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Although Some Schools Are Cracking Down, Anti-Israel Sentiment Still Reaches Students
Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) members occupying an administrative building at Barnard College on Feb. 26, 2025. Photo: Screenshot
The first full month of the Trump Administration has proven consequential for addressing BDS and antisemitism. Universities and corporations continue to adjust their operations to appear in compliance with Executive Orders regarding DEI and discrimination ,but lawsuits and expressions of defiance are increasing especially from faculty. Growing reports regarding discrimination against Jews within the medical profession have also included open threats of violence. These are matched by increasingly blatant defenses of anti-Israel bias and antisemitism from leaders of teachers unions.
Protests and attacks against Jews and Israelis continued in February, even after the return of the Bibas family, who had been kidnapped on October 7, 2023, and murdered in captivity. Notable examples included:
- A Super Bowl halftime performer unfurled Palestinian and Sudanese flags before being tackled and removed from the field. He has been permanently banned from all future NFL games;
- Anti-Israel protestors gathered at the premier of the latest Marvel movie, which features an Israeli actress portraying an Israeli superhero;
- Two Israelis were stabbed in Athens by a Palestinian after being overheard speaking Hebrew;
- The London headquarters of the BBC was vandalized with pro-Hamas graffiti;
- A Montreal synagogue was vandalized with pro-Hamas graffiti;
- New Zealand’s only Jewish school was vandalized with pro-Hamas graffiti;
- At the University of Amsterdam, pro-Hamas protestors shut down a talk by the Dutch defense minister who was forced to flee the building;
- In Sydney, a number of cars and buildings were vandalized with antisemitic graffiti;
- Pro-Hamas protestors held a march through the heavily Jewish New York City neighborhood of Borough Park;
- A pro-Hezbollah protest organized by Students for Justice in Palestine in New York City was held in commemoration of Hassan Nasrallah, coinciding with his funeral in Beirut. Reports suggested most in attendance did not know who he was; and
- Various attacks on individual Jews were also reported including in Manchester (UK) and New York City. A Spanish individual mistaken for a Jew was attacked at the Holocaust memorial in Berlin by a Muslim asylum seeker.
Conversely, in an incident in Miami, a Jewish man shot two Israelis he apparently believed were Palestinians.
University Administrations
University administrations continue to deal with the implications of Trump Administration Executive Orders and other changes.
A variety of lawsuits have been filed by universities to block various administration moves, including defunding USAID and Department of Education programs, as well as dismantling DEI at many levels. Universities have also announced new financial oversight, hiring freezes, and other measures.
Universities continue to make it clear that divestment is dead.
The latest example was Boston University announcing that it would not consider divesting from Israel. Universities are also being forced to give the appearance of cracking down further on Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters.
The UCLA chapter was suspended after members vandalized the home of a university trustee and threatened his family. Chapters at McMaster University, the University of Michigan, and Rowan University were also suspended with the University of Pittsburgh considering similar sanctions. The Rowan University chapter, however, was quickly reinstated while the Michigan group held a rally off-campus. The SJP at Chapman University was also stripped of its Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Award.
In an unusual move, Barnard College expelled two unidentified students who were involved in disrupting a Columbia class on Israel, in violation of the school’s policies — and universities continue to revise policies to address pro-Hamas encampments and building takeovers.
Court cases against student and associated protestors are also proceeding:
- The trial of eight former CUNY students facing felony charges after being arrested at an encampment was adjourned by New York Supreme Civil Court. Plea deal negotiations continue in advance of a May trial date;
- A Federal judge has allowed a suit filed by Jewish students against Cooper Union to proceed. The students had been trapped in a library by protestors. The judge commented that “These events took place in 2023—not 1943—and Title VI places responsibility on colleges and universities to protect their Jewish students from harassment, not on those students to hide themselves away in a proverbial attic or attempt to escape from a place they have a right to be;” and
- Eleven students from Case Western Reserve University were indicted for causing over $400,000 damage to university property during a protest;
But university capitulations to pro-Hamas protestors also continued in February:
- Columbia University added “anti-Palestinian discrimination” to its list of proscribed behaviors. The terms is typically used in secondary and higher education concerns to mean that questioning any Palestinian narratives such as the “Nakba” is de facto evidence of racist discrimination;
- The University of Washington announced formation of a “Palestine Studies” committee. The creation of “Palestine Studies” had been a specific demand of pro-Hamas protestors who had vandalized the campus in 2024. A university official claimed the institution “seeks to deepen our tri-campus expertise in the scholarship of Palestine, across the range of existing academic units;”
- Hunter College announced a search for a “Palestinian Studies” specialist with expertise in “settler colonialism, genocide, human rights, apartheid, migration, climate and infrastructure devastation, health, race, gender and sexuality.” The job listing added the “Ideal candidates will also have a record of public engagement and community action.” After news reports New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the listing removed and called for “a thorough review of the position to ensure that antisemitic theories are not promoted in the classroom.” Faculty members then complained about the Hunter’s “climate of fear” and Hochul’s “unprecedented overstep in authority;”
Conversely, after a two year investigation, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights found that George Washington University had retaliated against Jewish students who had filed complaints against psychology professor Lara Sheehi. The students had been placed under remediation when they complained about Sheehi’s classroom expressions of hatred for Israel. Sheehi has since moved to an institution in Qatar.
Internationally, an extensive survey of Jewish students at British universities revealed widespread incidents of harassment and intimidation with verbal abuse, assault, and discrimination commonplace. University officials claimed to be “deeply troubled” by the report, as was Education Secretary Bridgit Phillipson.
Faculty
Efforts to aid pro-Hamas protestors by individual faculty members and organizations continued in February. One example was legal support offered to protestors charged with blocking access roads to O’Hare Airport by Northwestern University’s Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic. The university’s support for the protestors is now the subject of a lawsuit, which alleges the institution is misusing public funds.
Other expressions of faculty defiance regarding Israel and Jews were common in February:
- New York University faculty and alums expressed opposition to student sanctions and university regulations;
- Jewish faculty at Columbia University issued a public statement decrying the Trump Administration’s policies including on antisemitism and campus support for Hamas;
- The George Washington University faculty senate endorsed lightening disciplinary measures aimed at pro-Hamas students who disrupted campus in 2024.
Faculty members and programs continue to promote anti-Israel viewpoints inside and outside the classroom, thereby lending them respectability and worsening campus environments:
- A webinar on UNRWA pushing an anti-Israel narrative included a Rutgers University faculty member;
- The Wayne State University Center for Gender and Sexuality promoted “Poems for Palestine,” which included a poem “How I Kill Soldiers;”
- A Columbia University astronomy lab section taught by a graduate student “accidentally” included material on “genocide in Palestine;”
- The University of California at Santa Cruz Education Department held sponsored a talk, “Centering an Anti-Zionist Commitment in (Early Childhood) Teacher Education.”
A recent study noted that one reason why universities have been increasingly radicalized is that significant numbers of faculty members have been hired through diversity-focused fellow-to-faculty models. These effectively bypass departmental and college hiring mechanisms and place “scholar-activists” into tenure track positions as means to rectify alleged race and gender imbalances.
Discriminatory efforts aimed at Israelis, Jews, and supporters of Israel continued in February. A report by Israel’s Association of University Heads indicates some 500 complaints have been filed by Israeli academics since October 7th regarding boycotts and discrimination.
Cooperation with Spanish universities has halted completely while Dutch and Belgian universities announced the end of agreements with Israeli counterparts. Severe difficulties in publishing in academic journals and books was also reported, as was receiving funding from overseas sources. The report also suggested that negative faculty reactions to the Trump Administration may spur additional discrimination from American academics.
An institutional boycott of Israel and Israeli scholars was announced by the University of Iceland School of Education. Cancelation of pro-Israel scholars continue, such as the removal of an Israeli researcher from an international astrophysics project.
Another example emerged in Finland where talks by a specialist on anti-Zionism in Russia were canceled after protests by pro-Palestinian factions. More positively, the International Studies Association defeated a BDS resolution.
Students
Protests and other actions against Israel and Jews continue to be staged by students:
- The Columbia SJP chapter, which has been banned from campus, held an event in a neighborhood church. Posters for the event asked attendees “Want to learn how to “un-live Jews?” Columbia University condemned the event;
- Anti-Israel students occupied a building at Bowdoin College. After brief negotiations, the students were given an ultimatum, removed from the building, suspended, and required to vacate campus. The student newspaper reprimanded the administration for its actions and a walkout was held in support of the students. The suspensions were then lifted;
- Anti-Israel students at Swarthmore College occupied a campus building. Reports indicate that students vacated the building after being informed that administration had been contacted by the FBI. The SJP chapter was temporarily suspended as were eight students;
- A building at McGill University was vandalized with pro-Hamas graffiti;
- A building at the University of British Columbia was vandalized with pro-Hamas graffiti;
- A building was occupied at Sciences Po Strasbourg;
- A job fair at Mount Holyoke College was disrupted by the University of Massachusetts SJP chapter;
- A board of trustees meeting at the University of Minnesota was disrupted. The University of Minnesota”Diversity Coalition,” which includes various socialist, communist and pro-Hamas organizations; and
- At Leicester University pro-Hamas students continued a hunger strike.
In response to the Trump Administration’s stated goal of identifying and deporting foreign students expressing support for Hamas and terrorism, reports indicate that more students are scrubbing their social media and other online evidence.
Despite the nearly complete shutdown of divestment by university administrations, BDS resolutions, referendums, and demands for financial disclosure continue to be debated and passed by student governments, including Harvard Law School, Michigan State University, Boston University, Concordia University, and the University of Connecticut.
The 2024 capitulation by the University of Windsor, which has no investments in Israel, to its pro-Hamas encampment is also now the subject of litigation. Other Canadian universities have rejected BDS proposals, but the campaigns have become increasing radical and pro-Hamas. At San Jose State University the student government voted to demand an end its study abroad program at the University of Haifa.
K-12
Efforts to transform secondary education by centering anti-Zionism and thus antisemitism as part of “anticolonial” and “ethnic studies” continue to intensify.
Some districts, such as the Shoreline Public School District in King County, Washington, are publicly redoubling their commitment to DEI, ethnic studies, and partnerships with organizations such as CAIR.
Teachers unions also continue to be at the forefront of anti-Israel pedagogy.
Testimony by the head of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) before the Massachusetts Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism, was marked by continual denials of antisemitic content or intent, despite materials being projected during the hearing. Merrie Najimy of the MTA Rank and File for Palestine, accused the commission of “anti-Palestinian racism” during the hearing and claimed a Jewish child would be welcome in Gaza.
After the incident received national attention, the MTA agreed to remove materials from its website but Page and Najimy redoubled their complaints about “cherrypicked” materials and calls for educators to “teach Palestine.’” The MTA Rank and File for Palestine was also permitted to table at the union’s winter conference.
Teacher training also remains a key area for anti-Israel indoctrination including specifically on antisemitism:
- The United Teachers Los Angeles union contracted with PARCEO, which has developed a Curriculum on Antisemitism From a Perspective of Collective Liberation. The curriculum, developed by an individual who had previous developed “Nakba” materials, focuses exclusively on right wing and Christian nationalist antisemitism, and ignores left wing and Muslim antisemitism. It also specifically states that anti-Zionism cannot be antisemitism;
- The National Education Association-Educators for Palestine held a webinar on the “A to Z (from apartheid to Zionism”) of “educator activism” and “educators advocating for the liberation of Palestine and other related important topics around justice in education spaces;”
- The NYC Educators for Palestine collective advertised the “The People’s Fair for Gaza”, to raise money for Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), which has been alleged to have links to terror; and
- A bill introduced into the New Hampshire House of Representatives would require Holocaust education including “5 hours of study to include, at minimum, instruction on the United Nations (UN) definition of genocide, the UN resolution on human rights, the Holocaust (and other Nazi committed genocides), the Armenian genocide, the Rwandan genocide, the genocide of indigenous peoples in the United States, and the Palestinian genocide;”
After a length period of litigation, the Santa Ana Unified School District reached a settlement and agreed to stop using antisemitic ethnic studies materials. The lawsuit had also alleged harassment and bullying of students, and it was revealed that the “Ethnic Studies Steering Committee” had deliberately held meetings on Jewish holidays to limit input and derided concerned Jewish parents as “racists.”
In partial response to the continuing crises over ethnic studies in California, state legislators have now introduced a bill to create statewide standards for teachers, along with provisions for greater transparency.
Despite continued focus on anti-Israel and antisemitic content in secondary education, including increasing attention to sources such as the Qatar Foundation, the negative effects on students appears unabated.
Recent polls showing significant increases in antisemitism among younger people demonstrates the impact of education. While other polls suggest that the majority Americans remain opposed to antisemitism, Hamas, and calls for Israel to be exterminated, a growing number regard boycotts as legitimate.
The author is a contributor to SPME, where a significantly different version of this article first appeared.
The post Although Some Schools Are Cracking Down, Anti-Israel Sentiment Still Reaches Students first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Examining Three Remarkable Women From Jewish History in These Turbulent Times
A Torah scroll. Photo: RabbiSacks.org.
Anyone interested in history will know that the Yalta Conference was a meeting between the leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union that took place in February 1945 towards the end of the Second World War. There is a famous photograph of Roosevelt and Stalin sitting next to an unhappy Winston Churchill, who realized he was being marginalized. As we now know, Stalin suckered Roosevelt into believing him to be someone that could be worked with, when he was actually a murderous fanatic. And it seems so far that Putin is going to sucker Trump over Ukraine, and I fear Iran will too.
Like Roosevelt, Trump wants a deal. But as Barack Obama has shown, naive appeasement is the road to disaster. Only time will tell if the case with Iran is going to be another example.
But here, by way of distraction, I am writing about a person. This Yalta was a distinguished lady from a noble and wealthy family who lived in Babylon between the end of the Second and the Third centuries. She had a strong sense of self-worth, and self-confidence in an era of almost total male dominance. She was, according to Rashi, the daughter of the Exilarch, the head of the Jewish community in Babylon. She was familiar with Jewish law. But she had a temper. When she thought she was being slighted, she smashed four hundred barrels of wine after a guest offended her and women in general (TB Brachot 51b.)
Yalta showed her expertise in kashrut matters. In a debate that hinted at current questions of what constitutes meat if it is produced artificially, she asked her husband about kosher food that would taste like meat cooked in milk. She argued the halachic case expertly. And he accepted the argument (TB Chullin 109b). She also argued the law in other matters such as purity.
Yalta was a doctor too. She personally took Rav Amram to the bathhouse to soak in hot water for a cure when he was stricken with an unknown disease (TB Gittin 67b). And she offered her husband counsel on how to deal with someone who was arguing with him disrespectfully (TB Kidushin 70b). Perhaps these were not in themselves major issues — but they were indicative of her importance in that society, where the only chance women had beyond the home depended either on independent wealth or a compliant husband.
The more famous Talmudic woman however, was Bruria, the daughter of the saintly Chaninah Ben Teradion (an outstanding scholar, from a very wealthy family and martyred by the Romans). She was the wife of Rebbi Meir, who lived in Israel during the second century CE. He is the third most frequently mentioned rabbi in the Mishnah.
She was admired for her breadth of knowledge. She was said to have learned 300 laws from the rabbis on a single cloudy day (TB Pesachim 62b) and was happy to challenge rabbis she thought less knowledgeable than she was. She was also renowned for her sharp wit and often caustic jibes, attacking males for underestimating women. Rebbi Meir was sorely troubled by local louts and prayed that they should die. Bruria argued that he should rather pray that evil disappear. Not people.
The third important woman is Rav Chisda’s daughter. Her actual name is never mentioned. She was gifted with the power of prophecy. She predicted her marriage to her father’s two students (consecutively). First, she was the wife of the Rami Bar Chama, and after his death she married Rava (both were Amoraim of the third generation). She is mentioned many times in the Talmud and commentaries in the Talmud and its commentaries only as “the daughter of Rav Chisda.” The Talmud (TB Bava Batra 12b) says she sat on her father’s lap as he taught Torah in the academy and taught her and her sisters Torah and laws, personally. There were rabbis in those days and later who recognized the value of female scholarship and empowerment — even in times when the rest of the world resolutely refused to encourage it.
Right now, we need people who demonstrate leadership through creativity and flexibility. Most are being silenced by the plague of conformity and the fear of stepping out of line. But the reality is that more and more women within the Orthodox world are studying to the highest levels and making their mark. There are signs of their campaigning to achieve political power too. More power to their elbows (so long as they are covered of course)! You can’t keep a good woman down forever. And more young men are volunteering to serve in the army.
Trump seems to have learnt the lesson of Yalta. But will his natural desire for a long-term deal end up with his being suckered by Iran’s ideology of deceit to achieve victory? Time will tell. Meanwhile, I pray Israel will take a long hard look at its divisive politics.
The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.
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Battling to Survive, Hamas Faces Defiant Clans and Doubts Over Iran
Hamas terrorists carry grenade launchers at the funeral of Marwan Issa, a senior Hamas deputy military commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike during the conflict between Israel and Hamas, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip, Feb. 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Short of commanders, deprived of much of its tunnel network, and unsure of support from its ally Iran, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is battling to survive in Gaza in the face of rebellious local clans and relentless Israeli military pressure.
Hamas fighters are operating autonomously under orders to hold out as long as possible, but the Islamist group is struggling to maintain its grip as Israel openly backs tribes opposing it, three sources close to Hamas said.
With a humanitarian crisis in Gaza intensifying international pressure for a ceasefire, Hamas badly needs a pause in the fighting, one of the people said.
Not only would a ceasefire offer respite to weary Gazans, who are growing increasingly critical of Hamas, but it would also allow the Islamist group to crush rogue elements, including some clans and looters who have been stealing aid, the person said.
To counter the immediate threat, Hamas has sent some of its top fighters to kill one rebellious leader, Yasser Abu Shabab, but so far he has remained beyond their reach in the Rafah area held by Israeli troops, according to two Hamas sources and two other sources familiar with the situation.
Reuters spoke to 16 sources including people close to Hamas, Israeli security sources, and diplomats who painted a picture of a severely weakened group, retaining some sway and operational capacity in Gaza despite its setbacks, but facing stiff challenges.
Hamas is still capable of landing blows: it killed seven Israeli soldiers in an attack in southern Gaza on Tuesday. But three diplomats in the Middle East said intelligence assessments showed it had lost its centralized command and control and was reduced to limited, surprise attacks.
An Israeli military official estimated Israel had killed 20,000 or more Hamas fighters and destroyed or rendered unusable hundreds of miles of tunnels under the coastal strip. Much of Gaza has been turned to rubble in 20 months of conflict.
One Israeli security source said the average age of Hamas fighters was “getting lower by the day.” Israeli security sources say Hamas is recruiting from hundreds of thousands of impoverished, unemployed, displaced young men.
Hamas does not disclose how many of its fighters have died.
“They’re hiding because they are being instantly hit by planes, but they appear here and there, organizing queues in front of bakeries, protecting aid trucks, or punishing criminals,” said Essam, 57 a construction worker in Gaza City.
“They’re not like before the war, but they exist.”
Asked for comment for this story, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the group was working for an agreement to end the war with Israel but “surrender is not an option.”
Hamas remained committed to negotiations and was “ready to release all prisoners at once,” he said, referring to Israeli hostages, but it wanted the killing to stop and Israel to withdraw.
‘IT DOESN’T LOOK GOOD’
Hamas is a shadow of the group that attacked Israel in 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostages. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas.
The damage inflicted by Israel is unlike anything Hamas has suffered since its creation, with most of its top military commanders in Gaza killed. Founded in 1987, Hamas had gradually established itself as the main rival of the Fatah faction led by President Mahmoud Abbas and finally seized Gaza from his control in 2007.
With a US-brokered truce in the Iran-Israel war holding, attention has switched back to the possibility of a Gaza deal that might end the conflict and release the remaining hostages.
One of the people close to Hamas told Reuters it would welcome a truce, even for a couple of months, to confront the local clans that are gaining influence.
But he said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s terms for ending the war – including Hamas leaders leaving Gaza – would amount to total defeat, and Hamas would never surrender.
“We keep the faith, but in reality it doesn’t look good,” the source said.
Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said he believed Hamas was simply trying to survive. That was not just a physical challenge of holding out militarily, he said, but above all a political one.
“They face being eliminated on the ground in Gaza if the war doesn’t stop, but they also face being erased from any governing formula that ends the war in Gaza (if such a thing can be found),” he wrote in response to Reuters’ questions.
Palestinian tribes have emerged as part of Israel’s strategy to counter Hamas. Netanyahu has said publicly that Israel has been arming clans that oppose Hamas, but has not said which.
One of the most prominent challenges has come from Abu Shabab, a Palestinian Bedouin based in the Rafah area, which is under Israeli control.
Hamas wants Abu Shabab captured, dead or alive, accusing him of collaboration with Israel and planning attacks on the terrorist group, three Hamas sources told Reuters.
Abu Shabab controls eastern Rafah and his group is believed to have freedom of movement in the wider Rafah area. Images on their Facebook page show their armed men organizing the entry of aid trucks from the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Announcements by his group indicate that it is trying to build an independent administration in the area, though they deny trying to become a governing authority. The group has called on people from Rafah now in other areas of Gaza to return home, promising food and shelter.
In response to Reuters’ questions, Abu Shabab’s group denied getting support from Israel or contacts with the Israeli army, describing itself as a popular force protecting humanitarian aid from looting by escorting aid trucks.
It accused Hamas of violence and muzzling dissent.
A Hamas security official said the Palestinian security services would “strike with an iron fist to uproot the gangs of the collaborator Yasser Abu Shabab,” saying they would show no mercy or hesitation and accusing him of being part of “an effort to create chaos and lawlessness.”
Not all of Gaza’s clans are at odds with Hamas, however.
On Thursday, a tribal alliance said its men had protected aid trucks from looters in northern Gaza. Sources close to Hamas said the group had approved of the alliance’s involvement.
Israel said Hamas fighters had in fact commandeered the trucks, which both the clans and Hamas denied.
IRAN UNCERTAINTY
Palestinian analyst Akram Attallah said the emergence of Abu Shabab was a result of the weakness of Hamas, though he expected him to fail ultimately because Palestinians broadly reject any hint of collaboration with Israel.
Nevertheless, regardless of how small Abu Shabab’s group is, the fact Hamas has an enemy from the same culture was dangerous, he said. “It remains a threat until it is dealt with.”
Israel’s bombing campaign against Iran has added to the uncertainties facing Hamas. Tehran’s backing for Hamas played a big part in developing its armed wing into a force capable of shooting missiles deep into Israel.
While both Iran and Israel have claimed victory, Netanyahu on Sunday indicated the Israeli campaign against Tehran had further strengthened his hand in Gaza, saying it would “help us expedite our victory and the release of all our hostages.”
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that great progress was being made on Gaza, adding that the strike on Iran would help get the hostages released.
A Palestinian official close to Hamas said the group was weighing the risk of diminished Iranian backing, anticipating “the impact will be on the shape of funding and the expertise Iran used to give to the resistance and Hamas.”
One target of Israel’s campaign in Iran was a Revolutionary Guards officer who oversaw coordination with Hamas. Israel said Saeed Izadi, whose death it announced on Saturday, was the driving force behind the Iran–Hamas axis.
Hamas extended condolences to Iran on Thursday, calling Izadi a friend who was directly responsible for ties with “the leadership of the Palestinian resistance.”
A source from an Iran-backed group in the region said Izadi helped develop Hamas capabilities, including how to carry out complex attacks, including rocket launches, infiltration operations, and drones.
Asked about how the Israeli campaign against Iran might affect its support for Hamas, Abu Zuhri said Iran was a large and powerful country that would not be defeated.
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Israeli Strikes Targeting Hezbollah Pummel South Lebanon Hilltops
Smoke billows from the Nabatieh district, following Israeli strikes, as seen from Marjayoun, in southern Lebanon, June 27, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
More than a dozen Israeli air strikes battered a row of hilltops in southern Lebanon on Friday, security sources said, with the Israeli military saying it had attacked a damaged military site that terrorist group Hezbollah was seeking to restore.
The simultaneous strikes hit a mountainous strip near the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, according to the Lebanese security sources, who said Iran-backed Hezbollah likely still had arms depots there. There was no immediate comment from the Islamist group.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets had attacked a site used to manage Hezbollah’s “fire and defense system.” It said the site was destroyed in last year’s war but that Hezbollah was attempting to resume activities there in breach of the November truce that ended the conflict.
Lebanon‘s President Joseph Aoun on Friday fired the same accusation back at Israel, saying it was continually violating the US-brokered ceasefire deal by keeping up strikes on Lebanon.
The ceasefire deal stipulates that southern Lebanon must be free of any non-state arms or fighters, Israeli troops must leave southern Lebanon as Lebanese troops deploy there. and all fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border must stop.
Israeli troops remain in at least five posts within Lebanese territory and its air force regularly kills rank-and-file Hezbollah members or people affiliated with the group.
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