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Anti-Zionist Faculty at UC Santa Cruz Defy the Law and Betray Jewish Students

McHenry Library at University of California, Santa Cruz. Photo: Jay Miller/Wikimedia Commons

Harvard University, responding to two anti-discrimination lawsuits threatening its Federal funding, recently agreed to acknowledge on its official website, “For many Jewish people, Zionism is a part of their Jewish identity. Conduct that would violate the Non-Discrimination Policy if targeting Jewish or Israeli people can also violate the policy if directed toward Zionists.” 

The same day that Harvard’s remarkable agreement was announced, the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) — which was a party to a recent resolution agreement following a Federal investigation into charges that its faculty created a hostile environment for Jewish students – made a different kind of announcement, which thumbed its nose at the US government and doubled down on condoning faculty antisemitism. 

Prominently displayed on UCSC’s campus-wide Events page was an announcement for an Education Department talk subtitled, “Centering an Anti-Zionist Commitment in (Early Childhood) Teacher Education,” whose speaker would explore “why and how it is important to center Palestine and an anti-Zionist commitment within teacher education.” 

The phrase “anti-Zionist commitment” made it crystal clear that the speaker would not be advocating for teaching children how to critique the policies of a sovereign state. Rather, it seemed to imply that she would be arguing for instilling in children as young as pre-school age a visceral hatred for Israel, which happens to be home to half of world Jewry and central to the identity of the vast majority of Jews on the planet.

The only thing missing from UCSC’s announcement of this event were the words “Jews not welcome here” – though that message came through loud and clear.

Tellingly, this talk was also promoted on the website of UCSC’s Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) chapter, a group that shares the speaker’s “anti-Zionist commitment” and passion for expressing that commitment in educational spaces. It’s worth noting that more than 40% of the Education Department’s core faculty have publicly allied themselves with this group, which was established a few weeks after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 massacre, mutilation, rape, and kidnapping of more than 1,400 Israeli civilians.

UCSC’s FJP is one of more than 160 chapters of the FJP National Network, a project of the US arm of the Hamas-linked Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Established as the academic brigade of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, FJP is tasked with promoting an academic boycott of Israel, or academic BDS, urging faculty to boycott their school’s Israel-related programming, agreements, or projects, with the ultimate goal of eliminating Zionism and Zionists from academia. 

Since its founding, UCSC FJP has diligently executed its marching orders, engaging in academic BDS-compliant behavior that harms their own students, especially those who are Jewish, including by: calling on fellow faculty members to cancel classes “in solidarity with Palestine” and praising graduate instructors for withholding students’ final grades to blackmail the university into boycotting Israel; co-authoring statements demanding the school cut all ties with Israeli universities, including popular study abroad programs, and boycott Jewish campus organizations such as Hillel; and rallying students and faculty to participate in a “March Against Zionism” intended to disrupt a student-organized “Jewish Unity Walk,” by posting to the FJP Instagram page: “UCSC… Let’s make it clear — zionism is not welcome on our campus”. 

The school’s Education Department is not the only academic unit with a significant number of faculty openly expressing an “anti-Zionist commitment.” Nearly half of the UCSC Anthropology Department’s core faculty are affiliated with FJP or have signed a public statement in support of academic BDS, as has one-quarter of the Literature Department. 

But the true prize goes to the Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Department (CRES), 85% of whose core faculty are either members of FJP, have expressed public support for academic BDS, or both.

Several CRES professors brazenly display their “anti-Zionist commitment” on their office doors, visually accosting the unsuspecting Jewish passer-by with a bevy of posters and stickers expressing deep animus towards the Jewish State and, presumably, Jews who identify with it. They contain images that speak volumes: a rifle-toting keffiyeh-clad woman; an enormous fist over the words Free Gaza; and a map of Israel draped entirely in a keffiyeh next to the words “Free Palestine”. 

Yet even more disturbing than faculty using their positions to express their “anti-Zionist commitment” are whole departments engaging in such behavior, with CRES again leading the pack.

In 2021, CRES issued a statement pledging departmental allegiance to “the struggle for Palestinian liberation” and bringing academic BDS into their teaching and research. CRES also helped launch and closely collaborated with the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism (ICSZ), an antisemitic organization dedicated to producing pseudo-scholarship opposing Zionism and the existence of the Jewish State.

Soon after the October 7 Hamas attack, CRES issued a statement blaming Israel for Hamas’ atrocities, shut down its department to protest Israel’s defensive actions, and urged students to boycott their classes. The department also held a teach-in promising to help graduate teaching assistants “contextualize the unfolding genocide in Gaza” in their classrooms, promoted the student protest “Shut it Down for Palestine,” that closed off all access to the university for several hours, and prominently advertised explicitly anti-Zionist statements.

CRES also acted as the de-facto sponsor of FJP, publicizing an invitation for faculty to join the newly established chapter, which remained on the CRES homepage for the rest of the academic year and beyond.

This academic year, despite efforts by the UC Regents to curb departmental abuse, CRES has continued to express its “anti-Zionist commitment” with impunity. The department’s Fall 2024 newsletter opened with a message from the FJP-affiliated academic BDS-supporting CRES chair, who wrote, “As we return from summer, I want to linger on the joyful note we ended last academic year after feeling uplifted by the solidarity, vision, and conviction of our students and faculty fighting to free Palestine from a globally supported genocide.”

In addition to hosting a series of anti-Zionist events and offering a new course on “Palestine” taught by a professor who has endorsed the call to bring academic BDS into her classroom, this year CRES continued its unabashed promotion of anti-Zionist activism, including by advertising FJP’s “Walk Out for Palestine” event urging “No School, No Work,” which grotesquely took place on the one-year anniversary of the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians, and inviting students to join SJP and participate in their “Student Intifada.”

Unfortunately, Jewish students at UCSC who identify with Israel don’t only have to worry about the professors who teach them, but also those serving as administrators tasked with providing academic and social support – many of whom have all endorsed an academic boycott whose goal is to purge Zionism and Zionists from campus life.

An even graver threat to Jewish students is the UCSC Academic Senate. Tasked with reining in faculty abuse, it has instead defended and amplified it. An FJP-authored resolution intended to shield anti-Zionist faculty from accountability was overwhelmingly passed by the Senate. Perhaps the fact that one of its five officers and 20% of its Executive Committee have either expressed support for academic BDS, affiliate with FJP, or both, has something to do with the Academic Senate’s abdication of a crucial shared governance responsibility.

Given the pervasiveness of anti-Zionist expression among faculty at UCSC, it’s hardly surprising that UCSC scores a “5 – Extreme” on AMCHA Initiative’s new Anti-Zionist Faculty Barometer, ranking 4th highest out of 730 schools. Without significant intervention and institutional fortitude, the problem will only get worse. But what can be done?

First and foremost, meaningful steps must be taken to ban the implementation of academic BDS and its promotion by UCSC faculty. A terrorist-linked boycott that shuts down the academic freedom and educational opportunities of students and faculty and incites virulent antisemitism has no place on a college campus.

Next, the administration must acknowledge that FJP, the faculty group expressly established to implement academic BDS on U.S. campuses, must be prohibited from operating on campus, receiving university funds or recognition, or partnering with any official university office, department, or registered student organization.

Individual professors who abuse their positions to express their “anti-Zionist commitment” should be sanctioned up to and including dismissal. Such egregiously unprofessional behavior would never be tolerated in any other kind of workplace and should certainly not be tolerated at a publicly-funded university. While faculty are free to engage in political advocacy and activism on their own time and dime, guaranteeing they will not bring their political commitments onto campus and into their classrooms or administrative offices should be a requirement of continued employment at the University.

Departments that believe working towards dismantling the Jewish state is part of their core disciplinary mission should themselves be dismantled. 

An Academic Senate that screams loudly to protect the academic freedom of anti-Zionist faculty but loses its voice entirely when it comes to prosecuting those same faculty members’ malpractice and abuse has forfeited the privilege of shared governance, and should not be allowed to have a say in the operation of the University. 

UCSC officials who are unwilling or unable to rein in out-of-control anti-Zionist faculty and departmental abuse and ensure that the campus is in compliance with the law should be replaced.

And finally, if UCSC continues to allow faculty antisemitism to flourish, the new administration in Washington should make good on its threat, backed by law, to remove the school’s Federal funding. 

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin is the director of AMCHA Initiative, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to combating antisemitism at colleges and universities in the United States. She was a faculty member at the University of California for 20 years.

The post Anti-Zionist Faculty at UC Santa Cruz Defy the Law and Betray Jewish Students first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire

Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.

Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.

Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.

Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”

As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.

“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.

Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.

The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.

Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.

Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.

Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.

The post Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel

People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas

Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.

“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.

“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.

Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.

The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.

In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.

“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.

“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.

In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.

Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.

In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.

“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”

Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.

Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.

To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.

In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.

Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.

Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.

The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.

The post Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns

Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak

The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.

Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.

With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.

The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.

Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.

Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.

According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.

With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.

In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.

The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.

Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.

The post Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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