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Boston University Has Stood Up to Antisemitism, But It Must Do More
Boston University College of Arts and Sciences. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Boston University (BU)’s Board of Trustees showed moral courage on February 11, when it rejected two petitions calling for BU to divest from the State of Israel. In doing so, the Board refused to bow down to the demands of those who seek to end the existence of the world’s only Jewish state.
“The endowment is no longer the vehicle for political debate,” BU President Melissa L. Gilliam declared. BU must now remain firm against the demagogic pressure of the pro-Hamas groups that continue to push the genocidal goal of destroying Israel.
Earlier this month, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which openly praises Hamas and championed the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, ran a sham referendum at BU calling for the divestment of university funds from Israel.
BU’s SJP chapter created the referendum internally and had the Young Democratic Socialists of America administer the vote. The referendum made a mockery of the student government process by not requiring voters to use their BU emails, effectively permitting off-campus participation, and it also did not prevent voters from voting multiple times. Ultimately, the BU Student Government, known as “StuGov,” announced the “nullification” of the referendum’s results.
However, the campaign to demonize Israel at BU does not end with this vote. StuGov has already announced that it plans to hold an additional vote. Instead of explicitly mentioning Israel, the referendum says “companies actively complicit in human rights violations in the Middle East.” This edit is a smokescreen to hide their true intentions and the antisemitism that is raging at BU.
On February 19, StuGov posted a link to a referendum on divesting from Israel. Voting commenced immediately and will run through February 26. This time, instead of being hosted under the auspices of radical outside organizations, it has the apparent imprimatur of the students’ elected representatives themselves — even though the Board of Trustees has already rejected the politicization of the endowment.
Divestment campaigns against Israel on campus have the consistent effect of exacerbating antisemitism at universities, according to the Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University. According to one report, antisemitism has surged on college campuses, increasing by 700% from 2022 to 2023.
As a February 3 open letter from BU Hillel rightly pointed out, the school’s student government ignored the internationally accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism by considering the anti-Israel resolution. The IHRA definition includes nine examples of contemporary antisemitism, like “Applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.” Demanding that Israel fail to defend itself after an armed invasion by a terrorist group that massacred 1,200 people, and raped and mutilated civilian women easily meets that standard.
In the run-up to the new referendum, BU SJP touted its anti-Israel posture with the infamous symbol of the inverted red triangle. Nazi Germany originated the symbol to designate political prisoners held in concentration camps. Using that symbol to call for the murder of Jews in 2025 is an offense that cannot go unpunished.
BU’s Board of Trustees has taken the correct stand in removing its endowment from the crossfire of Middle East politics. Now, BU can do even more by ensuring that no further flawed referenda jeopardize the safety and inclusion of the Jewish minority on campus.
BU must continue to champion open dialogue, protect every member of its community, and ensure that its investments reflect principle, not politicization.
Guy Starr is a sophomore studying Accounting and Finance at Boston University. He is the current co-President of Boston University Students for Israel.
The post Boston University Has Stood Up to Antisemitism, But It Must Do More 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.