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Here’s How Colleges Should Respond to Destructive BDS Resolutions on Campus

Clocktower Quad at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Photo: Warren LeMay/Wikimedia Commons.
On November 7, 2024, the Duke Divestment Committee (DDC), a close ally of Duke Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), petitioned the Duke Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility (ACIR) to call for Duke to “Divest direct and indirect holdings in all companies and entities that support or profit from Israeli apartheid…”
This proposal was based on false antisemitic propaganda, and it promoted dangerous blood libels against the Jewish people. The baseless accusations of apartheid and genocide are more than just words — they have led to global violence against Jews, which has also spread to US college campuses.
On December 10, 2024, the Duke ACIR rejected the DDC’s proposal. Faced with the option to cave into the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement, the Duke University leadership decided to stand up for truth and justice, and abide by the university’s mission statement to foster a “community of students who embrace growth, collaboration, creativity and integrity.”
While the decision of ACIR and Duke’s president seem to be a victory for truth over propaganda, the student initiative still spread vicious lies about Israel — lies that will likely be believed by many students who haven’t done their own research on the topic. And these anti-Zionist antisemitic groups will likely spin their defeat into more hateful rhetoric against Israel, the Jewish people, and Duke University.
This decision should be levered by Duke into a different BDS initiative — Build, Develop, and Share. This BDS initiative would stand in contrast to the destructive and antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction movement, and flip the narrative on anti-Israel and pro-Hamas propagandists.
Israel is known as “The Start-up Nation” — with around one start-up for every 1,400 people. It would be a catastrophe if the BDS movement was successful in driving capital away from Israel. It is not possible to strangle the Israeli economy and support the Arab Israeli community at the same time. Growth and innovation are contagious. The BDS movement is not pro-Palestinian or pro-Arab. It is anti- Israel. SJP and similar groups’ hatred for Jews blinds them to the harm they cause to Arab Israelis and Palestinians.
As students graduating from universities in the United States seek interesting and challenging careers in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, there is a vibrant startup ecosystem raging across the Middle East. Founders and venture capitalists are investing in a vital, diverse and inclusive “Silicon Wadi.”
One example of a company that is focused on growing start-ups founded by Arab Israelis is Nazareth-based NGT Healthcare. NGT is an “early-stage medical device and life sciences venture capital fund.” Consistent with its mission, NGT has funded companies in Israel started by Arab entrepreneurs (35%), employ Israeli Arabs (29%), that are supported by Arab investors (25%), and are managed by Arabs (25%). This is a very odd version of “apartheid.”
Since the historic Abraham Accords were signed, the UAE has invested more than $10 billion, alongside Israel, to bolster the economic cooperation between the two countries. These funds were invested across many sectors, including energy, manufacturing, water, space, healthcare, and agri-tech.
At the same time, oceans away, on “elite” US college campuses, millions of dollars have been wasted on repairing damage caused by SJP and anti-Israel activists. Time, money and energy are scarce resources that are currently being wasted on students who seek destruction over dialogue.
Anyone who cares about a future generation of Jews and Arabs prospering together, should be looking towards the Silicon Wadi as a beacon of hope. Universities who care about the growth, collaboration, creativity, and integrity of their students, should be looking towards Silicon Wadi as a beacon of tech and innovation — and should be boycotting groups like Students for Justice in Palestine.
The writer was a CAMERA on Campus fellow at Duke University in 2020/21. He now works at start-ups in New York City.
The post Here’s How Colleges Should Respond to Destructive BDS Resolutions on Campus first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Warns Against Cooperation with US Relief Efforts In Bid to Restore Grip on Gaza

Hamas terrorists carry grenade launchers at the funeral of Marwan Issa, a senior Hamas deputy military commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike during the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip, Feb. 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza has warned residents not to cooperate with the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, as the terror group seeks to reassert its grip on the enclave amid mounting international pressure to accept a US-brokered ceasefire.
“It is strictly forbidden to deal with, work for, or provide any form of assistance or cover to the American organization (GHF) or its local or foreign agents,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement Thursday.
“Legal action will be taken against anyone proven to be involved in cooperation with this organization, including the imposition of the maximum penalties stipulated in the applicable national laws,” the statement warns.
The GHF released a statement in response to Hamas’ warnings, saying the organization has delivered millions of meals “safely and without interference.”
“This statement from the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry confirms what we’ve known all along: Hamas is losing control,” the GHF said.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May, implementing a new aid delivery model aimed at preventing the diversion of supplies by Hamas, as Israel continues its defensive military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group.
The initiative has drawn criticism from the UN and international organizations, some of which have claimed that Jerusalem is causing starvation in the war-torn enclave.
Israel has vehemently denied such accusations, noting that, until its recently imposed blockade, it had provided significant humanitarian aid in the enclave throughout the war.
Israeli officials have also said much of the aid that flows into Gaza is stolen by Hamas, which uses it for terrorist operations and sells the rest at high prices to Gazan civilians.
According to their reports, the organization has delivered over 56 million meals to Palestinians in just one month.
Hamas’s latest threat comes amid growing international pressure to accept a US-backed ceasefire plan proposed by President Donald Trump, which sets a 60-day timeline to finalize the details leading to a full resolution of the conflict.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced that Israel has agreed to the “necessary conditions” to finalize a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, though Israel has not confirmed this claim.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with Trump next week in Washington, DC — his third visit in less than six months — as they work to finalize the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
Even though Trump hasn’t provided details on the proposed truce, he said Washington would “work with all parties to end the war” during the 60-day period.
“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” he wrote in a social media post.
Since the start of the war, ceasefire talks between Jerusalem and Hamas have repeatedly failed to yield enduring results.
Israeli officials have previously said they will only agree to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms, and goes into exile — a demand the terror group has firmly rejected.
“I am telling you — there will be no Hamas,” Netanyahu said during a speech Wednesday.
For its part, Hamas has said it is willing to release the remaining 50 hostages — fewer than half of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war.
While the terrorist group said it is “ready and serious” to reach a deal that would end the war, it has yet to accept this latest proposal.
In a statement, the group said it aims to reach an agreement that “guarantees an end to the aggression, the withdrawal [of Israeli forces], and urgent relief for our people in the Gaza Strip.”
According to media reports, the proposed 60-day ceasefire would include a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a surge in humanitarian aid, and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, with US and mediator assurances on advancing talks to end the war — though it remains unclear how many hostages would be freed.
For Israel, the key to any deal is the release of most, if not all, hostages still held in Gaza, as well as the disarmament of Hamas, while the terror group is seeking assurances to end the war as it tries to reassert control over the war-torn enclave.
The post Hamas Warns Against Cooperation with US Relief Efforts In Bid to Restore Grip on Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UK Lawmakers Move to Designate Palestine Action as Terrorist Group Following RAF Vandalism Protest

Police block a street as pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather to protest British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s plans to proscribe the “Palestine Action” group in the coming weeks, in London, Britain, June 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
British lawmakers voted Wednesday to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, following the group’s recent vandalizing of two military aircraft at a Royal Air Force base in protest of the government’s support for Israel.
Last month, members of the UK-based anti-Israel group Palestine Action broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, a county west of London, and vandalized two Voyager aircraft used for military transport and refueling — the latest in a series of destructive acts carried out by the organization.
Palestine Action has regularly targeted British sites connected to Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems as well as other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza in 2023.
Under British law, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has the authority to ban an organization if it is believed to commit, promote, or otherwise be involved in acts of terrorism.
Passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 385 to 26 in the lower chamber — the House of Commons — the measure is now set to be reviewed by the upper chamber, the House of Lords, on Thursday.
If approved, the ban would take effect within days, making it a crime to belong to or support Palestine Action and placing the group on the same legal footing as Al Qaeda, Hamas, and the Islamic State under UK law.
Palestine Action, which claims that Britain is an “active participant” in the Gaza conflict due to its military support for Israel, condemned the ban as “an unhinged reaction” and announced plans to challenge it in court — similar to the legal challenges currently being mounted by Hamas.
Under the Terrorism Act 2000, belonging to a proscribed group is a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison or a fine, while wearing clothing or displaying items supporting such a group can lead to up to six months in prison and/or a fine of up to £5,000.
Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the recent attack, in which two of its activists sprayed red paint into the turbine engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft and used crowbars to inflict additional damage.
According to the group, the red paint — also sprayed across the runway — was meant to symbolize “Palestinian bloodshed.” A Palestine Liberation Organization flag was also left at the scene.
On Thursday, local authorities arrested four members of the group, aged between 22 and 35, who were charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK, as well as conspiracy to commit criminal damage.
Palestine Action said this latest attack was carried out as a protest against the planes’ role in supporting what the group called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
At the time of the attack, Cooper condemned the group’s actions, stating that their behavior had grown increasingly aggressive and resulted in millions of pounds in damages.
“The disgraceful attack on Brize Norton … is the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action,” Cooper said in a written statement.
“The UK’s defense enterprise is vital to the nation’s national security and this government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk,” she continued.
The post UK Lawmakers Move to Designate Palestine Action as Terrorist Group Following RAF Vandalism Protest first appeared on Algemeiner.com.