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As Israel wages war on Hamas, colleges and companies take flak over their responses

(JTA) — On Oct. 10, three days into the war that began after Hamas militants killed some 1,400 Israelis and took nearly 200 others hostage, the president of Indiana University issued a statement saying “IU is heartbroken over the horrific violence that has occurred over the past few days.”
The brief statement by Pamela Whitten said the university would provide counseling and other support services to “students, faculty and staff affected by these attacks, especially those who may have family or friends in the region.”
The reaction to what in other contexts might have seemed an anodyne statement was swift — and angry. Jewish students and alumni complained that by mentioning neither Hamas nor its Jewish victims, the statement was an example of “both-sides-ism,” or drawing parallels between the Hamas attacks and Israel’s response.
“Now is only the time for swift and unequivocal condemnation of Hamas (a registered Foreign Terrorist Organization) and an unwavering commitment to the Jewish community,” read a petition organized by Ethan Fine, president of the campus-based Indiana Israel Public Affairs Committee. “We URGE you to retract your statement and issue a new, stronger statement condemning Hamas and showing your support for the Jewish people.”
On Oct. 12, Whitten issued a new statement. “Let there be no ambiguity, Israel has suffered grievous atrocities at the hands of Hamas terrorists,” the statement read in part. “We recognize the pain and fear that is affecting the Jewish community on our campuses.”
Indiana University wasn’t the only campus to be convulsed over a statement about the Hamas attacks. At Northwestern University, president Michael Schill first issued a statement saying that while he was personally “repulsed, sickened and disappointed” by Hamas’ actions, there would not be a university position on “political, geopolitical or social issues.” Later he released a follow-up note, saying “the abhorrent and horrific actions of Hamas on Saturday are clearly antithetical to Northwestern’s values — as well as my own.” But he still said the university would not be making an official statement because it “does not speak for our students, faculty, and staff on these matters.”
In an essay for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a professor at Chicago’s DePaul University School of Law wrote about her disappointment with an administration statement Oct. 9 saying “Our hearts ache to see the horrific violence and tragic loss of life taking place right now in Israel and Gaza. We pray for peace.”
“The university’s pleas for de-escalation in this context not only diminished the suffering of those who were so brutally attacked, but also compounded the pain for Jewish students, staff and faculty, all of whom were already feeling isolated and fragile,” wrote Roberta Rosenthal Kwall.
Clashes over statements reflect a wider debate over how and if universities and corporations should weigh in on global crises. For many Jews, however, the war of the statements is not just about “good governance” or corporate responsibility but whether elite American institutions apply a double standard when Jews are the victims of violence and invective.
“Condemning the worst mass murder [of Jews] since the Holocaust, clearly, unequivocally with heart, with concern, without context, was the right thing to do and the smart thing to do,” said Nathan Miller, CEO of Miller Ink, a strategic and crisis communications firm that works with Jewish and non-Jewish clients. “If you can’t see these images and speak with humanity about them, without justification, rationalization or context, it means you have a bad comms team.”
JTA reviewed more than 600 responses to the Israel-Hamas war by businesses, universities and politicians, compiled by a communications firm that asked not to be named. (Yale’s School of Management is also tracking statements.)
Statements by numerous corporations shortly after the attacks were unequivocal in denouncing Hamas as terrorists and offering sympathy for the Israeli victims. “In the wake of the horrific terrorist attacks targeting Jews in Israel this past weekend, we must all do what we can to support the innocent people experiencing so much pain, violence, and uncertainty — particularly children,” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s CEO, said in an Oct. 12 statement. “We condemn these attacks, the hate that motivated them, and all acts of terrorism, and we will continue working to find more ways to provide support in the region, and to honor the victims, their families, and all those affected by this war.”
Starbucks issued a statement expressing its “deepest sympathy for those who have been killed, wounded, displaced and impacted following the heinous and unacceptable acts of terror, escalating violence and hate against the innocent in Israel and Gaza this week.” (JTA illustration by Mollie Suss)
But as the story shifted to Israel’s retaliatory air strikes on Gaza, some companies expressed increased concern for victims on both sides. “With each passing day, the horrific attacks on Israel and the intensifying hostilities become more painful and difficult to watch,” HP’s CEO, Enrique Lores, tweeted on Oct. 14. “My heart breaks for all who are facing unimaginable loss and uncertainty right now.”
On Oct. 11, Starbucks expressed its “deepest sympathy for those who have been killed, wounded, displaced and impacted following the heinous and unacceptable acts of terror, escalating violence and hate against the innocent in Israel and Gaza this week.” It also sought to put out a corporate fire after the Philadelphia-based union organizing the coffee chain’s workers posted “Solidarity with Palestine!” on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“To be clear: We unequivocally condemn these acts of terrorism, hate and violence, and disagree with the statements and views expressed by Workers United and its members,” Starbucks wrote. “Workers United’s words and actions belong to them, and them alone.”
In conversations with JTA, Miller and other communications professionals described the tightrope universities and companies walk when they comment on political and hot-button issues. (A few asked not to be named, saying they were protecting the confidentiality of their clients.) Each has advised clients or prospective clients on how to frame their responses to the Oct. 7 attacks. All agreed that institutions failed when they declined to call out the Hamas attacks as the unacceptable murder and kidnapping of civilians. But they also acknowledged that no single statement is right for every institution — and that companies, universities and nonprofits, including Jewish organizations, have to tailor their comments to their own goals.
‘That’s a good statement’
On Oct. 9, Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, chancellor of the City University of New York, issued a statement saying, “CUNY is devastated by the scope of death and destruction in Israel, still being assessed in the aftermath of Saturday’s violent attacks by Hamas militants. The University is putting in place counseling and related supports to our impacted students, faculty and staff. We are especially concerned about members of our community who have families, colleagues and friends in the Middle East.”
He continued: “We want to be clear that we don’t condone the activities of any internal organizations that are sponsoring rallies to celebrate or support Hamas’ cowardly actions. Such efforts do not in any way represent the University and its campuses.”
“That’s a good statement,” said Noam Gilboord, interim CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. “We’re proud that the chancellor put out a clear and unequivocal statement in support of Israel and the Jewish people.”
In recent years, Jewish critics have charged that the vast CUNY system has tolerated expressions of antisemitism and anti-Zionism from faculty and students. An internal report in 2016 concluded that some incidents on campus were antisemitic.
Gilboord said the JCRC has served as “a partner and an advisor on Jewish affairs” for CUNY, “to guide them in their ability to produce messaging and programs and other items that would help make the campus climate better for the Jewish community.”
CUNY’s messaging on the Hamas attacks suggested to him that the partnership has paid off. “They have become much more sensitive to the needs and positions of the Jewish campus community,” he said.
Gilboord said he couldn’t recall a specific conversation with university officials about its statement, but he said there were conversations concerning the attacks between JCRC and CUNY leaders, who were scheduled to travel to Israel together before the war’s outbreak scuttled those plans.
He is also aware of the pressures that are brought to bear on a large, diverse public university system like CUNY.
“The reality is that there are Israelis and Palestinians who are affected by this, and many university campuses are home to both populations. And they should be sensitive to their entire population,” said Gilboord. “At the same time, I do believe that our leaders both on campus and otherwise need to have the moral clarity to understand that a barbaric attack that killed at least 1,400 Israeli civilians [and soldiers] in a day through mass slaughter, torture, rape and kidnapping by an Iran-backed terrorist group, they should be able to condemn this. And they should also be able to differentiate between [that and] the Israeli Defense Forces’ attempts to defend their communities and disable Hamas’ ability to commit further attacks.”
‘People are getting stuck’
CUNY issued its first statement shortly after the Hamas attack, and before the scope of Israel’s anticipated response was apparent. In particular, it came before an explosion on Oct. 17 at a hospital in Gaza brought more international pressure on Israel to limit its military response. The attack was initially pinned on Israel, but both Israel and the United States insist, citing evidence, that a Palestinian group was responsible.
In turn, the international outcry over the hospital explosion brought pressure on institutions to weigh their outrage over the Hamas attack and hostage-taking against concern over Palestinian civilians caught up in the fighting.
“And that’s where I think a lot of people are getting stuck,” said the head of a communications firm that advises Jewish and non-Jewish groups. ”And this is what we’ve been talking to our clients about. You can criticize the terrorism [against] Israel, full stop — and still say that you shouldn’t take it out on Palestinian kids and babies. But there are people in our [Jewish] community who think no, you can’t do that. Like the second you say that, then you’re engaging in both-sides-ism. And I’m saying that’s not reasonable.”
In recent days, left-leaning Jewish groups have tried to strike that balance — and perhaps feel they have more leeway than universities and corporations to express concern for both Jewish and Palestinian lives. In a statement issued on Oct. 19, J Street, the liberal Jewish Israel lobby, wrote, “Like the Biden Administration, J Street stands with the Israeli people in their grief, and we support Israel’s right to defend its citizens, disarm Hamas, and respond to this horror in accordance with international law.”
The same statement added: “At the same time, we are profoundly worried for the safety of the over 2 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza — half of whom are children — as this conflict turns their streets and their homes into an active war zone.”
The communications professional who spoke about people getting “stuck” (and who requested anonymity, citing client confidentiality) also represents a range of clients, “everything from people calling for a ceasefire, to people who won’t use the word Palestinian, to those asking, ‘How do I write a statement beating the crap out of [Michigan Rep.] Rashida [Tlaib] because she still hasn’t taken down her tweet blaming Israel for the hospital’” explosion.
“I try to be an honest broker,” said the communications professional. “You have to craft your advice towards the organization, what it stands for and what their goal is.”
‘Is it your job?’
Universities and companies have often sought to remain neutral on social and political matters. In 1967, the University of Chicago issued a declaration saying a university “cannot take collective action on the issues of the day without endangering the conditions for its existence and effectiveness.” The economist Milton Friedman, who taught there, said famously in 1970 that the only social responsibility of business is to “increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game.”
But in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and the feminist movement, student activists demanded that universities express where they stand. Universities have issued statements on climate change, LGBT issues and diversity. With the renewed racial justice movement that grew out of the police murder of George Floyd in 2020, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, “many presidents released statements expressing solidarity with protesters and/or against systemic racism.”
In the 1990s, many companies saw that “corporate social responsibility” could be good for business. “Many consumers, particularly younger ones, really want to utilize their purchasing power now to address these challenges,” Geoffrey G. Jones, a Harvard Business School professor who wrote a history of corporate responsibility, told the Economic Times.
And yet PR experts understand why businesses and universities may not want to weigh in on political or controversial issues, out of fear of alienating consumers or, according to some campus free speech advocates and partisan critics, angering donors, students and faculty who don’t agree with the statements.
“Sometimes I ask people, is it your job to interpret Israel-Palestine issues for your employees? And they’ll say, ‘No, we just need to know how to help them to work safely,’” said a consultant who advises clients on prevention and response strategies to antisemitism. In such cases, the consultant may advise the client not to take a stand.
But the Hamas massacre was of a different nature than a controversial political issue, the consultant said, both because of its personal impact on Jewish students and employees and its shocking nature. “This is different. This is in the category of a mass shooting,” said the consultant. “It’s like something that happened on a neighboring campus, and you have a population that’s really impacted by this.”
Gilboord also thinks it was fair to expect institutions to issue statements about the Hamas attacks, especially universities and businesses in cities, like New York, with a large number of Jewish employees and students.
“If your business has individuals who are connected to this violence and who are affected by some of the worst violence we’ve seen since the Holocaust, and you feel you have a responsibility as a caring place of work, to ensure that your employees are cared for and that their suffering is acknowledged … it’s my belief that you should make a statement recognizing that terrorism is terrorism, and it should be condemned,” he said.
Miller, the communications executive, was disappointed by statements that either did not unequivocally condemn the Hamas violence, or that appeared to equate the attack on Israeli civilians with Israel’s military response.
“It’s important for the Jewish community to demand more than those initial statements that came out in the hours or days immediately following this horrific attack where they tried to give justification or rationalization,” he said. “I think it was an autopilot thing that many people did, but here are cases where I think there’s some malice as well, where they truly believe that Jewish blood is cheaper.”
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The post As Israel wages war on Hamas, colleges and companies take flak over their responses appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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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.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
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.