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‘Anti-Jewish Double Standard’: University Responses to Hamas Massacre Far Less Robust Than to Other Crimes, Study Finds

Relatives and supporters of hostages kidnapped during Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel rally for their release, after a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas ended when the terrorist group broke it, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

US universities have demonstrated an “anti-Jewish double standard” by responding to Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel and the ensuing surge in campus antisemitism much less forcefully than they did to crimes perpetrated against African Americans and Asians, according to a new study by the AMCHA Initiative, a nonprofit that combats antisemitism.

The study — titled “Selective Sympathy: The Double Standard in Confronting Jewish Student Trauma & Antisemitism” — found that only 4 percent of statements from US colleges and universities on the Oct. 7 onslaught identified the Palestinian terror group’s attack as antisemitic. Just 2 percent of the statements committed to addressing antisemitism.

“Our analysis showed that most leaders’ statements failed to adequately acknowledge Jewish students’ trauma and fears about antisemitism or to offer sympathy, support, and assurances of protection following the Hamas attack,” AMCHA researchers wrote in the report. “Importantly, we also found an unambiguous and discriminatory double standard, with leaders being far less responsive to Jewish students than to their African American and Asian/Asian American peers in the aftermath of traumatic events affecting them.”

Another key finding of the study was that only 14 percent of university statements issued after the Hamas atrocities acknowledged the trauma that the massacre had on Jewish members of the campus community, and just 65 percent condemned the Hamas attack, with many of them also blaming Israel for its policies toward Palestinians.

In contrast, the report found, nearly 100 percent of university statements issued after the killing of George Floyd and during a rise in anti-Asian violence “unequivocally condemned the incidents affecting Blacks and Asians/Asian American” and “acknowledged the emotional trauma suffered by their Black and Asian/Asian American communities following attacks targeting members of those communities.”

Meanwhile, 100 percent of statements “named racism and anti-Asian hate as the motivator of their respective incidents,” and more than 90 percent “committed to addressing bigotry directed against Blacks and Asians/Asian Americans.”

“Make no mistake: this is so much bigger than the post-Oct. 7 statements. Those statements are just a symptom of a much larger and deep-seated problem,” AMCHA executive director Tammi Rossman-Benjamin said in a statement. “School leaders who respond appropriately to group trauma affecting Black and Asian students, but who are unwilling to do the same for Jewish students — despite the legitimacy of their fears and anxieties and the current threats to their safety — cannot be trusted to keep Jewish students safe.”

The AMCHA researchers added in their study: “The problem is not that Jewish students don’t fit into the ‘protected’ categories of their school’s harassment policy, but rather that they must fit into any category at all before getting the robust protection that all students deserve, and that is an essential moral and fiduciary duty of every college and university — public or private — to provide.”

The new study came amid a surge in antisemitic incidents on college campuses, which have increased by 700 percent since Oct. 7, according to Hillel International Executive Director Adam Lehman. Perceiving an increasingly hostile environment to Jews on campus, 37 percent of Jewish college students have felt the need to hide their Jewish identity on campus since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, according to a recent poll released by Hillel International.

Antisemitism around the world, especially in the US and Europe, has spiked to record levels since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October. A recent report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), for example, recorded 832 outrages targeting American Jews between Oct. 7 and Nov. 7 — an average of 28 incidents per day and a 316 percent increase on the same period in 2022. Throughout Europe, meanwhile, countries such as France and Germany have recorded unprecedented increases in antisemitic incidents since the Hamas pogrom in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

College campuses across the West have been hubs of such antisemitism over the past several weeks, with students and faculty both demonizing Israel and rationalizing Hamas; terror onslaught. Incidents of harassment and even violence against Jewish students have also increased. As a result, Jewish students have expressed feeling unsafe and unprotected on campuses. In some cases, Jewish communities on campuses have been forced to endure threats of rape and mass slaughter.

On Tuesday, US lawmakers on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce grilled the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) about their plans to respond to surging antisemitism on their campuses. In one tense exchange, all three gave indirect answers when asked by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a Harvard alumnus, whether calling for the genocide of Jews constituted bullying and harassment.

“It is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman,” Penn president Elizabeth Magill said. “If the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment, yes.”

“Conduct meaning committing the act of genocide?” Stefanik asked, visibly disturbed by Magill’s answer. “The speech is not harassment? This is unacceptable Ms. Magill.”

Asked the same question, Claudine Gay of Harvard also said calling for the genocide of Jews “can be [considered bullying or harassment] depending on the context.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post ‘Anti-Jewish Double Standard’: University Responses to Hamas Massacre Far Less Robust Than to Other Crimes, Study Finds first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.

The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.

They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.

Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.

Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.

The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip

Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.

The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.

Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.

He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.

The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.

Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.

Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.

Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.

Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.

The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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