Released British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari arrives at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, after being held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, in this image obtained by Reuters on Jan. 19, 2025. Photo: Maayan Toaf/GPO/Handout via REUTERS

The English Premier League soccer team Tottenham Spurs and the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team in Israel celebrated the return home of British-Israeli dual citizen Emily Damari as one of the three civilian hostages who were released from Hamas captivity on Sunday as part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and the terrorist organization.

Damari, a 28-year-old passionate Tottenham supporter, as well as Nova music festival survivor Romi Gonen, 23, and veterinary nurse Doron Steinbrecher, 30, returned to Israel on Sunday morning after being abducted more than 15 months ago during the Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Damari, the only British hostage still in captivity, and Steinbrecher were both kidnapped from their homes in Kibbutz Kfar Aza.

On Sunday, the official account on X for Tottenham supporters in Israel shared a photo of Damari and the caption read, “Emily is coming home TODAY! #ShesOneOfOurOwn.” At several soccer matches since Damari’s abduction, fans of the north London team have chanted “Emily Damari, she’s one of our own, she’s one of our own, Emily Damari, bring her home.”

Former Tottenham player Ramon Vega also shared his excitement about Damari’s return. After Tottenham loss to Everton 3-2 on Sunday, the 53-year-old Swiss soccer player wrote on X: “At least one positive thought today from the Spurs family! Welcome home, Emily. COYS Spurs!”

At least one positive thought today from the Spurs family! Welcome home, Emily. COYS Spurs! https://t.co/i1E9PecY5w

— Ramon Vega (@Ramon_Vega71) January 19, 2025

Tottenham fans have shown solidarity with Damari many times since she was kidnapped in 2023. They released yellow balloons in her honor, hung posters about her, and tied hundreds of yellow ribbons around the team’s home stadium. Last week, Arsenal and Tottenham fans united in support of Damari at the north London derby.

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Anti-Israel demonstration supporting the BDS movement, Paris France, June 8, 2024. Photo: Claire Serie / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect

At Bates College, we pride ourselves on cultivating critical thinkers equipped to tackle the world’s challenges, and to help humanity.

Yet, the local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) seems determined to undermine these principles by championing the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. BDS is not a campaign rooted in justice; it is an effort to destroy the Jewish State, through the use of economic harm, divisiveness, and intellectual dishonesty.

Last year, SJP urged Bates President Garry Jenkins to mark the beginning of his tenure by disclosing the college’s investment portfolio and divesting from what they call “systems of oppression and genocide.” While their rhetoric may resonate with the uncritical, it collapses under scrutiny — because Israel does not commit genocide, and does not operate under a system of oppression.

The BDS movement draws its inspiration from the international pressure that helped end apartheid in South Africa. But in completely distorting the meaning and history of apartheid, BDS is not only dangerous, but spreading historical falsehoods.

The term “apartheid,” as defined by the United Nations, refers to policies designed to establish and maintain racial domination. To equate this with Israel’s treatment of its citizens and its handling of territorial disputes is an egregious distortion. Since its founding in 1948, Israel has granted full citizenship, legal equality, and access to state institutions to all its Arab citizens. Israeli Arabs vote, serve in the Knesset, and hold prominent positions in society — a reality that utterly contradicts the claim of systemic racial domination.

Critics, including SJP, often point to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as evidence of Israel’s so-called apartheid policies. But these claims ignore the historical and legal context.

Under the Oslo Accords, Palestinians in these territories have self-governance. Their status is not the result of racial discrimination, but of the unresolved conflict and their own leadership’s persistent refusal to negotiate in good faith. And just as Americans and Canadians do not have the same rights — it is absurd to suggest that people inside and outside of Israel should all be covered by the same set of laws. To suggest that Israel owes full citizenship rights to individuals outside its recognized borders is as absurd as expecting Americans to vote in Canadian elections.

In practice, BDS’ initiatives have also inflicted serious economic hardship on Palestinians. Consider the 2014 closure of SodaStream’s West Bank factory, where 90% of the workforce was Palestinian. Workers lost jobs offering wages and benefits far superior to local alternatives — all because BDS advocates prioritized ideological purity over pragmatic solutions.

Before the current war, over 100,000 Palestinians enjoyed similar employment opportunities in Israel. If BDS advocates had their way, how many Palestinian families would be left to suffer under the weight of their society’s self-wrought economic failings?

Even prominent Palestinian voices reject BDS. Human rights activist Bassam Eid has labeled the movement counterproductive, arguing that it fosters “hatred, enmity, and polarization” rather than advancing Palestinian nationhood. He’s right. BDS isn’t about building a future; it’s about tearing one down, regardless of the collateral damage.

At its core, the BDS movement is antithetical to the ideals of a liberal arts education. Rather than promoting intellectual rigor and open dialogue, it traffics in ideological conformity and intellectual censorship. By embracing BDS, SJP pushes Bates toward a path of illiberalism, where complex geopolitical realities are flattened into simplistic slogans and dissent is stifled. This is not progress — it is regression.

As the new semester begins, Bates College has a choice to make. Will it remain a place where critical thinking and genuine dialogue flourish, or will it succumb to the pressures of a movement that substitutes propaganda for policy and division for dialogue? If SJP’s agenda prevails, Bates will fail its mission and betray the very principles it claims to uphold.

David King is a recent graduate of Bates College and a fellow with CAMERA on Campus, which works to promote fair and accurate coverage of Israel and the Middle East in academic settings.

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Ships are docked at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen, July 31, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Yemen’s Houthis will limit their attacks on commercial vessels to Israel–linked ships provided the Gaza ceasefire is fully implemented, the Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (HOOC) said.

The Sanaa-bsed HOCC, which liaises between Houthi forces and commercial shipping operators and is associated with the Houthi military, said it was stopping “sanctions” against vessels owned by US or British individuals or entities, as well as ships sailing under their flags.

“We affirm that, in the event of any aggression against the Republic of Yemen by the United States of America, the United Kingdom, or the usurping Israeli entity, the sanctions will be reinstated against the aggressor,” it said in an email sent to shipping industry officials dated Jan. 19.

“You will be promptly informed of such measures should they be implemented.”

The HOCC said the Iran-backed Houthis, an internationally designated terrorist organization, would stop targeting Israeli-linked ships “upon the full implementation of all phases of the agreement.”

Many of the world’s biggest shipping companies have suspended voyages through the Red Sea and diverted their vessels around southern Africa to avoid being attacked.

The Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships since November 2023 and sunk two vessels, seized another, and killed at least four seafarers.

They have targeted the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which are joined by the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait, a chokepoint between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East.

Hamas released three Israeli hostages in Gaza and Israel freed 90 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, the first day of a ceasefire suspending a 15-month-old war.

CAUTION

Executives from shipping, insurance, and retail industries told Reuters last week that they were not ready to return to the Red Sea trade route because of uncertainty over whether the Houthis would continue to attack shipping.

A spokesperson for Germany container shipping group Hapag-Lloyd said on Monday the company was still monitoring the situation, adding: “We will return to the Red Sea when it is safe to do so.”

The Houthis have attacked ships in recent months based on outdated information, Jakob Larsen, chief safety & security officer with shipping association BIMCO, said.

“In recent months, they have made several false claims about successful attacks, thereby slightly undermining their credibility,” he said on Monday.

“Assuming the ceasefire holds and the US also refrains from using force, shipping companies are expected to gradually resume operations through the Red Sea.”

Insurers were also were waiting for test voyages to determine if war risk premiums would ease, market sources said on Monday, asking not to be named.

Higher war risk insurance premiums, paid when vessels sail through the Red Sea, have meant additional costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars for a seven-day voyage for any ships still sailing through the area.

The Houthis hold the Bahamas-flagged Galaxy Leader and its 25 crew members, which was seized by the militia’s commandos in international waters in November 2023.

“The Filipinos, Mexicans, Romanians, Bulgarians, and Ukrainian who were on board are desperate to leave Yemen,” the vessel’s owner Galaxy Maritime Ltd and manager STAMCO Ship Management said on Monday.

“Some have been hospitalized with malaria and one can only guess at their mental state.”

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