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American Anthropological Association votes to boycott Israeli academic institutions
(JTA) – An association for American anthropologists has voted to formally boycott Israeli academic institutions, seven years after shutting down a similar vote, in a sign of the shifting tides of the Israel debate on American college campuses.
The American Anthropological Association, which represents thousands of anthropologists in academia and the professional space, announced Monday that its members had voted to endorse a resolution that forbids the association from collaborating with Israeli academic institutions. More than 70% of the association’s voters supported the boycott, though only 37% of its eligible members voted, the association said.
The boycott applies only to formal collaborations with the association itself, and it does not apply to individual Israeli academics, so its practical impact is likely to be limited. Still, the resolution is a notable symbol of Israel opposition in academia, not least because it reverses a similar vote seven years ago.
“This was indeed a contentious issue, and our differences may have sparked fierce debate,” the group’s president, Ramona Pérez, said in a statement. “But we have made a collective decision and it is now our duty to forge ahead, united in our commitment to advancing scholarly knowledge, finding solutions to human and social problems, and serving as a guardian of human rights.”
As written, the resolution calls Israel an “apartheid regime from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.” It pledges to continue the boycott “until such time as these institutions end their complicity in violating Palestinian rights as stipulated in international law.”
In 2016, the AAA’s membership narrowly rejected a resolution to boycott Israeli institutions. Since then, several academic groups have taken concrete steps toward boycotting Israel. The Middle East Studies Association voted last year to endorse the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement targeting Israel; other academic groups, including the American Studies Association, have also backed BDS resolutions.
Pro-Israel groups quickly condemned the AAA vote. Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, director of the AMCHA Initiative, a pro-Israel campus advocacy group, called it “a dark day for higher education” and said the group’s “commitment to academic BDS is likely to spread throughout the university like wildfire and have rippling effects for years to come.”
Another pro-Israel group, the Deborah Project legal firm, threatened to sue the association in the lead-up to the vote, claiming the resolution as written would put it afoul of laws in some states endorsing the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s definition of antisemitism.
The results of the vote, which took place in mid-July, were announced the same day that Israel’s Knesset voted into law a controversial judicial reform bill that has divided the country and prompted fears that it would erode the government’s checks and balances. The AAA’s boycott focuses on Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, accusing Israeli academic institutions of being “complicit” in the state’s crimes by suppressing academic freedom and hindering Palestinian universities. The resolution also ties the AAA’s advocacy to anthropology by noting Israel has used “anthropological frameworks and methods” to further “ethnic cleansing.”
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The post American Anthropological Association votes to boycott Israeli academic institutions appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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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.