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Jewish Groups Slam Major Body of University Professors Over Anti-Israel Event

Pro-Hamas protesters during  Yale University’s commencement ceremony, in New Haven, Connecticut, US, May 20, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Michelle McLoughlin

A cohort of Jewish civil rights and nonprofit groups issued on Thursday a joint letter expressing concerns about the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) holding a webinar which promoted false claims about Israel’s conduct in the war with Hamas in Gaza.

Titled “Scholasticide in Palestine,” the virtual event held on Thursday accused Israel of “scholasticide” and “exterminationist” tactics of war. Such accusations cite damages sustained by education institutions and loss of life in Gaza, but rather than describing those misfortunes as inevitable consequences of a protracted war that Hamas started by launching a surprise massacre of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023, those leading the AAUP event argued that Israel’s aim was to murder educators and erase Palestinian history and culture.

Thursday’s letter — signed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Academic Engagement Network (AEN), American Jewish Committee (AJC), Hillel International, and the Jewish Federations of North America — said that presenting such a biased portrayal of Israel without allowing for an opposing viewpoint was destructive and undermining of the AAUP’s mission to promote scholarship which fosters enlightenment and truth.

“While we fully support academic freedom, open inquiry, and the right to discuss a range of complex geopolitical issues, we are troubled by the framing of and publicity surrounding this event, which promotes a one sided narrative demonizing Israel, and perpetuates falsehoods that have no place within a scholarly association,” the letter said, noting that “there is no evidence of any intent by Israel to ‘systematically destroy’ the education system in Gaza or elsewhere.”

After proceeding to criticize the event for not including a discussion of the deadly Oct. 7 massacre which precipitated the war, the letter went on to argue that it alienated Jewish AAUP members and ultimately damaged the organization’s stature.

“The credibility and reputation of an academic association are built on its ability to support nuanced, principled, and evidence-based discourse,” the letter continued. “The endorsement of highly contested terms like ‘scholasticide’ can erode this credibility, as it suggests a departure from the association’s responsibility to uphold rigorous academic standards. Such framing not only risks alienating members of the academic community but also diminishes the organization’s standing as a reliable and trustworthy source of scholarly dialogue.”

The AAUP has not responded to The Algemeiner’s request for comment for this story.

The “Scholasticide in Palestine” event is not the first time the AAUP has promoted anti-Israel bias.

In August 2024, it issued a statement in support of academic boycotts, a seismic decision which reversed decades of policy and cleared the way for scholar activists to escalate their efforts to purge the university of Zionism and educational partnerships with Israel.

Coming amid a bitter debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on college campuses and Israel’s war to eradicate Hamas from the Gaza Strip, the statement did not mention the Jewish state specifically, but its countenancing the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement was made clear, according to Jewish and pro-Israel leaders, by a section of the statement which said that boycotts “can legitimately seek to protect and advance the academic freedom and fundamental rights of colleagues and students who are living and working under circumstances that violate that freedom and one or more of those rights.”

Founded in 1915 by John Dewey and Arthur Oncken Lovejoy, the AAUP has over 370,000 members from higher education institutions across the US. Once regarded as a guardrail preventing the politicization of higher education, it has in recent years been disparaged — by nonprofits such as the National Association of Scholars (NAS), for example — for allegedly becoming a partisan advocacy group for the far left.

Following Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, two and a half weeks passed before the AAUP commented on the ensuing conflict between Israel and Hamas, and when it did, the group said nothing about the Palestinian terrorist group’s atrocities, instead discussing the importance of academic freedom. At the time, dozens of professors were denounced for cheering Hamas’s violence and encouraging extreme anti-Zionist demonstrations in which masses of students and faculty called for the elimination of the Jewish state “from the river to the sea,” which is widely considered a call for genocide.

The organization’s behavior is troubling, ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in statement shared with The Algemeiner on Friday.

“We are very concerned that AAUP, whose stated mission includes representing all academics and ensuring ‘higher education’s contribution to the common good’ continues to act in ways that demonize Israel, marginalize Jewish and Israeli members, and promote policies and events that portray a one-sided, politicized view of complex issues.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Jewish Groups Slam Major Body of University Professors Over Anti-Israel Event 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.

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