Germany’s likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday he had invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit and would find a way for him to do so without being arrested under a warrant by the International Criminal Court.

“I think it is a completely absurd idea that an Israeli prime minister cannot visit the Federal Republic of Germany,” Merz said at a press conference, a day after his conservatives won the largest share of the vote in a national election.

Merz said he had told Netanyahu by phone “that we would find ways and means for him to visit Germany and leave again without being arrested.”

Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli leader had congratulated Merz. It also said Merz had told Netanyahu he would invite him to Germany “in defiance of the scandalous International Criminal Court decision to label the prime minister a war criminal.”

The Hague-based ICC has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister as well as Hamas officials for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza.

All 27 EU countries including Germany are signatories of the founding treaty of the court, the only permanent international tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity, which requires members to arrest its suspects on their territory.

The ICC said that states have a legal obligation to enforce its decisions, and any concerns they may have should be addressed with the court in a timely and efficient manner.

“It is not for states to unilaterally determine the soundness of the court’s legal decisions,” said the ICC.

Israel rejects the jurisdiction of the court and denies war crimes, noting its military forces in Gaza have been targeting Hamas terrorists, who hide their weapons, operations centers, and other military infrastructure within and underneath civilian sites.

Germans feel a special responsibility towards Israel due to the legacy of the Holocaust, and Merz has made clear he is a strong ally. But Germany also has a strong tradition of support for international justice for war crimes.

The Left party called Merz’s invitation a “disaster” and accused him of “double standards.”

Germany has always insisted that international arrest warrants must be implemented, said Left co-leader Jan van Aken.

“If Vladimir Putin comes to Germany, then this arrest warrant must be implemented. The same applies to Netanyahu,” said Aken, referring to an ICC arrest warrant issued for the Russian leader over the deportation of children from Ukraine.

The war in Gaza started when Hamas-led terrorists launched a cross-border attack on Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages.

Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.

The post Merz Says He Will Find Way for Netanyahu to Visit Germany Without Being Arrested first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

The United States imposed a fresh round of sanctions targeting Iran’s oil industry on Monday, hitting more than 30 brokers, tanker operators, and shipping companies for their role in selling and transporting Iranian petroleum, the Treasury Department said.

The announcement comes as US President Donald Trump seeks to bring Iran’s crude exports to zero to prevent the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon and builds on the layers of sanctions already imposed by his government and the previous Biden administration.

“Iran continues to rely on a shadowy network of vessels, shippers, and brokers to facilitate its oil sales and fund its destabilizing activities,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a statement.

“The United States will use all our available tools to target all aspects of Iran’s oil supply chain, and anyone who deals in Iranian oil exposes themselves to significant sanctions risk,” he added.

The new sanctions target oil brokers in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, tanker operators and managers in India and China, the head of Iran’s National Iranian Oil Company, and the Iranian Oil Terminals Company, Treasury said.

The Iranian Oil Terminals Company oversees all operations at Iran’s oil terminals, including Kharg Island Oil Terminal, through which a majority of Iranian oil flows, and South Pars Condensate Terminal, which accounts for 100 percent of Iran’s gas condensate exports, according to Treasury.

Trump earlier this month had restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that includes efforts to drive the country’s oil exports to zero, reimposing Washington’s tough policy on Iran that was practiced throughout Trump’s first term.

Oil is a top source of revenue for Iran, and targeting the country’s exports is meant to deny the government funds for its nuclear and missile programs. The move generally prohibits any US individuals or entities from doing any business with the targets and freezes any US-held assets.

Trump had accused his predecessor, President Joe Biden, of failing to rigorously enforce oil-export sanctions.

Despite US sanctions, Tehran’s oil exports brought in $53 billion in 2023 and $54 billion a year earlier, according to US Energy Information Administration estimates.

Output during 2024 was running at its highest level since 2018, based on OPEC data.

Trump had driven Iran’s oil exports to near-zero during part of his first term after re-imposing sanctions, but they rebounded under Biden’s White House tenure as Iran succeeded in evading sanctions.

It is unclear if Trump’s measures will push Iran’s exports back down significantly.

China does not recognize US sanctions and Chinese firms buy the most Iranian oil. China and Iran have built a trading system that uses mostly Chinese yuan and a network of middlemen, avoiding the dollar and exposure to US regulators.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency believes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other OPEC members have spare capacity to make up for any lost exports from Iran, also an OPEC member.

The post US Imposes New Sanctions on Iran’s Shadow Oil Fleet first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) — my alma mater — has an antisemitism problem that is driving Jewish students from campus and persuading others from attending.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel and perpetrated the biggest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

On Oct. 9, 2023, the SLC campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) celebrated the rapes, massacre, and hostage-taking of Israelis when it announced an “Hour of Solidarity with Palestine” event. The event flyer featured a Hamas bulldozer breaking into Israel through the security barrier.

As The Algemeiner reported, “Briana Martin — SLC director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) — called on students to ignore Jewish suffering by attending” the event. According to the report, Martin was SJP’s advisor and “club’s advocate and liaison.”

I am a member of an independent Sarah Lawrence alumni social media group that has almost 3,500 members. When the topic of Israel is raised, graduates frequently engage in hateful, antisemitic, and intolerant commentary — which partially explains the college’s tolerance and even encouragement of antisemitism on its campus.

Let’s take a look at what graduates of the college are saying.

In late 2024, a Sarah Lawrence graduate posted concerns about what she called a “despicable” banner hung at Sarah Lawrence which read, “ZIONISM WILL FALL. REVOLUTION UNTIL VICTORY. FREE PALESTINE.”

Many Sarah Lawrence graduates chimed in to support the hateful banner with comments such as “Get over yourself” and “This is EXACTLY the Sarah Lawrence I went to.” One graduate explained, “I learned about the foundation of zionism as a colonial ideology At slc! [sic].”

Some graduates joined the conversation to agree that antisemitism is currently a huge issue at the college. One responded, “The SLC I knew did not make other students feel unsafe … The SLC administration continues to be asleep at the wheel with both blindfolds and earplugs.”

Another graduate wrote, “Many Jewish students do not feel safe to be known or visible as Jewish on the campus.” This graduate explained she has a child attending Sarah Lawrence and also communicates with other parents of SLC students.

Another graduate added, “I know of many Jewish parents who have now crossed Sarah Lawrence off of their schools to visit list.”

In another thread on this alumni group, a graduate shared, “A Jewish senior [in high school] I know was accepted to SLC. But he has chosen to attend elsewhere because they heard from other Jewish students at SLC that they don’t feel safe and they don’t feel the admin[istration] takes their concerns seriously.”

As I recently reported, at the anti-Israel encampment on its campus last year, Sarah Lawrence students planted a large banner promoting Samidoun, which was designated by the US government under President Biden as a “sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.”

In a 2024 zine written by “Anonymous Sarah Lawrence Students,” the authors state that they answered Hamas’ call for “escalation” by occupying a building on campus.

Sarah Lawrence students have masked up to conceal their identities and dressed up like Hamas — the very terrorists dedicated to killing Jews across the globe — to occupy the main administration building on campus in a failed attempt to have the college divest from Israel.

Ask yourself, would Sarah Lawrence or any college or university allow students to dress up like the Ku Klux Klan and conceal their identities while they occupy buildings, disrupt campus life, and terrorize the community? I surely doubt it.

In a column published this month, Sarah Lawrence professor Samuel J. Abrams discussed a student who is Jewish and a Zionist and afraid to return to campus. I shared Abrams’ column with the social media alumni group. A graduate responded, “imagine the kind of coward you’d have to be to be afraid to go to school.”

Such a total lack of empathy from a fellow Sarah Lawrence graduate helps explain why Jewish students don’t want to attend SLC, and why Jewish parents are looking elsewhere.

In the same thread, another graduate of the college responded: “i’m not a zionist but nevertheless … when i was at SLC someone graffitied a swastika onto my dorm and i had fake eviction notices slipped under my door, just because i celebrated jewish holidays. people threatened me because i went to hillel. it’s tough out there even for jews who 1000% support Palestine [sic].”

Recently, students at SLC have encouraged fellow students to boycott Abrams’ classes. Abrams explained that the boycott is because he supports “Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself” and because he is a “Zionist Jew.” Just last week, Abrams published a column detailing how the social media alumni group has allowed antisemitism directed at him.

In August, a graduate posted to the alumni group, “I asked the current Dean of Students what SLC was doing to make Jewish students feel safe. The answer was ‘nothing.’”

I emailed Dave Stanfield, the Dean of Students, about this. He responded:

While I do not comment on private conversations with students or on social media posts, I can say that the College remains committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive environment for all students, including our Jewish community. In my role, I regularly engage with students to understand their concerns and ensure their voices are reflected in our policies and programs.

This month, I reported in The Algemeiner that a graduate of Sarah Lawrence recently commented in the alumni group, “May no Zionist, be they Christian, Jewish, or atheist (because all of these exist) be safe from harassment just as white men who espouse white supremacy should not be safe from harassment either.”

Not a single graduate among the almost 3,500 who belong to this alumni group spoke up against this hateful, antisemitic comment.

This month, I also posted my first column detailing antisemitism at Sarah Lawrence on the alumni social media group. My fellow graduates regularly post our work and interests in the group, which is one of the reasons the alumni group exists. My post was initially published and then it was declined or removed. Apparently, Sarah Lawrence graduates do not like reading about their own intolerance and antisemitism.

Before my post was declined, a fellow graduate responded, “Peter Reitzes thank you for this brave post. It echoes my impression exactly and I will add that although I have given to SLC’s annual fund every year since 1983 I will no longer provide financial support to the college.”

Another graduate responded, “I wouldn’t send my dog there.”

Recently, several Sarah Lawrence graduates have denigrated the politically progressive Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in the alumni group by calling it a terrorist organization. The ADL is one of the leading organizations in the world fighting hatred and antisemitism.

Emmaia Gelman — Sarah Lawrence professor and Director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism — has as her current Instagram profile picture a photo that reads “GO TO HELL ADL.” In 2024, Gelman shared a photo on Instagram that included the messages “NO ADL” and “SHAME ON GLAAD.” GLAAD is the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

In August, Sarah Lawrence professor Suzanne Gardinier posted on X, “That sick uniformed glee in civilian suffering I used to call Nazi—watching a whole generation learn to call it Israeli.” According to the US Department of State, one example of antisemitism is “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

It may come as a huge shock to parents spending more than $66,000 a year in tuition to send their children to Sarah Lawrence that professors would espouse such views.

Some of my fellow graduates even rely upon gaslighting or trolling arguments in attempts to deny or diminish antisemitism. In one such absurd exchange, a graduate actually stated that it is a “weak argument” for Zionists to complain of antisemitism because Palestinians are Semites too.

In another such exchange, a graduate put forth the view that it is antisemitic if you do not ask if Sarah Lawrence has “any investments in Israel that we need to divest from?” To make such a noxious view even worse, it was made by a graduate who identified herself as an instructor or professor at a nearby university.

In his most recent column, published last week, Abrams concludes: “Those numerous alumni who have engaged in anti-Semitic behavior serve as a stark reminder that SLC has not instilled the critical thinking skills necessary to foster a truly open and tolerant society.”

In early 2025, the US Department of Education opened a Title VI antisemitism investigation in response to a complaint filed by Hillel accusing the college of fostering a hostile environment towards Jewish students.

Jewish families and our allies need to stop sending our children to Sarah Lawrence. The college has chosen its side. Now it is time for Jewish families to move on from Sarah Lawrence.

Peter Reitzes writes about issues related to antisemitism and Israel.

The post Should Jewish Students Stop Attending Sarah Lawrence College? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.