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Anti-Israel Agitators Vandalize Cornell University Administrative Building to Kick Off New Academic Year
Cornell University anti-Israel protesters set up encampment on the University’s Arts Quad, May 3, 2024. Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect
Anti-Israel students at Cornell University vandalized an administrative building on Monday, a provocation which marks an early test of the resolve of the interim president who announced new policies on “institutional neutrality,” discipline, and encampments around the time of incident.
According to the Cornell Daily Sun, the anti-Zionist agitators graffitied “Israel Bombs, Cornell pays” and “Blood is on your hands” on Day Hall. They also shattered the glazings of its front doors.
“We had to accept that the only way to make ourselves heard is by targeting the only thing the university administration really cares about: property,” the students told the paper. “With the start of this new academic year, the Cornell administration is trying desperately to upkeep a facade of normalcy knowing that, since last semester, they have been working tirelessly to uphold Cornell’s function as a fascist, classist, imperial machine.”
The students also took aim at interim president Michael Kotlikoff, who assumed office following the resignation of Martha Pollack earlier this summer. Accusing him of duplicity in managing a strike of the university’s employees, they supplied additional reasons for their actions.
“[He] has been antagonizing workers that keep this university running by engaging in bad-faith negotiations with the union and deploying scab workers — even himself — to undermine the solidarity of workers and power of the ongoing strike,” they explained.
The vandalism of Day Hall concurred with Kotlikoff’s issuing a lengthy statement which described how the university will respond to potentially disruptive protests, a problem which prematurely ended the tenures of four Ivy League presidents last academic year, including his predecessor. In it, Kotlikoff stressed his belief in upholding the “expressive activities of individuals” while maintaining that “they are bounded by the need to protect the core functions of the university and the reciprocal rights of others.” Adding that the university will permit encampments of the kind which emerged across the country in May, he concluded by outlining a no-tolerance approach to disciplinary infractions.
“Acts of violence, extended occupations of buildings, or destruction of property (including graffiti), will not be tolerated and will be subject to immediate public safety response,” he said. “We will enforce these policies consistently, for every group or activity, on any issue or subject …We urge all members of the community to express their views in a manner that respects the rights of others. One voice may never stifle another. There is a time, place, and manner for all to speak and all to be heard.”
It is not clear that Kotlikoff’s statement was prompted by the incident on Monday morning, but its concurrence with destruction of school property carried out in the name of anti-Zionism has nonetheless initiated an early appraisal of his style of governance and the measures he is prepared to enact to preserve order. Identifying and punishing the culprits could set off protests which disrupt the campus or cause a collision with the Cornell Daily Sun, which has agreed not to reveal their identities. Letting the incident slide may invite the scrutiny of the US Congress, which only last week asked the university to share its plans for deterring and responding to lawbreaking and antisemitic discrimination. As of this publication, he has not signaled which course of action he plans to take.
Anti-Zionists convulsed Cornell University’s campus last year, engaging in activities that are without precedent in the school’s 159-year history. In October, three weeks after Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel, now-former student Patrick Dai threatened to perpetrate heinous crimes against members of the school’s Jewish community, including mass murder and rape. Cornell students also occupied a campus building and held a “mock trial” in which they convicted Pollack of complicity in “apartheid” and “genocide against Palestinian civilians.” Meanwhile, history professor Russell Rickford called Hamas’ barbarity on Oct. 7 “exhilarating” and “energizing” at a pro-Palestinian rally held on campus.
By the end of the year, Pollack announced her resignation, which followed the installment of an illegal “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the campus where pro-Hamas students had lived and protested the university’s investments in companies linked to Israel. During that time, she oversaw at least four full and temporary suspensions of the protesters and issued ultimatums to those who refuse to leave.
“Continued delay is not in the university’s best interests, both because of the need to have sufficient time for a smooth transition before the start of the academic year, and because I do not want my announcement to interfere with the celebration of our newest graduates at commencement in just a few weeks,” she said in announcing her decision to resign. “I understand that there will be lots of speculation about my decision, so let me be as clear as I can: this decision is mine and mine alone. After seven fruitful and gratifying years as Cornell’s president — and after a career in research and academia spanning five decades — I’m ready for a new chapter in my life.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Anti-Israel Agitators Vandalize Cornell University Administrative Building to Kick Off New Academic Year 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.