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Columbia Law Review Declares Strike After Breaking Rules to Publish Anti-Zionist Article
Demonstrators take part in an anti-Israel demonstration at the Columbia University campus, in New York City, US, Feb. 2, 2024. REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
Editors at the Columbia Law Review, one of the most distinguished student-led legal journals in the country, have declared a strike aimed at gaining “total editorial independence” following its subversion of long-standing rules to enable the publication of a virulently anti-Israel article.
According to The Columbia Spectator, the controversy began last week when the journal’s board of directors closed access to its website after determining that an article, titled “Toward Nakba As a Legal Concept” — the thesis of which argues that Israel’s existence is a crime — received “secretive” editing from staff, as several members were blocked from viewing it. Later, the board — which includes highly esteemed legal professionals such as judges, lawyers, and Columbia Law School’s dean — resolved to add a disclaimer to the piece noting the circumstances under which it was published.
“The Review‘s editorial processes are intended to allow all members to engage with the scholarship that the Review publishes and with one another,” the board of directors said in a statement. “That engagement is central to the Review’s twin aims of publishing the highest quality legal analysis and educating the next generation of lawyers. Upon learning of this exclusion, the board of directors sought to delay publication by several days to permit the excluded members to read the piece and engage with their colleagues before the piece was published.”
The statement added that the editors published the piece anyway, which resulted in the board choosing to “[memorialize] for now its concerns with the process,” an action which prompted the editorial staff’s strike.
Columbia Law School’s Jamie Jenkins, who was assigned to edit the piece in question, defended the editing process in a statement to The Columbia Spectator.
“The experience with the piece was the same as the rest of our review, in terms of the process that we use to take it from the first draft to the publishable draft,” he said. “There’s no process or requirement that every single piece that’s published for the Law Review is up for discussion with the entirety of the Law Review as to whether it’s going to be published.”
The individual who wrote the article, purported “legal scholar” Rabea Eghbariah, has also commented on the controversy in quotes shared by The Spectator, accusing the board of directors of revealing a “culture of Nakba-denialism” and claiming “US academic institutions are, in fact, a very hostile environment for Palestinian voices and thought.”
Many Palestinians and anti-Israel activists refer to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948 as the “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” lamenting how the nascent Jewish state defeated several invading Arab armies and won its independence.
The controversy at Columbia Law School continues a struggle by students, opposed by some authority figures on campus, to promote the anti-Zionist movement, despite its connections to terrorist organizations, white supremacist groups, and extremist far-left activists who have openly called for the destruction of Israel and the United States.
Last month, the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine — which in April invited a terrorist to campus — endorsed Hamas, the latest sign of its growing extremism and willingness to embrace antisemitic violence.
“The Palestinian resistance is the only force materially fighting back against isr*el [sic],” the group said in a series of posts shared by Documenting Jew Hatred on Campus, a social media account which exposes antisemitism on college campuses. “There is no way to eliminate the resistance without ending the occupation. When you see a video of a young palestinian [sic] boy traumatized in a hospital talking about how iof [the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF] shot his pregnant mother in cold blood in front of his own eyes, do not question how he chooses to resist years later.”
The explosion of end-of-year protests held by the group forced Columbia officials to shutter the campus in April and institute virtual learning. Later, the group occupied Hamilton Hall, forcing President Minouche Shafik to call on the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for help, a decision she hesitated to make. According to The Columbia Spectator, over 108 arrests were made.
“Yes, we’re all Hamas, pig!” one protester was filmed screaming during the fracas, which saw some verbal skirmishes between pro-Zionist and anti-Zionist partisans. “Long live Hamas!” said others who filmed themselves dancing and praising the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization. “Kill another solider!”
Amid the chaos, a prominent rabbi at the school urged Jewish students to leave the campus for the sake of their safety. Ultimately, the university cancelled its main commencement ceremony.
Anti-Zionists at Columbia are especially vicious, numerous Jewish students have reported. In addition to beating up Jewish students, they have stolen missing persons signs of Israelis who were taken as hostages during Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7. In many cases, they openly cheered the violence and called for more.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Columbia Law Review Declares Strike After Breaking Rules to Publish Anti-Zionist Article 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.