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Here’s What New York’s Governor Needs to Do About CUNY
CUNY pro-Hamas students and supporters setup encampment at the school’s campus in New York City on April 25, 2024. Photo: Steve Sanchez via Reuters Connect
It is time for New York Governor Kathy Hochul to put some teeth into New York State’s Executive Order 157, by disciplining the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY.
According to New York State’s Office of General Services, Executive Order No. 157 (EO 157) directs State entities to “divest all public funds supporting the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel. The first-in-the-nation action will ensure that no State agency or authority engages in or promotes any investment that would further the harmful and discriminatory Palestinian-backed Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign in New York State.”
This Executive Order was signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo on June 5, 2016. EO 157 is still in effect.
The Professional Staff Congress (PSC) is the union that represents approximately 30,000 professors and staff who are employed by the City University of New York (CUNY) and the CUNY Research Foundation.
PSC membership is open to full-time and part-time professors, and staff who have retired. On January 23, 2025, the delegate assembly of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) approved the, “PSC and NYCERS [sic] Israeli Investments Divestment Resolution” (PSC BDS Resolution). The Delegate Assembly is the principal governing body of the Professional Staff Congress, and the policy forum for the PSC. The Assembly discusses, debates, and designs the policy positions of the PSC. This resolution calls for divestment of PSC assets from Israel and Israeli companies.
Here is the relevant part of the resolution:
And, be it further resolved that the Professional Staff Congress shall divest its own funds from any investment vehicle that includes in its portfolio stocks and bonds of Israeli companies and Israeli government bonds no later than the end of January 2026, and shall continue in good faith to try to meet that investment objective.
The PSC resolution clearly supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement that seeks to weaken, isolate, and delegitimize Israel. The PSC resolution states:
Whereas, in the past, such as during the period of apartheid rule in South Africa, American institutions such as colleges and labor unions have used the tool of divestment to show their disapproval of state policies that violate international human rights laws, and also to weaken those states economically.
This PSC CUNY resolution places the PSC in direct conflict with the State of New York. How can the CUNY PSC be the representative of CUNY employees if New York State is prohibited from negotiating and signing contracts with the PSC?
I am a member of the CUNY Professional Staff Congress and I am outraged. I hope I am not alone.
The January, 2025 resolution of the PSC Delegate Assembly is just like their June 10, 2021 “Resolution in Support of the Palestinian People” (CUNY PSC Resolution in Support of the Palestinian People, June 10, 2021).
The 2021 screed is a one-sided polemic that places the entire blame for the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians squarely on Israel. It is clear from the text of the 2021 resolution — “Whereas, Israel’s pattern and practice of dispossession and expansion of settlements, dating back to its establishment as a settler colonial state in 1948” — that the PSC views Israel as an imposed state, not a legitimate country.
EO 157 asserts: “the State of New York will not permit its own investment activity to further the BDS campaign in any way, shape or form, whether directly or indirectly” (EO 157).
The intention of the PSC to divest its assets from Israel and Israeli companies is clear support of the BDS campaign, and this requires Governor Hochul to act.
It is now incumbent upon Hochul to enforce EO 157 and cut direct and indirect financial support to the PSC until the PSC revokes its commitment to actively support the BDS campaign.
The first move by New York State should be to add the PSC to the list of “Institutions or Companies Determined to Participate In Boycott, Divestment, or Sanctions Activity Targeting Israel” (List of Companies and Institutions that engage in BDS Activity). The second step should be to exclude the PSC from future discussions and negotiations with New York State.
The BDS movement does the propaganda work of Hamas and prolongs the suffering of Palestinians and Israelis. By passing the BDS resolution, the PSC has become complicit in prolonging this catastrophic war that was launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The PSC is certainly not advocating for peace, but rather for the destruction of Israel.
Charles A. Stone is a Professor at Brooklyn College, CUNY.
The post Here’s What New York’s Governor Needs to Do About CUNY 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.