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Harvard Law School Passes Resolution Accusing Israel of Genocide, Calling for Divestment

Demonstrators take their “Emergency Rally: Stand with Palestinians Under Siege in Gaza” out of Harvard University and onto the streets of Harvard Square, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, Oct.14, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder

The Harvard Law School (HLS) Student Government has passed a divestment resolution that falsely accuses Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, a controversial charge which some scholars and lawmakers have deemed as antisemitic in accordance with the world’s leading definition of antisemitism.

“Be it resolved, Harvard Law School Student Government formally calls upon [Harvard Management Company] to divest completely from weapons manufacturers, firms, academic programs, corporations, and all other institutions that aid the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine and the genocide of Palestinians, including withdrawing investments in securities, endowments, mutual funds, and other monetary instruments,” the resolution says.

The measure’s passing — by a vote of 12-4 with 3 abstentions, according to The Harvard Crimson — follows what has been described by dissident students as a “rushed” process to bring it before the body for a vote and questionable amendments to its constitution to allow for a secret ballot concealing from the public how members voted. Normally, per its own bylaws, the student government would hold an in-person roll call vote.

Extreme anti-Zionism blurring the line separating criticism of Israel from flagrant antisemitism has loomed over Harvard University since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, in which the terrorist group slaughtered hundreds of civilians and committed heinous acts of rape. As harrowing footage of the attack circulated online in its immediate aftermath, 31 student groups at Harvard issued a statement blaming Israel for the attack, accusing the Jewish state of operating an “open air prison” in Gaza.

Friday’s action, undertaken by law students who will go on to work at some of America’s most prestigious firms and may one day serve in government, is disturbing, according to Shabbos Kestenbaum, a graduate student at the Harvard Divinity School.

“The resolution’s unconstitutional and anonymous passing by Harvard students who are slated to work for law firms that either have extensive dealings with Israeli businesses or offices in Israel prove one thing,” Kestenbaum told The Algemeiner. “They are as cowardly as they are antisemitic.”

Following the vote, The Crimson reported that two HLS Student Government members, Cameron Adkins and Regina De Nigris, have resigned and proclaimed that they “strongly disagree” with the constitutional violations that had to happen for it to take place.

“The resolution has been pushed through at the last possible minute to avoid running up against the end of this student government’s term, and, perhaps, to insulate the student government from receiving contrary input,” they said in a resignation letter obtained by the campus paper. “We voiced our disagreement to the student government at every opportunity … Our concerns, however, were pushed aside.”

Swap Agrawal, who wrote the resolution and will be graduating this May, defended the resolution as necessary, adding that “a strong majority of students believe strongly” in it.

The past six months have been described by critics of Harvard as a low-point in the history of the school, America’s oldest and, arguably, most prestigious institution of higher education. Since the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas, Harvard has been accused of fostering a culture of racial grievance and antisemitism, while important donors have suspended funding for programs. The school’s first Black president, Claudine Gay, resigned in disgrace last month after being outed as a serial plagiarist. Her tenure was the shortest in the school’s history.

In November, a mob of anti-Zionists — including Ibrahim Bharmal, editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review — followed, surrounded, and intimidated a Jewish student. “Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!” the crush of people screamed in a call-and-response chant into the ears of the student who — as seen in footage of the incident — was forced to duck and dash the crowd to free himself from the cluster of bodies that encircled him.

In December, Gay —  along with her then-counterparts Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) — was hauled before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce to account for her administration’s handling of surging antisemitism on campus. For weeks, Gay had been reluctant to punish students who chanted genocidal slogans and to unequivocally condemn antisemitism. During questioning, she told the committee that determining whether calling for a genocide of Jews constitutes a violation of school rules depends “on the context.”

The welter of incidents at Harvard has prompted a congressional investigation, with which the school has been allegedly non-compliant. Last month, US Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the education and workforce committee, wrote Harvard a censorious letter accusing school officials of obstructing the committee’s investigation with “grossly insufficient” responses to its inquiries and by submitting content of a “limited and dilatory nature.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Harvard Law School Passes Resolution Accusing Israel of Genocide, Calling for Divestment 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.

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