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As a New Semester Begins, December Was Filled with Anti-Israel College Events

A student protester parades a Palestinian flag outside the entrance to Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University, in New York, US, April 30, 2024. Photo: Mary Altaffer/Pool via REUTERS
Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) activities in December was characterized by a continuing high number of protests and attacks against Jews and Israelis in the US and globally. Notable incidents included:
- The shooting of two children at a California school by a man who wanted to avenge the “genocide” of Palestinians,
- The firebombing of a Montreal synagogue for the second time,
- Shots fired for the seventh time against a Toronto synagogue,
- An arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue that injured two,
- An arson attempt against a Cape Town (SA) Jewish community center,
- An explosive device thrown at a Melbourne rabbi pushing a baby stroller,
- Burning a car and vandalizing two buildings with anti-Israel messages in Sydney,
- Vandalizing the San Francisco Hillel house with the word Khaybar, a hammer and sickle, and an anarchist symbol,
- A car ramming attack in Laguna Beach (CA),
- The beating of an American Jewish student in Dublin by a mob who demanded to know if he was Jewish,
- An assault on a Jewish student outside the gates of Columbia University,
- Rocks thrown at buses carrying Jewish schoolchildren in London, and
- Vandalizing the home of a Jewish University of Michigan trustee, which included writing the words ‘free Palestine’ on his car and throwing jars of urine through a window.
Protests and attacks against property included:
- Vandalizing buildings across the Vassar College campus,
- A protest at a New York University library that resulting in the arrest of two faculty members, who along with several others were declared persona non grata and barred from campus,
- A protest of an Oberlin College Board of Trustees meeting that was dispersed by police,
- A protest of a University of Wisconsin Board of Regents meeting that resulted in arrests. The university’s SJP chapter faces an investigation and possible suspension,
- The occupation of the Ottawa parliament building by ‘anti-Zionist Jews’ that resulted in arrests,
- A demonstration outside a Toronto area synagogue, which was holding an Israel real estate fair, and
- A protest at the opening of the La Scala opera by anti-government, anti-capitalist, and anti-Israel protestors who dumped manure in front of the building.
The escalating number of antisemitic attacks and violence is also reflected in various statistics:
- Hate crimes against Jews in the Los Angeles area rose 91% in 2023,
- Antisemitic incidents in Texas nearly doubled between 2022 and 2023,
- Antisemitic incidents in Australia rose 400% since 2023,
- Antisemitic incidents on British campuses rose more than 400% from 2022-2023 to 2023-2024, and
- Islamic terror incidents in the US rose sharply in 2024.
The huge escalation of violence in Canada and Australia in particular, attributed in part to large scale Muslim immigration and official hostility towards Israel following October 7, have caused serious alarm including among local politicians.
On campuses the number of protests and arrests dropped dramatically compared to the 2023-2024 academic year. This may be attributed to a loss of momentum by the pro-Palestinian movement and to university restrictions put in place as a result of last year’s violence.
The appearance of greater calm, however, might be misleading. The arrest of two George Mason University students and SJP leaders, Palestinian-American sisters Jena and Noor Chanaa, suspected of vandalizing university property, revealed a cache of guns and ammunition as well as Hezbollah and Hamas materials. A third George Mason University student, Egyptian national Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, was arrested on charges of planning a terror attack on the Israeli consulate in New York City.
Virginian Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin stated further that SJP “pose[s] a clear and present threat to Jewish students and the Jewish community in Virginia.” Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares launched an investigation of SJP’s supporting organization, American Muslims for Palestine, shortly after October 7th. The prospect of terrorist attacks by students gives further urgency to calls to detain and deport hostile foreign nationals.
Administrations
The sustaining relationship between diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and ideology and campus antisemitism continues to be highlighted. One recent study documented how DEI training increases psychological harm, hostility, and the propensity to agree with extremist language and punitive behaviors.
The situation was demonstrated in a case at the University of Michigan, where a leading DEI administrator was fired for stating at a conference that Jews have “no genetic DNA that would connect them to the land of Israel,” the university was “controlled by wealthy Jews,” and reportedly stating that “Jewish students are all rich. They don’t need us.” She denied making the remarks and plans to sue the university. The firing comes as the university ended the use of diversity statements in faculty hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions and considered ending all its DEI programs.
Both the University of Cincinnati and the University of California resolved cases regarding anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim discrimination with the US Department of Education. The resolutions involved changes to staff training and reporting procedures rather than fundamental changes to campus culture.
Pro-Hamas protestors continue to be disciplined by universities. The University of Georgia and George Mason University suspended their SJP chapters, while the University of Minnesota suspended a number of SJP members and demanded financial restitution for damages they caused during a building takeover. New York University Law School also warned protestors that they may be subject to unspecified disciplinary action.
Students
Fallout from the past year’s anti-Israel protests continues to be felt. Despite a lower number of protests, Hillel International reported approximately the same number of campus incidents in 2024 as in 2023. These included several violent assaults. The prospect of future violence also remains strong.
At the University of Michigan, saga of the activists elected on the platform of shutting down student government in order to support ‘Gaza’ has come to a close. After shutting down funding to all student clubs only to have the administration provide independent funding, the president and vice president of the student government have now been impeached and removed from office. Pro-Palestinian students admit that the officers “look like extremists” and have damaged the cause on campus
The extent to which anti-Israel hate has damaged various aspects of campus life is becoming clear:
- The MIT student newspaper temporarily suspended publishing opinion pieces after being forced to retract a piece from the MIT Coalition for Palestine (C4P) which made false allegations against a faculty member.
- At Sarah Lawrence College, where pro-Hamas activists occupied a building for several weeks stated they were “answering the call of Hamas,” complaints have mounted against the overt antisemitism of ‘performative woke people’ and their repressive campus cancel culture, described as being ‘Sarah Lawrenced.’
- At UCLA a Jewish student has filed a complaint with the student judiciary claiming that all Jewish students had been summarily rejected for staff positions at the demand of the “Cultural Affairs Commissioner” who instructed subordinates to “please do your research when you look at applicants,” as “lots of zionists are applying” and that she would “share a doc of no hire list during retreat.”
Faculty
Faculty continue to be at the forefront of campus antisemitism and support for Hamas. A new study has shown again that institutions with the most active anti-Israel faculty are those with the most incidents directed against Jewish students.
Faculty anti-Israel activity is also now fully bound up with unionized labor. At Rutgers University, a majority of faculty union members associated with two unions, the American Association of University Professors and American Federation of Teachers, voted in favor of a BDS resolution and called for the university to ends its relationship with Tel Aviv University.
By following unionized graduate students in making anti-Israel politics a labor issue, faculty unions attempt to leverage public support for organized labor and minimize the overt bias involved in anti-Israel resolutions.
These efforts mesh with continued efforts to characterize anti-Israel course content and classroom behavior as part of ‘academic freedom.’ Criticism of such content, such as planned course at Cornell University called “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance” to be taught by a notable anti-Israel faculty member, including comments by the university president, were characterized as a threat to academic freedom. In another recent example of this subterfuge, it emerged that Columbia University’s most notorious anti-Israel faculty member, Joseph Massad, will be teaching a course on Zionism.
A lawsuit brought against Carnegie Mellon University by an Israeli student provides an inside look at how individual faculty abuse students in the classroom. The suit, which a Federal court has allowed to proceed, alleges that a faculty member described the student’s architectural project “model looked like the wall Israelis use to barricade Palestinians out of Israel,” and that the student’s time “would have been better spent if [she] had instead explored ‘what Jews do to make themselves such a hated group.’”
K-12
After October 7, 2023, the K-12 sphere was revealed as a key environment for anti-Israel bias. Replacing the emphasis on transgender issues with anti-Israel bias appears to be part of the sector’s adaptive strategy to maintain its relevance. Teachers’ unions are central to the process. For example, the Massachusetts Teachers Association declared that Israel was committing ‘genocide’ in December 2023 and has proceeded to undertake training sessions and to provide materials demonizing Israel.
The trend of teachers testifying to one another that Israel is a satanic entity has expanded. At a recent educator’s conference, Massachusetts teachers emphasized Israeli ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid’ with one participant calling for ‘two perspectives’ regarding the Holocaust. Similarly, at the recent National Association of Independent Schools conference, which represents more than 2,000 private schools, several speakers described Israel as racist and genocidal. Jewish participants reported hostility from other attendees, with many vowing not to return. The association’s president apologized, a move which was condemned by anti-Israel speakers.
The pervasive bias shown by teachers has been institutionalized in classrooms and administrations. Responding to a complaint from Jewish parents, the US Department of Education found that the Philadelphia School District did not adequately address cases of “harassment based on shared ancestry.” The resolution calls for staff training and revised policies. The Department also found that the school district refused to produced requested information.
The author is a contributor to SPME, where a significantly different version of this article first appeared.
The post As a New Semester Begins, December Was Filled with Anti-Israel College Events first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany’s Scholz Rebukes Vance, Defends Europe’s Stance on Hate Speech and Far Right

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks to the media after he met former prisoners following the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West in decades, at the military area of Cologne Bonn Airport in Cologne, Germany, August 1, 2024. Photo: Christoph Reichwein/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a strong rebuke on Saturday to US Vice President JD Vance’s attack on Europe’s stance toward hate speech and the far right, saying it was not right for others to tell Germany and Europe what to do.
Vance lambasted European leaders on Friday, the first day of the Munich Security Conference, accusing them of censoring free speech and criticizing German mainstream parties’ “firewall” against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
“That is not appropriate, especially not among friends and allies. We firmly reject that,” Scholz told the conference on Saturday, adding there were “good reasons” not to work with the AfD.
The anti-immigration party, currently polling at around 20% ahead of Germany’s February 23 national election, has pariah status among other major German parties in a country with a taboo about ultranationalist politics because of its Nazi past.
“Never again fascism, never again racism, never again aggressive war. That is why an overwhelming majority in our country opposes anyone who glorifies or justifies criminal National Socialism,” Scholz said, referring to the ideology of Adolf Hitler’s 1933-45 Nazi regime.
Vance met on Friday with the leader of AfD, after endorsing the party as a political partner — a stance Berlin dismissed as unwelcome election interference.
Referring more broadly to Vance’s criticism of Europe’s curtailing of hate speech, which he has likened to censorship, Scholz said: “Today’s democracies in Germany and Europe are founded on the historic awareness and realization that democracies can be destroyed by radical anti-democrats.
“And this is why we’ve created institutions that ensure that our democracies can defend themselves against their enemies, and rules that do not restrict or limit our freedom but protect it.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot added his voice to the defense of Europe’s stance on hate speech.
“No one is required to adopt our model but no one can impose theirs on us,” Barrot said on X from Munich. “Freedom of speech is guaranteed in Europe.”
UKRAINE
The prospect of talks to end the Ukraine-Russia war had been expected to dominate the annual Munich conference after a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week, but Vance barely mentioned Russia or Ukraine in his speech to the gathering on Friday.
Instead, he said the threat to Europe that worried him most was not Russia or China but what he called a retreat from fundamental values of protecting free speech – as well as immigration, which he said was “out of control” in Europe.
Many conference delegates watched Vance’s speech in stunned silence. There was little applause as he delivered his remarks.
Asked by the panel moderator if he thought there was anything in Vance’s speech worth reflecting on, Scholz drew laughter and applause in the crowd when he responded, in a deadpan manner: “You mean all these very relevant discussions about Ukraine and security in Europe?”
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Trump Team to Start Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks in Saudi Arabia in Coming Days, Politico Reports

US Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) speaks on Day 1 of the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, July 15, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar
Senior officials from US President Donald Trump’s administration will start peace talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days, Politico reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the plan.
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Saudi Arabia, the report said. Special envoy for Ukraine-Russia talks, Keith Kellogg, will not be in attendance, according to the report.
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UN Peacekeeping Mission Deputy Commander Injured After Convoy Attacked in Beirut

FILE PHOTO: A UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicle is seen next to piled up debris at Beirut’s port, Lebanon October 23, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
The outgoing deputy force commander of the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) in Lebanon was injured on Friday after a convoy taking peacekeepers to Beirut airport was “violently attacked,” UNIFIL said.
The mission demanded a full and immediate investigation by Lebanese authorities and for all perpetrators to be brought to justice, it said in a statement.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun condemned the attack on Saturday, saying that security forces would not tolerate anyone who tries to destabilize the country, according to a statement from his office.
The French government also condemned the attack.
“France calls on the Lebanese security forces to guarantee the security of blue-helmet peacekeeping forces, and calls on Lebanon’s judicial authorities to shed all light on this unacceptable attack and to go after those responsible,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Lebanon’s Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar called for an emergency meeting before noon on Saturday to discuss the security situation, Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.
“He affirmed the Lebanese government’s rejection of this assault that is considered a crime against UNIFIL forces,” NNA reported, citing the minister.
He also gave instructions to work on identifying the perpetrators and referring them to the relevant judicial authorities.
The minister told reporters on Saturday that more than 25 people had been detained for investigation over the attack.
The United States earlier condemned the attack. A State Department statement said the attack was carried out “reportedly by a group of Hezbollah supporters”, referring to the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon.
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