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Hebrew University Professor Suspended After Calling to Abolish Zionism, Casting Doubt on Oct. 7 Atrocities
The personal belongings of festival-goers are seen at the site of an attack on the Nova Festival by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Oct. 12, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has suspended a senior faculty member after she advocated the destruction of Zionism and called into question accounts of the Hamas terror group’s atrocities during its Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, including mass rape and other sexual violence.
Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian of the Faculty of Law came under fire following an expose on Israel’s Channel 14 News, which showed clips of her saying, “It is time to abolish Zionism — it can’t continue; it is criminal.”
The professor also said, “We need to remember this [Israel] is a dishonest state … it’s a killing machine … They will use any lie — they started with babies, they continued with rape … I hope the world will stop believing them.”
Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s suspension was announced on Tuesday.
“The Hebrew University is proud to be an Israeli, public, and Zionist institution, and condemns with disgust Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s shocking and outrageous statements,” the university’s president, Asher Cohen, said in a statement. “As in the past, the heads of the university repeat their call for Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian to find another academic home for herself, which is compatible with her positions. At this point and in order to maintain a safe climate on campus for the benefit of our students, the university has decided to suspend her from teaching.”
Mounting evidence over the last five months has revealed Hamas’ systematic use of rape and other forms of sexual violence, including torture, against Israeli women and girls during its Oct. 7 onslaught, in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 others kidnapped as hostages.
Last month, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel published an extensive report submitted to the UN detailing the sexual violence occurring both during the Oct. 7 Hamas assault and afterwards against hostages abducted by the terror group.
Then last week, the UN released a report concluding that Hamas likely committed mass acts of gang-rape and torture against women during its massacre across southern Israel and may today still be abusing women kept as hostages in Gaza.
According to eyewitness accounts and forensic experts, Hamas also murdered babies during its Oct. 7 invasion.
Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s statements “take freedom of expression and academic freedom to the extreme and use it cynically to incite and incite,” the Hebrew University added in its statement. “Since the beginning of the war, Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian has been speaking out in a disgraceful, anti-Zionist, and inflammatory manner. On Oct. 29, in an exceptionally serious letter, on behalf of the university’s president, we suggested that she consider leaving her position. Shalhoub-Kevorkian did not respond to the request, and continues to enjoy the reputation of our magnificent institution, while embarrassing us at the Israeli and international level.”
The suspension was praised by Sharren Haskel, a member of Israel’s parliament who petitioned the Education Ministry and the Hebrew University to discipline the professor following the Channel 14 report.
“In the universities, zero patience is required towards incitement against the State of Israel,” Haskel wrote. “I thank the Rector for responding to my request for the suspension of the lecturer, and call for any call to incitement to be dealt with in a similar manner.”
The largest Zionist grassroots group in Israel, Im Tirtzu, also called for Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s suspension following the publishing of her remarks.
“Congratulations to the Hebrew University for the suspension of the inciting lecturer,” the group’s chairman, Matan Peleg, said in a statement. “We thank our thousands of supporters who sent thousands of letters overnight to the university administration to have her fired. Suspension is not enough … We would recommend her to move to a university in Gaza, but this university was destroyed by the IDF [Israel Defense Forces], thank God. Maybe in Ramallah they are looking for inciting lecturers.”
The post Hebrew University Professor Suspended After Calling to Abolish Zionism, Casting Doubt on Oct. 7 Atrocities 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.