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Columbia University and Other Schools Allow Incitement to Violence, and Silence Jewish Voices
In 2016, while studying at Columbia Law School, I attended a closed Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) meeting organized by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Columbia’s campus. What I experienced there left me terrified till today.
After forbidding any recordings, the organizers presented lies and racist descriptions about Jews. They then asserted that terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians were justified, as “that is what you get when you choke a people for 69 years.” This statement was greeted by a standing ovation from more than 50 students in the room.
I was left shaking, terrified by the support for the killing of innocents, and fearing for my safety on campus. My fellow students and I alerted the president of Columbia that these official student meetings were used to incite violence and antisemitism. The administration, however, refused to act and to protect us because they said there was not a “clear and present danger of bodily harm.”
We are now seeing nonstop violence, and incitement to violence, on college campuses across the country. Columbia did belatedly act to temporarily pause some of these student groups, but it’s not clear how serious they are to combating this hatred in the long-term. They also have not acted against any of the more than 100 professors who justified terrorism against Jews.
The writing was on the wall, but unfortunately, many universities did not address the rise in antisemitism on campuses. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2021, 53% of American Jews said they personally felt less safe than they did in previous years. A Brandeis Center survey in 2021 showed even more alarming results, with 65% of the Jewish students feeling unsafe on campus and 50% actively hiding their Jewish identity.
According to the Anti-Defamation League’s Audit of Antisemitic Incident Report, there was a dramatic increase in antisemitic incidents during 2022 in almost all categories, specifically a 41% increase in antisemitic incidents on college campuses.
Since Hamas’ horrific terror attack on October 7, Jewish students have been subject to an alarming increase in hate crimes and antisemitic incidents on campuses, including death threats, physical attacks, dangerous and inflaming rhetoric, and hostility from faculty. Recently, at Cornell, this violent rhetoric became a reality when a student was arrested for making online threats to kill Jewish students. This incident is just one example of the many violent incidents happening today on US campuses, leaving Jewish students alone in a hostile environment.
As a result, a few universities started taking action to limit student organizations that are promoting violence and antisemitism. Brandeis University announced its decision not to recognize the SJP chapter at the university due to its support of Hamas. The aforementioned Columbia decision temporarily suspending SJP and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) for repeatedly violating university policies is “too little too late,” since it’s only valid until the end of the fall term.
Across the US, many university administrations have not learned much during the last few years, and are continuing to implement a policy of non-intervention in the anti-Israel and hate-mongering rhetoric and activities of their students, claiming they are protected by freedom of speech.
Indeed, students who are critical of Israel’s actions have as much right to express that criticism as those who defend Israel. However, groups like SJP, which are promoting antisemitism and violence on campuses, are harming other students on campus — and taking away their freedom of speech, while hiding behind the concept.
During my studies at Columbia, we hosted Israel’s then-ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon. As expected, BDS activists decided to protest the event. Further compounding our dismay, the university’s response was to restrict the number of guests that we, the organizers, could include. Ironically, the BDS activists could turn out without limitation. The start of the event was marked by dozens of BDS protesters blocking people from entering, and verbally abusing those who made it inside. The ambassador’s speech was then subjected to repeated and coordinated disruption — a total of seven interruptions during a 22-minute speech. It made the speech into a farce, a game of cat and mouse. In order to protect the BDS activists’ freedom of speech, ours was trampled upon at our own event. These examples are not rare; Jews and Israel supporters are shouted down and pushed out more and more.
Universities must wake up from the misconception that a policy of non-intervention protects freedom of speech for all. First of all, this protects hate speech and incitement to violence. Second, the inevitable outcome of this so-called neutral policy is that only the most aggressive groups enjoy freedom of speech, because they drown out opponents conducting a more respectful discourse. There must be a complete policy change in many universities that will be unforgiving towards antisemitism and incitement, and actively protect freedom of speech for all.
Assaf Weiss is a Columbia Law School graduate, former board member at Student Supporting Israel at Columbia, and Director of the American Jewish Congress. He also recently served as the Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the Knesset.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip

Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
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