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Hundreds gather in Bryant Park following pro-Palestinian NYC high school walkout
(New York Jewish Week) – Hundreds of high school students and adults gathered near Bryant Park, heeding the call of a coalition of pro-Palestinian groups for New York City high school students to stage a walkout in protest of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
The crowd chanted “Intifada,” called for a ceasefire, accused Israel of genocide and praised Palestinian “resistance.” Actress Susan Sarandon, a longtime critic of Israel, made an unannounced appearance.
Organizers had released a detailed guide to help students schedule, recruit for, organize and gain administrator consent for the walkout, but the majority of the crowd appeared to be older than school age. One speaker told the audience that “over 150” students had walked out of class, out of the hundreds of thousands of high schoolers in the city. Some young people joined the event later in the day, after schools let out.
The crowd chanted, “From the river to the sea,” “Israel is a racist state,” and “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” from the steps of the New York Public Library. Attendees carried signs that said, “Resistance against occupation is a human right,” and “Free all Palestinian political prisoners.”
Activists posted stickers around the protest saying, “Stop the Holocaust in Gaza” and warning “Zionist donors” against interfering in colleges.
The war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas invaded Israel, killing 1,400 and taking more than 200 people hostage. Israel has since conducted heavy airstrikes in Gaza and launched a ground invasion with the aim of deposing the terror group. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, more than 10,000 people have been killed, though it isn’t clear how many are civilians and how many were killed by misfired Palestinian rockets.
Sarandon told the crowd, “So many people do not understand the context in which this Oct. 7 assault happened. They don’t understand the history of what has been happening to the Palestinian people.”
She added, “It’s time to have an open heart. It’s time to be strong and it’s time that Palestine be free.”
Speakers at the rally decried civilian fatalities in Gaza and framed the war as the focal point of a global struggle against profit-seeking Western imperialism, raising the topics of U.S. labor unions, homelessness in New York City, U.S. taxes and the policies of New York investment firms.
“The situation in Gaza today is unfathomable,” a speaker from the Palestinian Youth Movement, one of the organizers, told the crowd. “Every day we hear from our people in Gaza, ‘Today was the worst day so far.’
“From the river to the sea, the struggle for Palestinian liberation only grows stronger and stronger in the face of the bombs and bullets of the oppressive Zionist and imperialist world,” said the speaker, who did not share her name. “The expansionist genocidal nature of the Zionist settler colony could not be more blatant.”
A high schooler told the crowd, “We are showing the people of Gaza that they are being listened to.”
“We are the resistance fighters of the West,” the student said. “And we will not be quiet until Palestine is free.”
The groups organizing the protest demanded an immediate ceasefire and “an end to U.S. support for genocide” in materials addressed to students, teachers and parents released ahead of the rally.
The event, called a “Day of Action,” was sponsored by a number of pro-Palestinian and educators’ groups, including the Palestinian Youth Movement, Teachers Unite and the Movement of Rank and File Educators, the progressive caucus within the city teachers union.
The Community Education Council in District 14 in Brooklyn, an elected entity that is part of the city’s school governance structure, also signed onto the rally. The council and several other organizers did not respond to requests for comment.
The group’s “toolkit” included a guide for calling members of Congress, plans for the student walkout, instructions for educators, drafts for parent-teacher association anti-Israel resolutions, and talking points echoing the messages delivered at the rally.
The toolkit suggested educators support student protesters by canceling tests or deadlines, and that students should protest inside school buildings if they are not comfortable leaving campus.
Educational materials from organizers appeared to justify the Oct. 7 attacks, saying, “Palestinians tore down the cement walls caging them in the Gaza Strip.”
The talking points included the claim that Israel had killed 900 people in a hospital bombing last month, which has been debunked by a wide range of assessments by intelligence agencies and publications, and that it was deliberately killing civilians who were fleeing the fighting, which Israel strenuously denies. Israel has opened up protected corridors for civilians to evacuate and has instituted humanitarian pauses to provide for civilian needs.
Chancellor David Banks on Wednesday warned educators against bringing politics into the classroom. In an email the Department of Education shared with the New York Jewish Week, he said he had planned to send that message before the announcement of the walkout.
“School leaders, teachers, and other school staff should not express their personal views about political matters during the school day,” the email said. “Our job as educators is to expose our students to objective facts and multiple perspectives, allowing them to make their own judgments and grow as independent and critical thinkers.”
Late last month, Banks expressed alarm about “hateful rhetoric at educational institutions” surrounding the war. Days after the Hamas attack, Banks condemned the “horrific acts of violence” and said the school system would provide resources to facilitate discussion about the conflict.
New York City Department of Education regulations stipulate that “School buildings are not public forums for purposes of community or political expression.” Regulations also say that employees cannot engage in political activities during working hours.
School protests against gun violence in recent years, particularly following the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, offered a recent precedent for staging protests at schools. Any disciplinary measures for illegal activity would need to be consistent, and past disciplinary measures have been moderate, said David Bloomfield, a professor of education, leadership, law and policy at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center.
“If the school administration didn’t punish teachers for participating in the anti-gun violence rallies, it can’t turn around and be more stringent against a pro-Palestinian demonstration,” he said.
Bloomfield said it was legal for educators to encourage the day of action, but some of its activities may not be legal during work hours. Students and faculty, he said, “need to be careful that their speech doesn’t drift into hate or threats of violence.” The participation of the Community Education Council was also legal, he said.
Faculty needed to focus on keeping students safe during the walkout, he said, adding that teachers who actively protested during school hours may be subject to disciplinary measures. It wasn’t clear if any public school educators participated in the protest.
Rabbi Yossi Schwartz, the director of the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Student Union in New York, a youth group, said the organization has been grappling with antisemitism in high schools since Oct. 7. The group runs clubs meant to bolster Jewish identity and connections to Israel in around 30 public schools in New York City and Long Island, along with one location in Westchester.
“I think the world out there knew that it was going on in colleges but the fact that it’s even in high schools, I think is shocking,” Schwartz said, adding that the group had tallied five antisemitic incidents in New York City public schools in the past week.
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The post Hundreds gather in Bryant Park following pro-Palestinian NYC high school walkout appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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The Algemeiner’s Top 10 Most-Read News Stories of 2024
Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in this handout picture released on March 5, 2024. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
In a year when Israel was at war on several fronts, Donald Trump was reelected president of the United States, and antisemitism continued to skyrocket globally in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion, these were the 10 stories that most captured the attention of The Algemeiner‘s readers.
1. Masked Activists Violently Attack Jews at North Carolina Public Library
West Asheville Library in North Carolina. Screenshot: buncombecounty.org.
Three pro-Israel attendees of a public event titled “Strategic Lessons From the Palestinian Resistance” reported being attacked and forcibly dragged out by anti-Israel activists also in attendance at the West Asheville Library in North Carolina.
2. Network Behind Eruption of Anti-Israel College Campus Protests Revealed in New Report
The “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at Columbia University, located in the Manhattan borough of New York City, on April 25, 2024. Photo: Reuters Connect
Anti-Zionist protests striking US colleges and universities across the country have been the result of “tightly coordinated” efforts backed by the financial power and logistical support of groups linked to terrorist organizations and some of America’s most prestigious philanthropic foundations, according to a new report.
Floyd Mayweather speaks to the media during the press conference after the 12-round Undisputed Super Middleweight World Title main-event bout at Premier Boxing Champions, Canelo vs Charlo. at T-Mobile Arena on Sept. 30, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Alejandro Salazar/PxImages/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Former boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather will donate $100,000 to United Hatzalah of Israel for the organization to purchase 100 bulletproof vests to keep volunteers safe amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Hamas terrorists kidnapping Israeli women at the Nahal Oz base near the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: Screenshot
In an emotional hearing at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, former hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza recounted harrowing tales of sexual harassment and abuse, as families of those still held captive pleaded for the Israeli government to do more to secure their release.
US President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, DC, US on Nov. 13, 2024. Photo: ALLISON ROBBERT/Pool via REUTERS
Hamas has responded to US President-elect Donald Trump’s warning that there will be “all hell to pay” in the Middle East if the Palestinian terrorist group does not release all of the remaining hostages in Gaza before his inauguration on Jan. 20, claiming that Israel has “sabotaged” several potential ceasefire deals and should be held responsible for perpetuating the ongoing war.
Professor Lara Sheehi of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. Photo: X/Twitter.
George Washington University psychology professor Lara Sheehi, who was accused of verbally abusing and discriminating against her Jewish graduate students, has left the school and accepted a job at an institution based in Qatar, according to a correspondence obtained by The Algemeiner.
7. Chanel, Tory Burch, Others in Fashion Donate to Help Israelis Impacted by Hamas War
Tourists shop for goods at a CHANEL store at China Duty Free Group’s (CDF) Sanya International Duty Free City in Sanya, Hainan Province, China, Aug 28, 2023. Photo: CFOTO via Reuters Connect
Several fashion brands and their parent companies have announced that they are making donations to help provide humanitarian aid to Israeli victims of Hamas atrocities following the Palestinian terror group’s infiltration of Israel on Oct. 7.
Mob of anti-Zionists attempting to infiltrate event with Ran Bar-Yoshafat at University of California, Berkeley on February 27, 2024. Photo: Screenshot/Twitter
A mob of hundreds pro-Palestinian students and non-students shut down an event at the University of California, Berkeley featuring an Israeli soldier, forcing Jewish students to flee to a secret safe room as the protestors overwhelmed campus police.
9. Prominent Pro-Hamas Activist in Australia Arrested on Kidnapping and Torture Charges
Australian pro-Hamas activist Laura Allam. Photo: XTwitter
Australian police announced the arrest of a prominent pro-Hamas advocate accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and torture of a man whose perceived offense was to work for a Jewish employer.
10. ‘You Corrupt the World!’ Jewish Man Wearing Kippah Assaulted in Washington, DC
The suspect who was arrested for allegedly assaulting a Jewish man in Washington, DC on June 10, 2024 going on a tirade after he was restrained. Photo: Screenshot from video taken by the victim, Ariel Golfeyz, and provided to The Algemeiner.
A Jewish man wearing a kippah was assaulted in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, DC in what police are investigating as a hate crime.
The post The Algemeiner’s Top 10 Most-Read News Stories of 2024 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Pushes to Expand Ties With Cuba as Both Countries Seek to Counter US Sanctions
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, in Tehran, Iran, Dec. 4, 2023. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
One of Iran’s top foreign policy priorities will be working to enhance its relationship with Cuba across several domains, according to a senior adviser to the Iranian health minister.
Ali Jafarian also explained during a coordination meeting of the 19th Iran-Cuba Joint Commission in Tehran on Tuesday that Iran’s Islamist regime has made it a central focus to expand cooperation with Latin American countries more broadly, Iranian state-run media reported.
The meeting came as both countries continued looking for ways to combat US sanctions, which are only expected to become more harsh on both Tehran and Havana when US President-elect Donald Trump enters office on Jan. 20.
Jafarian said that a comprehensive 10-year strategic plan between Iran and Cuba should serve as the foundation for all documents related to the 19th Commission on Iran-Cuba Economic Cooperation, which is scheduled to take place in Havana in February.
During Tuesday’s gathering, Mohammad Hossein Niknam, the director-general of international cooperation at the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said that, despite being thousands of miles apart, Iran and Cuba have long supported each other and are committed to strengthening their economic relations.
Iranian Ambassador to Cuba Mohammad Hadi Sobhani said during a virtual appearance that, beyond economic matters, the 19th Iran-Cuba Joint Commission will also allow the two countries to expand political cooperation.
Iran and Cuba have taken several steps to grow closer over the past year, motivated in large part by a joint opposition to the United States
Last December, both countries vowed to strengthen relations and stand together against sanctions imposed on them by Washington.
“What can neutralize the sanctions is the exchange of capacities between the two countries,” then-Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said during a joint statement with his visiting Cuban counterpart, Miguel Diaz-Canel.
“There is a serious determination between the two countries to develop relations,” Raisi said, adding that “the common feature of the two countries is that they both stand against the system of domination.”
That meeting came months after both leaders met in Havana and each said their countries faced similar situations and had to confront “Yankee imperialism and its allies with a tenacious resistance.”
Cuba has been under a US embargo since 1962 and is included on Washington’s list of countries supporting terrorism — like Iran, which is also subject to severe sanctions. Earlier this year, the US also removed Cuba from a short list of countries that it alleges are “not cooperating fully” in its fight against terrorism.
It’s unclear if Iran will end up pursuing a relationship with Cuba to resist US sanctions in a formalized way as it has with Russia.
Iranian and Russian leaders have been working on an initiative to form an international alliance against US sanctions known as the International Union Against US Sanctions. An Iranian lawmaker spearheading the effort said earlier this month that it will soon be completed.
Beyond shared hostility toward the US, Iran and Cuba have also taken several steps to expand their economic relationship. In April, for example, they established a twinning relationship between two major ports in each country to facilitate shipping and trade.
The post Iran Pushes to Expand Ties With Cuba as Both Countries Seek to Counter US Sanctions first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese Calls for Medical Professionals to Cut Ties With Israel
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The United Nations’ special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories has called on all medical professionals to cut ties with Israel, accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide” and unfairly detaining Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya.
“I urge medical professionals worldwide to pursue the severance of all ties with Israel as a concrete way to forcefully denounce Israel’s full destruction of the Palestinian healthcare system in Gaza, a critical tool of its ongoing genocide,” Francesca Albanese wrote on X/Twitter on Monday.
The post came after Israel last week arrested Safiya and several other people while conducting a raid on the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, where the Israeli military is fighting Hamas terrorists. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it arrested Safiya because he was “suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative.” The IDF also insisted that the hospital has been used as a “command and control center” for the Palestinian terrorist group.
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), an allied terrorist group in Gaza, have extensive histories of using hospitals — as well as schools, apartment buildings, and other forms of civilian infrastructure in Gaza — as bases for storing weapons and planning and conducting attacks. A PIJ spokesman in April confessed that terrorists have taken over all of the hospitals in Gaza, using the medical facilities to hide military activities and launch attacks.
Israel has reportedly relocated Safiya to a detention facility for further investigation into his purported ties to the Hamas terrorist group.
Albanese’s comments came amid a surge of antisemitism directed at Jewish health-care professionals in the West. In the year following Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7, about 75 percent of Jewish health workers and students have been subjected to antisemitism, according to a recent study in the peer-reviewed Journal of Religion and Health.
A separate recent study conducted by the Data & Analytics Department of StandWithUs, a Jewish civil rights group, found that nearly 40 percent of Jewish American health-care professionals have encountered antisemitism in the workplace.
That study followed a similar one published in Canada earlier this month, in which Jewish doctors reported being chased not only out of the field of medicine but also out of the country. Commissioned by the Jewish Medical Association of Ontario (JMAO), the survey found that 80 percent of Jewish medical workers who responded to it “have faced antisemitism at work” since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre and that 31 percent of Jewish doctors — 98 percent of whom “are worried about the impact of antisemitism on health care” — have weighed emigrating from Canada to another country.
Earlier this month, members of the US Congress raised alarm bells about growing antisemitism in the medical field.
“That’s truly scary; the idea that somehow your religious background or your identity would inform or impact the type of care that you get is not only antisemitic, it’s not only anti-American, it is anti-democratic,” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) said during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
Albanese has an extensive history of using her role at the UN to denigrate Israel and seemingly rationalize Hamas’s attacks on the Jewish state. In the months following the Oct. 7 atrocities, Albanese has accused Israel of enacting a “genocide” against the Palestinian people in revenge for the attacks and circulated a widely derided and heavily disputed report alleging that 186,000 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli actions.
The United Nations launched a probe into Albanese over the summer for allegedly accepting a trip to Australia funded by pro-Hamas organizations. She has also celebrated the anti-Israel protesters rampaging across US college campuses, saying they represent a “revolution” and that they give her “hope.”
The post UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese Calls for Medical Professionals to Cut Ties With Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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