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Anti-Israel Faculty at UPenn Call for Ouster of President Following Search of Protester’s Residence
Keffiyeh placed on statue of Benjamin Franklin, located on the grounds of the University of Pennsylvania, April 26, 2024. Photo: Bastiaan Slabbers via Reuters Connect
The University of Pennsylvania’s Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) chapter, an inter-campus network of anti-Zionist educators which has promoted antisemitic tropes and expressed support for terrorism, is calling for the removal of interim president Larry Jameson following the execution of a search warrant at the residence of a pro-Hamas student activist who is suspected of vandalism.
According to The Daily Pennsylvanian, nearly a dozen Penn law enforcement officers, with assistance from the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD), executed the search of the student’s off-campus dwelling earlier this month to recover evidence related to a Sept. 12 property crime in which red paint was smeared on the university’s statue of Benjamin Franklin.
Since then, FJP, currently involved in another campaign to push Hillel International off campus, has blamed Jameson for the measure and accused him of using the justice system to punish political dissidents. It is now circulating a petition which calls for a no-confidence vote against Jameson, an action which could precipitate his being ousted from office.
“The University of Pennsylvania administration has allowed armed police to terrorize their own students for exercising their right to principled protest,” FJP said in an open letter. “Penn Police is the largest private police department in the state of Pennsylvania and one of the largest in the country. Its increasing policing and surveillance of Penn and West Philadelphia community members and its ongoing patrolling outside its university-area jurisdiction is unacceptable. It has become a renegade police department with no oversight from university administration.”
Penn’s administration, however, has said that it did not directly sanction the search, telling the Pennsylvanian that “any legal action taken by [the University of Pennsylvania Police Department] is based on the violation of laws in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, not the policies of the university.”
The University of Pennsylvania has been enmeshed in dozens of crises and scandals resulting from the behavior of anti-Zionist students and faculty. In July, it suspended four protesters who illegally occupied a section of campus last semester by pitching a “Gaza solidarity encampment,” where students lived for weeks and from which they refused to leave unless administrators agreed to boycott and divest from Israel.
Extremist anti-Zionist activity exploded at the university long before the encampment. Last September, the school hosted “The Palestine Writes Literature Festival,” which included speakers such as Palestinian researcher Salman Abu Sitta, who once promoted antisemitic tropes, saying in an interview, “Jews were hated in Europe because they played a role in the destruction of the economy in some of the countries, so they would hate them.” Another controversial figure invited to the event was former Pink Floyd vocalist Roger Waters, whose long record of anti-Jewish snipes was the subject of a documentary released last year.
Antisemitism fueled by anti-Zionism exploded at the university long before the “encampment” was set up, an action which followed Israel’s military response to Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7 of last year.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Anti-Israel Faculty at UPenn Call for Ouster of President Following Search of Protester’s Residence 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.