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A Voice of Sanity in the Campus Effort to Demonize Israel
Pro-Hamas demonstrators in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: Screenshot
The Association for Middle East and African Studies (ASMEA) held its 16th annual gathering from November 4-6 in Washington, DC, a few blocks from George Washington University’s campus. Interestingly, the first day of the conference coincided with the largest pro-Palestinian rally in history, taking place just a few blocks away.
ASMEA is an academic society dedicated to promoting the highest standards of research and teaching in Middle Eastern and African studies, and related fields. Professor Fouad Ajami and Professor Bernard Lewis created ASMEA in 2007 to respond to the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), which they believed had become increasingly “anti-Israel and anti-American.” However, most importantly, they desired an organization committed to protecting academic freedom and promoting the search for truth. This mission has proven to be all the more relevant given the spike in anti-Israel activity following the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel, and the war it launched.
The group’s inaugural event, the Fouad Ajami Roundtable: Legacy and Memory, paid tribute to one of the organization’s founders. The gathering featured speakers who shared personal connections with Ajami or had deeply researched his work. These speakers, among them Ajami’s wife Michelle, delved into Ajami’s life journey, including his early trips to Israel. They also pondered how he might interpret contemporary events such as the Hamas/Israel conflict and the prevailing identity politics. Additionally, Michael Lewis, the son of founder Bernard Lewis, presented prizes in his father’s honor for outstanding papers on antisemitism.
The panel titled “Israel’s War with Hamas” was added to address the current conflict. Panelists presented in person and via Zoom from Israel, to discuss the factors that led to the current war. The panelists highlighted how Hamas has systematically used online platforms to demonize and dehumanize Jews, mainly targeting the younger generation. Hamas employed psychological warfare by stripping Jews and Israelis of their humanity as part of their tactics against Israel.
All of the panelists agreed that Israel must dismantle Hamas. Another panel delved into the prospects of the Saudi-Israel normalization talks, especially in the context of the conflict between Israel and Hamas and the future of the Palestinian people. While the opinions presented on the Saudi panel were undoubtedly not monolithic, there was a shared tepid optimism for the future of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The panel “BDS and the Occupation of Western Academia” unpacked the growing antisemitism on college campuses, mainly focusing on the rise of Hamas support among students, the marginalization of pro-Israel students, and the lack of response from campus administration.
Professor Walter Russell Mead delivered the timely and fascinating keynote address, “Israeli Policy and American Interest in the Middle East.” Students and scholars from all over the country attended, with participants from as far away as Hawaii, Korea, and Australia. Unfortunately, a significant Israeli delegation was absent from this year’s conference, but many attended and presented remotely via Zoom.
Despite their country being at war, the Israeli speakers confidently shared their research, making invaluable contributions to the panels they were a part of.
In contrast, just a few blocks away, pro-Palestinian protesters spread falsehoods during their supposed peaceful protest. Widespread calls were made during the protest for an end to the “occupation” and “apartheid” and accusations of “genocide,” alongside demands for a ceasefire.
The crowds could be heard chanting phrases like “From the River to the Sea” and “Long Live the Intifada.” Unfortunately and not surprisingly, there was no mention of the brutal massacre carried out by Hamas and the significant loss of Israeli lives.
All of the above demonstrates the need for groups like ASMEA that can understand the region for what it is, versus the perceived reality showcased on American college campuses and in the streets of Washington, DC.
Shira Weissbach is a seasoned Israel educator with an MA in Education and Human Development from George Washington University in the Field of Israel Education.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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