Students listen to a speech at a protest encampment in support of Palestinians at Stanford University during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, in Stanford, California US, April 26, 2024. Photo: Carlos Barria via Reuters Connect.

Twelve Stanford University students have been charged with felony vandalism and conspiracy to trespass for their role in the takeover of an administrative building during the final days of the 2023-2024 academic year, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced on Thursday.

“Dissent is American. Vandalism is criminal,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “There is a bright line between making a point and committing a crime. These defendants crossed the line into criminality when they broke into those offices, barricaded themselves inside, and started a calculated plan of destruction.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, on June 5, 2024, pro-Hamas activists associated with the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) raided then-president Richard Saller’s office, locking themselves inside using, the Stanford Daily reported at the time, “bike locks, chains, ladders, and chairs.” The incident was part of a larger pro-Hamas demonstration in which SJP demanded that the university adopt the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as the first step to its eventual elimination.

Inside the building, the protesters proceeded to graffiti “kill cops” and “De@th 2 Is@hell” on school property.

“In addition to damage done inside the building, protesters committed extensive graffiti vandalism on the sandstone buildings and columns of the Main Quad this morning,” provost Jenny Martinez said following the incident. “This graffiti conveys vile and hateful sentiments that we condemn in the strongest terms. Whether the graffiti was created by members of the Stanford community or outsiders, we expect that the vast majority of our community joins us in rejecting this assault on our campus.”

The students — originally called the “Stanford Thirteen” to include the arrest of a Stanford Daily reporter who no longer faces criminal charges for being present during the alleged criminal conduct to cover it as a news story — face some of the toughest sanctions imposed on anti-Israel protesters who, beginning in April 2024, commandeered sections of their campuses across the US and refused to leave unless school administrators adopted the BDS movement. In addition to being criminally charged, eight of the 12 were suspended by the university for what was allegedly a premeditated operation.

“Multiple cell phones were recovered from the arrestees,” the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said in a press release. “A review of the cell phone data resulted in detailed communication about the planning and commission of the conspiracy, including encrypted text-messages and links to detailed operational plans. The communication indicated the suspects met on multiple occasions, days in advance, to conspire to take over the building.”

Santa Clara County added that a “DO-IT-YOURSELF OCCUPATION GUIDE [sic]” containing seditious material was retrieved from the students’ cellphones as well. The guide said: “Vandalism? Occupying a space removes the space from the capitalist landscape. A group may decide it is better to destroy or vandalize a space than return it to its usual role in good condition. The role of vandalism may be different in each situation, but it should not be disowned outright.”

Stanford University itself faces a federal investigation, as it is one of 60 colleges and universities identified by the Trump administration as an institution that responded inadequately to antisemitic incidents that occurred on the campus.

Prior to the 2024 protests it was the site of a slew of antisemitic incidents. A swastika was etched into a metal panel of a bathroom, a student’s mezuzah was desecrated, and weeks before, a Jewish student found an image of Adolf Hitler and swastikas on their door. In other incidents, someone graffitied swastikas, the n-word, and “KKK” in a mens bathroom and a Stanford University student was photographed reading Hitler’s memoir. Responding to concerns that antisemitic sentiment at the university had reached crisis levels, Stanford created an advisory to task force composed of faculty and staff who proposed measures for improving Jewish life on campus and reducing antisemitism.

US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s March announcement of the college investigations indicate that Trump administration officials do not feel the school has done enough to address the problem.

“The department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite US campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year,” McMahon said in a statement. “US colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by US taxpayers. That support is a privilege, and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Felony Charges Filed Against Pro-Hamas Protesters Over Stanford University Break-In first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

People protest the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, across the entrance to Yale, prior to commencement at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, US, May 20, 2024. Photo: Michelle McLoughlin via Reuters Connect.

Yale University has quietly adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, according to a new investigative report by the Yale Daily News, the school’s official campus newspaper.

IHRA — an intergovernmental organization comprising dozens of countries including the US — adopted a “working definition” of antisemitism in 2016. Since then, the definition has been widely accepted by Jewish groups and lawmakers across the political spectrum as a reference tool which helps policymakers determine what constitutes an incident of antisemitism, and it is now used by hundreds of governing institutions, including the US State Department, European Union, and United Nations.

According to the definition, antisemitism “is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” It provides 11 specific, contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere. Beyond classic antisemitic behavior associated with the likes of the medieval period and Nazi Germany, the examples include denial of the Holocaust and newer forms of antisemitism targeting Israel such as demonizing the Jewish state, denying its right to exist, and holding it to standards not expected of any other democratic state.

Yale University apparently enacted the policy change following the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, the News said, noting that an archived webpage containing the section of the disciplinary code to which the definition was added shows a revision date of March 28. The paper added that the university never formally announced its adoption of what would have been a highly acclaimed move in some circles and a deplored one in others. Jewish civil rights groups such as the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) and Anti-Defamation League (ADL) encourage the definition’s adoption, as well as codification in law, while others argue it weaponizes the American people’s abhorrence of antisemitism to censor criticism of Israel — an accusation its advocates regard as a slander.

Writing to the Yale Daily News, Yale University officials downplayed the significance of the measure, saying it is “not intended to infringe free speech or the free expression of ideas” and even denying that the school holds “a separate definition” of antisemitism.” The Algemeiner has asked the university to clear up the matter. This article will be updated accordingly.

Yale became a hub of anti-Israel activism last academic year, with protesters demanding that the school boycott the Jewish state.

In other higher education news, Brown University recently reconstituted its anti-discrimination trainings to comply with a July 2024 settlement negotiated with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, The Brown Daily Herald reported on Tuesday. “Brown’s response to reports of discrimination and harassment” will be upgraded by the new trainings, the university’s executive vice president for planning and policy, Russell Carey, told the paper. Spokesperson Brian Clark, volunteering information Carey declined to disclose, confirmed that they will address “antisemitism.”

Brown was accused in 2023 of responding inadequately to a number of antisemitic incidents, including a Jewish student being called a “Zionist pig Jew” in a complaint filed by the editorial board of the conservative higher education news outlet Campus Reform. Following its agreement with OCR, the university denied violating civil rights laws, stressing that the allegations which prompted the federal government to investigate it were lodged by an organization “who has no affiliation with Brown or presence on its campus.”

Writing in a press release, it continued: “Many of the required actions outlined in the resolution agreement are underway and previously announced by the university … In some cases, the university agreed to further enhance and clarify its existing policies and procedures. In other cases, the university agreed to expand previously announced efforts, such as broadening the scope of training on nondiscrimination and harassment.”

The reforms may have come too late. As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the Trump administration plans to terminate $510 million worth of federal contracts and grants awarded to Brown University — an institution that is already struggling to cover a $46 million budget shortfall.

The university’s alleged failure to mount a response to the campus antisemitism crisis, as well as its embrace of the diversity, equity, and, inclusion (DEI) movement — perceived by many across the political spectrum as an assault on merit-based upward mobility and causing incidents of anti-White and anti-Asian discrimination — prompted the alleged pending action by the federal government, according to the right-leaning outlet The Daily Caller, which first reported the news last week.

Brown’s Jewish community has since come to the university’s defense, issuing a joint statement with the Brown Corporation which said that the campus is “peaceful and supportive campus for its Jewish community.”

The letter, signed by members of the local Hillel International chapter and Chabad on College Hill, continued: “Brown University is a place where Jewish life not only exists but thrives. While there is more work to be done, Brown, through the dedicated efforts of its administration, leadership, and resilient spirit of its Jewish community, continues to uphold the principles of inclusion, tolerance, and intellectual freedom that have been central to its identity since 1764.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Yale Adopts IHRA Definition, Brown Launches New Training Program Amid Trump Campus Antisemitism Crackdown first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference in Paris, France, June 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

Israeli and French Jewish leaders sharply criticized French President Emmanuel Macron for saying that France is making plans to recognize a Palestinian state and could do so as early as June.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned France’s announcement, stating that such a move would only reward terrorism.

“A ‘unilateral recognition’ of a fictional Palestinian state, by any country, in the reality that we all know, will be a prize for terror and a boost for Hamas,” Saar wrote in a post on X, referring to the Palestinian terrorist group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades.

“These kinds of actions will not bring peace, security, and stability in our region closer — but the opposite: they only push them further away,” Israel’s top diplomat added.

A “unilateral recognition” of a fictional Palestinian state, by any country, in the reality that we all know, will be a prize for terror and a boost for Hamas.
These kind of actions will not bring peace, security and stability in our region closer – but the opposite: they only…

— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) April 9, 2025

On Wednesday, Macron revealed that France could recognize a Palestinian state within the next two months at a United Nations conference in June, co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, focused on a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while suggesting that other nations may join the effort.

“We must take the path of recognition [of the Palestinian state],” Macron told France 5 television. “So that’s what we’re gonna do in the coming months.”

He continued, “Our aim is to chair this conference with Saudi Arabia in June, where we could finalize this movement of mutual recognition [of a Palestinian state] by several parties.”

During the interview, Macron stated that recognizing a Palestinian state would allow France “to be clear in our fight against those who deny Israel’s right to exist — which is the case with Iran — and to commit ourselves to collective security in the region.”

“I won’t do it for unity or in order to please someone. I’ll do it because I think that at some point it would be fair,” the French leader said. “And also, because I want to take part in a collective dynamic, one that allows everyone who defends Palestine to also recognize Israel.”

Macron’s comments came after he traveled earlier this week to Cairo for talks with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II at a trilateral summit focused on the situation in Gaza and other regional developments.

Beyond Israel, the Jewish community in France also lambasted Macron for his comments.

The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), the main representative body of French Jews, also condemned Macron’s decision, stating that “the path to a just and lasting peace begins with the unconditional release of hostages and the surrender of Hamas.”

“Announcing today that France will soon recognize a Palestinian state while 59 hostages are still held in Gaza allows Hamas to claim an unacceptable political victory,” CRIF wrote in a post on X.

“How can we consider recognizing a state when part of its territory is controlled by a terrorist organization? The current war began with the massacre of over 1,200 people, including 50 French citizens, on Oct. 7, 2023, which you [President Macron] described as ‘the largest antisemitic massacre of the 21st century,’” the post read.

“Supporting the Palestinian people means, first and foremost, freeing them from Hamas, which has led the civilian population into the tragic misery of war,” CRIF continued. “The conditions are not yet in place to recognize a Palestinian state.”

Monsieur le Président de la République,

Annoncer aujourd’hui que la France reconnaîtra prochainement un Etat palestinien alors que 59 otages sont encore retenus à Gaza, c’est permettre au Hamas de clamer une inacceptable victoire politique.

Comment peut-on envisager reconnaître…

— CRIF (@Le_CRIF) April 10, 2025

Hamas welcomed Macron’s comments as a positive development.

“We welcome the statements made by French President Emmanuel Macron regarding his country’s readiness to recognize the State of Palestine,” Hamas official Mahmud Mardawi told AFP. He added that the announcement was “an important step that, if implemented, would constitute a positive shift in the international position towards the legitimate national rights of our Palestinian people.”

Last year, Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Slovenia recognized a Palestinian state, claiming that such a move would contribute to fostering a two-state solution and promote lasting peace in the region.

At the time, Israel condemned the decision as an “incitement to genocide” against the Jewish people. France said that “the conditions have yet been met for this decision to have a real impact on this process,” indicating support for such a move at a later date.

Out of the 27 total European Union member states, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden have also recognized a Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, Germany, Portugal, and the UK have all stated that the time is not right for recognizing a Palestinian state.

The post Israeli, French Jewish Leaders Slam Macron for Saying France Could Recognize Palestinian State in June first appeared on Algemeiner.com.