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Examining the Hate at Harvard, Columbia, and Elsewhere
Demonstrators take part in an “Emergency Rally: Stand With Palestinians Under Siege in Gaza,” amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, Oct. 14, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
My bet is that both Ruth R. Wisse and The Wall Street Journal received more than a handful of nasty comments and threats since her opinion essay (“Harvard is an Islamic Outpost”) appeared in the WSJ last week.
But we should thank her for this powerful piece, where she documents the slow penetration and infestation of Islamist ideology into Harvard and academia at large. This has rapidly accelerated in classrooms and through student action since October 7, 2023. The same process has been happening on numerous other campuses around the US, most prominently at Columbia University.
The ensuing chaos, encampments, limiting campus access to Jewish students and faculty, calls for destruction of Israel and so much more, were encouraged by some campus administrators and faculty as expressions of free speech.
But this conduct has finally been called out for what it is — support for terrorist groups, and an assault on the rights and safety of Jewish students. And as Ruth Wisse compared celebrations of October 7 to Kristallnacht pogroms, she noted that “some people were forced to confront what they tried to ignore.” Some, however, did not — and continued to claim that support for October 7, and calls for genocide against Jewish students, were protected as free speech.
It is incomprehensible that the previous administration let radical leftists, radical Islamists, and their supporters have free rein when it came to endangering the civil rights of Jewish students, and it is incomprehensible that the few student leaders of these antisemitic and anti-Zionist demonstrations were considered heroes and freedom fighters.
This would not have happened if the hate had been directed against any other minority group besides Jews.
Now, Columbia, Harvard, and other universities are grappling with the consequences of their inaction. They do not want to lose the huge amount of Federal money they receive, but they do not want to be seen as acquiescing to Trump and people like him. That might be the reason why Harvard President Alan Garber is finalizing a task force dealing with antisemitism and anti-Israeli sentiment at Harvard. Unfortunately, this task force is diminished by a concurrent task force “on combating anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias.”
Harvard still refuses to admit that it has a unique problem regarding discrimination against Jews.
And as for foreign students who have been allowed to support terrorism in the streets of America and on their campuses, it is tragic — if not a travesty — that they are allowed to extol support for radical and terroristic ideologies that seek to destroy our way of life. They often do not appreciate the freedom they experience here, or tolerate any viewpoints that differ from their own. They do not express gratitude for the opportunity to obtain a great education that they can take back home to improve lives in their countries, but are instead seeking to misuse their visas to advocate for terrorism.
It is a pity that this is lost on some of the best universities in the US. Kol Hakavod to Ruth Wisse.
Dr. Jaroslava Halper has been a professor of pathology at The University of Georgia in Athens, GA for many years. She escaped from communist Prague because of antisemitism, and lack of freedom and free speech. The gradual increase of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in certain circles in her second homeland, and the devastating October 7 massacre by Hamas, led her to realize that more active engagement is necessary to combat antisemitism, including anti-Zionism.
The post Examining the Hate at Harvard, Columbia, and Elsewhere first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu Posts Message Appearing to Confirm Hamas Leaders Survived Doha Strike
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a statement posted to social media on Saturday evening, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Qatar-based leadership of Hamas, reiterating that the jihadist group had to regard for the lives of Gazans and represented an obstacle to ending the war and releasing the Israelis it held hostage.
The wording of Netanyahu’s message appeared to confirm that the strike targeting the Hamas leaders in Doha was not crowned with success.
“The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza,” wrote Netanyahu. “They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war.” He added that “Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war.”
Israel is yet to officially comment on the result of the strike, which has incurred widespread international criticism.
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Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.
Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.
Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.
The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.
The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.
Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.
Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.
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Trump Urges NATO Countries to Halt Russian Oil Purchases
US President Donald Trump gestures during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Aug. 26, 2025. Photo: Jonathan Ernst via Reuters Connect
i24 News – US President Donald Trump issued a letter to NATO nations on Saturday, impressing upon them to stop purchasing Russian oil and impose major sanctions on the regime of Vladimir Putin to end its war in Ukraine.
“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA. As you know, NATO’S commitment to WIN has been far less than 100%, and the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia,” the message read.
“Anyway, I am ready to ‘go’ when you are. Just say when? I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50% to 100% TARIFFS ON CHINA, to be fully withdrawn after the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR. China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip.”
Trump’s post comes after the recent flight of multiple Russian drones into Poland, widely perceived an escalatory move by Russia as it was entering the airspace of a NATO ally. Poland intercepted the drones, yet Trump played down the severity of the incident and Russia’s motives by saying it “could have been a mistake.”