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Jewish Civil Rights Group Hold ‘Emergency Rally’ Outside NYC Department of Education
Protesters gathered at CUNY Chancellor Felix V. Matos Rodriguez’s office under the mantra ‘End Jew Hatred’ to protest growing antisemitism within CUNY and their campuses on Sept. 12, 2023. Photo by Meir Chaimowitz/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
Jewish civil rights nonprofit End Jew Hatred (EJH) held an “emergency rally” outside the New York City Department of Education (DOE) on Wednesday to call for eradicating antisemitism in public schools.
Organized in partnership with New York City Public School Alliance — which describes itself as an advocacy group — the demonstration follows a series of disturbing incidents and expressions of pro-Hamas sentiment on New York City public school campuses since Oct. 7, including pro-Hamas walkouts led by teachers, mass demonstrations in which students screamed “globalize the intifada,” and the mobbing of a teacher who posted pro-Israel content on social media, which resulted in her hiding in an office.
The groups are urging New York City Public School Chancellor David Banks to protect Jewish and pro-Israel staff by increasing Jewish representation in the DOE, monitoring educational content that contributes to delegitimizing Israel and Zionism, and adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism — a tool used by hundreds of governing institutions, including the US State Department, European Union, and the United Nations and supported by lawmakers across the political spectrum.
“Chancellor Banks has failed to act on rising Jew-hatred across the NYC public school system,” Adar Rubin, EJH director of mobilization, said in a press release issued on Wednesday. “We need understanding for the unique trauma experienced by Jewish students and teachers, and immediate action to address antisemitism in a manner that embraces and supports Jewish identity in all its forms, including indigeneity to Israel and the Middle East.”
According to the New York Post, the New York City Department of Education (DOE) announced last Monday new policies for addressing “Islamophobia, antisemitism, or any other form of bigotry” as well as empowering school administrators to discipline students who commit acts of harassment and intimidation, which New York City Schools have been restrained from doing since the Obama administration, when progressives in the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) began launching civil rights investigations against public schools that suspended disruptive and violent students, a measure they accused of perpetuating racism.
“We cannot and we will not have schools where students feel like they can do whatever they want without accountability for their actions,” Banks said last Monday during a press conference about the reforms. “That is no way to run a school system, and we will not allow that to happen, certainly not on my watch.”
Under the Biden administration, New York City’s DOE is being investigated for ignoring antisemitism, in contravention of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Jewish Civil Rights Group Hold ‘Emergency Rally’ Outside NYC Department of Education first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters
Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) filed a lawsuit challenging as unconstitutional the Trump administration’s actions to deport international students and scholars who protest or express support for Palestinian rights.
The lawsuit, filed on Saturday in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York, seeks a nationwide temporary restraining order to block enforcement of two executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump in the first month of his term.
The lawsuit comes after the detention of a Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent US resident of Palestinian descent, whose arrest sparked protests this month.
Justice Department lawyers have argued that the US government is seeking Khalil’s removal because Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reasonable grounds to believe his activities or presence in the country could have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” Rubio on Friday said the United States will likely revoke visas of more students in the coming days.
Trump vowed to deport activists who took part in protests on US college campuses against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza following the October 2023 attack by the Palestinian terrorists.
The ADC lawsuit was filed on behalf of two graduate students and a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who say their activism and support of the Palestinian people “has put them at serious risk of political persecution.”
“This lawsuit is a necessary step to preserve our most fundamental constitutional protections. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech and expression to all persons within the United States, without exception,” said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the ADC.
Chris Godshall-Bennett, the group’s legal director, said the litigation seeks immediate and long-term relief “to protect international students from any unconstitutional overreach that stifles free expression and deters them from fully engaging in academic and public discourse.”
The lawsuit centers on three Cornell University plaintiffs: a British-Gambian national and PhD student with a student visa; a US citizen PhD student working on plant science; and a US citizen novelist, poet, and professor in the Department of Literatures in English.
The post Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week
Israel’s Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar speaks at Reichman University in Herzliya on Sunday, September 11, 2022. Photo: Screenshot
i24 News – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet security agency, that he will bring a vote before his government to dismiss him next week.
The post Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes
Newly recruited fighters who joined a Houthi military force intended to be sent to fight in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, march during a parade in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Houthis claimed on Sunday that they targeted the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and other vessels in the northern Red Sea with 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that the US-led attacks against the Houthis on Saturday comprised of more than 47 airstrikes on seven governorates, with the death toll expected to rise.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red Sea and in the Arabian Sea in retaliation to the aggression against our country,” Saree said, vowing the Houthis “will continue to impose a naval blockade on the Israeli enemy and ban its ships in the declared zone of operations until aid and basic needs are delivered to the Gaza Strip.”
The post Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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