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Israel’s President Tells Jews to ‘Stand Strong’ Amid Rising Antisemitism, Says Campuses ‘Contaminated by Hatred’
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog delivers a speech during a tribute ceremony at the Halle aux Grains in Toulouse, southern France, on March 20, 2022. Photo: Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has released an impassioned message of support to Jewish communities around the world ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day next week and amid an eruption of anti-Israel protests on university campuses in the US and elsewhere.
In remarks published on X/Twitter on Thursday, Herzog urged Jews in the diaspora to stand strong and united despite a steep rise in global antisemitism following the Hamas terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
“The people of Israel are with you,” he said. “We hear you. We see the shameless hostility and threats. We feel the insult, the breach of faith and breach of friendship. We share the apprehension and concern.”
To our sisters and brothers around the world: The people of Israel hear you. The people of Israel stand with you. Do not fear. Stand strong. Together we will overcome.
Watch my special message to Jewish communities and supporters of Israel all around the world. pic.twitter.com/ahRyfZ44VH
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) May 2, 2024
Herzog then turned his attention to the university protests that have engulfed campuses in the US, Canada, Europe, and other parts of the world.
“We see prominent academic institutions, halls of history, culture, and education contaminated by hatred and antisemitism fueled by arrogance and ignorance, and driven by moral failings and disinformation,” the Israeli president said. “We watch in horror as the atrocities of Oct. 7 against Israel are celebrated and justified. We hear you. We recognize your heroic efforts. We are with you, and we are here for you.”
For the past two weeks, college students have been amassing in the hundreds at a growing number of schools, taking over sections of campuses by setting up “Gaza Solidarity Encampments” and refusing to leave unless administrators condemn and boycott Israel. Footage of the protests has shown demonstrators chanting in support of Hamas, calling for the destruction of Israel, and even threatening to harm members of the Jewish community on campus. In many cases, activists have also lambasted the US and Western civilization more broadly.
The protests initially erupted across the US but have since spread to university campuses around the world, primarily in the West.
“In the face of violence, harassment, and intimidation, as masked cowards smash windows and smash doors, as they attack the truth and manipulate history, together, we stand strong,” Herzog asserted. “As they chant for intifada and genocide, we will work together to free our hostages held by Hamas, and fight for civil liberties of the entire free world and our right to believe and belong, for the right to live proudly, peacefully and securely, as Jews, as Israelis — anywhere.”
Herzog noted that Jews around the world will be commemorating Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, on Monday, adding that Israel, the world’s lone Jewish state, offers the Jewish people hope in the face of surging antisemitism.
“We will speak of the dark times of the past, and we will remember the miracle of our rebirth: in our ancient homeland, the Jewish, democratic State of Israel, and throughout the Jewish world,” he said.
“Together, we shall overcome, Herzog continued. “In the face of this terrifying resurgence of antisemitism: Do not fear. Stand proud. Stand strong for your freedom.”
Herzog’s comments came about two weeks after the Anti-Defamation League released a report showing antisemitic incidents in the US rose 140 percent last year, reaching a record high. Most of the outrages occurred after Oct. 7, during the ensuing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
On college campuses specifically, the ADL report found that antisemitic incidents rose 321 percent, disrupting the studies of Jewish students and leaving them uncertain about the fate of the American Jewish community.
Meanwhile, antisemitic incidents have also skyrocketed to record highs in several other countries around the world, especially in Europe, since the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.
The post Israel’s President Tells Jews to ‘Stand Strong’ Amid Rising Antisemitism, Says Campuses ‘Contaminated by Hatred’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Widespread Protests Held in Australia to Support Palestinians
Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in the ‘Nationwide March for Palestine’ protest in Sydney, Australia, August 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Thousands of Australians joined pro-Palestinian rallies on Sunday, organizers said, amid strained relations between Israel and Australia following the center-left government’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state.
More than 40 protests took place across Australia on Sunday, Palestine Action Group said, including large turnouts in state capitals Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. The group said around 350,000 attended the rallies nationwide, including around 50,000 in Brisbane, though police estimated the numbers there at closer to 10,000. Police did not have estimates for crowd sizes in Sydney and Melbourne.
In Sydney, organizer Josh Lees said Australians were out in force to “demand an end to this genocide in Gaza and to demand that our government sanction Israel” as rallygoers, many with Palestinian flags, chanted “free, free Palestine.”
Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the umbrella group for Australia’s Jews, told Sky New television that the rallies created “an unsafe environment and shouldn’t be happening.”
The protests follow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week stepping up his personal attacks on his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese over his government’s decision this month to recognize a Palestinian state.
Diplomatic ties between Australia and Israel soured after Albanese’s Labor government said it would conditionally recognize Palestinian statehood, following similar moves by France, Britain and Canada.
The August 11 announcement came days after tens of thousands of people marched across Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge, calling for peace and aid deliveries to Gaza, where Israel began an offensive nearly two years ago after the Hamas militant group launched a deadly cross-border attack.
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US Envoy Meets Netanyahu on Lebanon and Syria, Israeli Officials Say
US Ambassador to Turkey and US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack speaks after meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in Beirut, Lebanon July 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Top US envoy Thomas Barrack arrived in Israel on Sunday and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Syria and Lebanon, three Israeli officials said.
The meeting was first reported by Axios, citing three Israeli and US sources, and followed discussions between Barrack and Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Dermer held talks with Syria’s foreign minister Asaad al-Shibani in Paris on Tuesday on security arrangements in southern Syria, two Syrian sources familiar with the meeting said.
Syrian and Israeli officials have been conducting US-mediated talks on de-escalating conflict in southern Syria. A previous round of talks was held in Paris in late July but ended without a final accord.
On Monday, Barrack said in Lebanon that Israel should comply with a plan under which Lebanese militant group Hezbollah would be disarmed by the end of the year in exchange for a halt to Israel’s military operations in Lebanon.
The plan sets out a phased roadmap for terrorist groups to hand in their arsenals as Israel’s military halts ground, air and sea operations and withdraws troops from Lebanon’s south.
Lebanon’s cabinet approved the plan’s objectives earlier this month despite Hezbollah’s refusal to disarm, and Barrack said it was now Israel’s turn to cooperate.
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office.
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Israel Strikes Yemeni Capital Sanaa
Smoke billows from the site of Israeli air strikes in Sanaa, Yemen, August 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
Israeli strikes hit the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday in retaliation for Houthi missiles fired towards Israel, with Houthi media saying the attack killed at least two people and injured five.
The strikes are the latest in over a year of direct attacks and counterstrikes between Israel and Houthi militants in Yemen, part of a spillover from the war in Gaza.
The Israeli military said the targets included a military compound housing the presidential palace, two power plants and a fuel storage site. The Houthi-controlled Saba news agency said the strikes killed at least two people and injured five.
“The strikes were conducted in response to repeated attacks by the Houthi terrorist regime against the State of Israel and its civilians, including the launching of surface-to-surface missiles and UAVs toward Israeli territory in recent days,” the military said in statement.
On Friday, the Houthis said they had fired a ballistic missile towards Israel in their latest attack, which they said was in support of Palestinians in Gaza. An Israeli Air Force official said on Sunday the missile most likely carried several sub-munitions “intended to be detonated upon impact.”
“This is the first time that this kind of missile has been launched from Yemen,” the official said.
Since Israel’s war in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group Hamas began in October 2023, the Iran-aligned Houthis have attacked vessels in the Red Sea in what they describe as acts of solidarity with the Palestinians.
They have also frequently fired missiles towards Israel, most of which have been intercepted. Israel has responded with strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, including the vital Hodeidah port.
Abdul Qader al-Murtada, a senior Houthi official, said on Sunday the Houthis, who control much of Yemen’s population, would continue to act in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
“(Israel) must know that we will not abandon our brothers in Gaza, whatever the sacrifices,” he said on X.