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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:

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.

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:

Faculty members and programs continue to promote anti-Israel viewpoints inside and outside the classroom, thereby lending them respectability and worsening campus environments:

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:

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 SchoolMichigan State UniversityBoston UniversityConcordia 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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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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