com/9S2o4IjtO6
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) September 14, 2025
Greek authorities arrested all five individuals involved in the incident. According to the Israeli man’s father, his son was placed in a cell with 10 Arabs, where he was reportedly beaten again and feared for his life.
In a separate antisemitic incident earlier this year, a group of Israeli teenagers was physically assaulted by dozens of pro-Palestinian assailants — some reportedly armed with knives — on the Greek island of Rhodes.
After leaving a nightclub, the teens were followed to their hotel, where they were violently assaulted, leaving several with minor injuries.
In another example of rising anti-Israel sentiment and hostility toward Jewish communities, one of Britain’s most prestigious military academies, the Royal College of Defense Studies, announced Sunday that it will bar Israeli students from enrolling next year, citing concerns over the war in Gaza.
In Belgium, two IDF soldiers attending the Tomorrowland music festival were arrested and interrogated by local authorities following a complaint from the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), an anti-Israel legal group that pursues legal action against IDF personnel, accusing them of involvement in war crimes.
According to HRF, the soldiers were seen waving the flags of the IDF’s Givati Brigade, which they claimed has been “involved in the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza and in carrying out mass atrocities against the Palestinian population.”
In France, a 34-year-old Algerian man was sentenced to 40 months in prison for threatening passengers with a knife and making antisemitic death threats after boarding a train at Cannes station.
In another incident earlier this year, a Jewish man wearing a kippah was brutally attacked and called a “dirty Jew” in Anduze, a small town in southern France.