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Dean Phillips drops DEI label from his presidential campaign website after Bill Ackman contributed $1m
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The change on Dean Phillips’ presidential campaign website was seemingly minor, but the story behind it involved two Jewish public figures and the debate on diversity, equity and inclusion that is roiling the culture wars over Israel, race and other hot-button topics.
In a story posted Tuesday, Politico reported that Phillips, the Jewish Minnesota congressman running a longshot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, had changed a heading on his campaign website from “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” to “Equity and Restorative Justice.”
The text remained the same. The change came after Bill Ackman, the Jewish billionaire investor, had endorsed Phillips, maxing out his contribution to his campaign at $3,300 and giving a super PAC backing Phillips an additional $1 million. Super PACs are political action committees that may accept unlimited donations but are prohibited from working directly with campaigns.
Ackman gained an elevated public profile in recent weeks as he led the successful effort to force out Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard University, his alma mater. Gay, along with the presidents of two other elite universities, declined to unequivocally say in congressional testimony that calls for genocide against Jews violate school policy.
Ackman has also weighed in on the debate, particularly pronounced among Jewish thought leaders, over diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. Harvard, like most universities and many corporations, has a DEI office which seeks to redress longstanding racial, gender and other inequities. Ackman opposes DEI and says it has an underlying bias that foments antisemitism.
In a statement to the New York Times, Phillips said any focus on the change was a diversion. “I support diversity. Period. I support equity. Period. I support inclusion. Period,” he said. “It is incredible how the media gets all interested in litigating slogans, but has no interest in proposals to solve the problems.”
Phillips and Ackman both denied that the change had anything to do with Ackman’s endorsement or contributions. “I am not paying him money to change his website,” Ackman told the Times.
Ackman had posted his endorsement of Phillips on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, prompting some of his ideological allies to note that Phillips used the phrase on his campaign website.
“I am confident he will get to the right place once he does his homework,” Ackman told one follower. “He is pretty busy right now.”
A number of Jewish figures have said DEI excludes Jews. Some, like Ackman, believe the movement is irredeemably bigoted; others say that the movement has worthy goals but needs to be more sensitive to antisemitism. Still other Jewish leaders say that DEI as it is constituted is the best means of redressing inequity.
The shift is not the first for Phillips as he seeks to unseat President Joe Biden. Once an outspoken defender of Israel who sparred with its most prominent critics in his party, he was among the first to call for a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas.
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The post Dean Phillips drops DEI label from his presidential campaign website after Bill Ackman contributed $1m appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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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.