Columbia University has agreed to pay over $200 million to settle claims that it exposed Jewish students, faculty, and staff to antisemitic discrimination and harassment — a deal which secures the release of billions of dollars the Trump administration impounded to pressure the institution to address the issue.

“With the agreement, our access to billions of dollars in federal research funding will resume. Terminated grants will be reinstated and our faculty will become eligible again for future grants, as well as continuations of existing grants will be reinstated,” acting Columbia president Claire Shipman said in a statement issued on Wednesday, noting that the university will also pay $21 million to “settle investigations involving the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.”

US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon commented on the agreement as well, saying it is a “seismic shift in our nation’s fight to hold institutions that accept American taxpayer dollars accountable for antisemitic discrimination and harassment.”

Claiming a generational achievement for the conservative movement, which has argued for years that progressive bias in higher education is the cause of anti-Zionist antisemitism on college campuses, she added that Columbia has agreed to “discipline student offenders for severe disruptions of campus operations” and “eliminate race preferences from their hiring and mission practicers, and [diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI] programs that distribute benefits and advantages based on race” — which, if true, could mark the opening of a new era in American higher education.

“Columbia’s reforms are a roadmap for elite universities that wish to retain the confidence of the American public by renting their commitment to truth-seeking, merit, and civil debate,” McMahon continued. “I believe they will ripple across the higher education sector and change the course of campus culture for years to come.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the Trump administration canceled $400 million in funding for Columbia University in March.

At the time, it remained one of the most hostile campuses for Jewish and pro-Israel students in the US. Since Oct. 7, 2023, it has produced several indelible examples of campus antisemitism, including a student who proclaimed that Zionist Jews deserve to be murdered and are lucky he is not doing so himself, brutal gang-assaults on Jewish students, and administrative officials who, outraged at the notion that Jews organized to resist anti-Zionism, participated in a group chat in which each member took turns sharing antisemitic tropes that described Jews as privileged and grafting.

Amid these incidents, the university struggled to contain a group which calls itself Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which in late January committed infrastructural sabotage by flooding the toilets of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) with concrete. Numerous reports indicate the attack may have been the premeditated result of planning sessions which took place many months ago at an event held by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP) — a literary society, according to the Washington Free Beacon. During the event, ADP reportedly distributed literature dedicated to “aspiring revolutionaries” who wish to commit seditious acts. Additionally, a presentation was given in which complete instructions for the exact kind of attack which struck Columbia were shared with students.

Just days before announcing Wednesday’s agreement, Columbia University imposed severe disciplinary sanctions — including degree revocation — on upwards of 70 students who perpetrated an illegal seizure of campus property during the final weeks of the 2024-2025 academic year and refused to surrender it unless school officials acceded to a list of five demands which, among other things, called for a boycott of Israel and divestment from armaments manufacturers.

As reported by the New York Post on Tuesday, a school official told the paper that Columbia on Monday expelled a “handful” of students and suspended “dozens” of others who stormed and occupied Butler Library on May 7, an action which resulted in two Columbia private security officers being assaulted when a crush of students attempted to breach a human barrier they had formed to prevent additional protesters from joining, and thereby strengthening, the demonstration.

Without stating the number of punishments meted out to the students, Columbia confirmed the main contention of the Post’s reporting — while announcing one disciplinary measure, degree revocation, to which it was not privy — on Tuesday in an unsigned statement.

“The sanctions issued on July 21 by the University Judicial Board were determined by a UJB panel of professors and administrators who worked diligently over the summer to offer an outcome for each individual based on the findings of their case and prior disciplinary outcomes,” the university said, stressing that the punishments resulted from a consensus reached by officials representing every level of the university. “While the university does not release individual disciplinary results of any student, the sanctions from Butler Library include probation, suspensions (ranging from one year to three years), degree revocations, and expulsions.”

On Thursday, Asaf Romirowsky, an expert on the Middle East and executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, told The Algemeiner that Columbia, and higher education as a whole, has more to do to reform its campus culture.

“Columbia University finally took some action that may look a bit like justice. However, the real issue is changes to hiring and tenure procedures, and shared governance which give faculty terror supporters a voice, and without that this is mostly optics,” Romirowsky said. “Most fundamentally, the US desperately needs to reevaluate what a university is and what it is for. Five decades of universities striving for relevance has had the effect of politicizing the humanities and social sciences. But as faculties have become politically monolithic, students interested in exploring traditions and themselves have been alienated, causing a feedback loop of shrinking disciplines and intensifying politics.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Columbia University Settles Antisemitism Claims for $200 Million, Pledges Reforms first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

A group of 50 French Jewish students was forcibly removed from a plane in Valencia, Spain on Wednesday evening — reportedly for singing in Hebrew — in an incident that led to the arrest of their summer camp director.

The children, aged 10 to 15, are members of the Kineret Club — a summer camp for Jewish families run by the Matana charitable association — which had just concluded their trip in the coastal resort town of Sant Carles de la Ràpita, between Valencia and Barcelona.

According to local reports, the children were singing in Hebrew while boarding the plane to return home, which prompted a hostile response from the crew.

Witnesses say the group then stopped singing and quietly followed boarding instructions, but airport police still intervened and ordered them to disembark.

As the incident quickly escalated, the camp director was arrested after refusing to hand over the children’s cell phones when requested by staff.

Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, condemned the incident in a post on X, accusing the airline of antisemitism and calling for a thorough investigation.

“In line with Hamas’s campaign of lies echoed by Al Jazeera, Haaretz, and others, we are seeing numerous severe antisemitic incidents recently; this is one of the most serious,” the Israeli official said.

The woman who was arrested and beaten is the director of the Kinneret summer camp.

Fifty Jewish French children, aged 10 – 15, were singing Hebrew songs on the plane.

The @vueling airline crew said that Israel is a terrorist state and forced the children off the aircraft; they… https://t.co/V78PEHB58B pic.twitter.com/HizF6SZoaD

— עמיחי שיקלי – Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) July 23, 2025

However, the Spanish low-cost airline Vueling denied the allegations, insisting the incident was not related to religion but rather that the group was causing a disruption.

In a statement released on Thursday, the airline asserted that the group was removed because of its members’ “highly combative attitude that was putting the safety of the flight at risk.”

Vueling claimed that the group “mishandled emergency equipment and actively disrupted the mandatory safety demonstration,” ignoring “multiple warnings,” which prompted the crew to call airport police.

Other passengers on the plane who witnessed the incident reported that staff made antisemitic remarks toward the group, including one employee who allegedly referred to Israel as a “terrorist state.”

Vueling statement regarding the passengers disembarked for disruptive behaviour on flight VY8166 pic.twitter.com/WQ2255Ujqy

— Vueling Airlines (@vueling) July 24, 2025

The Kineret Club announced it is taking legal action against the airline over what it called a “purely antisemitic act.” The organization also confirmed that the children are safe in a hotel and scheduled to return home tomorrow.

The World Jewish Congress condemned the incident in a post on X, urging authorities to take swift action.

“Singing in Hebrew is not illegal. Existing as a group of Jewish people together is not illegal. This needs to be taken seriously,” the statement read.

Over 50 Jewish teenagers from France were kicked off a @vueling flight in Spain yesterday after they were singing in Hebrew.

The children were going back home from summer camp – and this shocking footage circulating is reportedly of the camp counselor being aggressively detained… pic.twitter.com/tapx9gKeiq

— World Jewish Congress (@WorldJewishCong) July 24, 2025

This latest incident comes amid a sharp rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes in Spain, where Israelis have faced harassment, intimidation, and even assault following the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Spain has also been one of the harshest critics of the Jewish state since the start of the war in Gaza, mounting a sustained effort against Israel in international forums.

In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 atrocities, Spain halted arms shipments from its own defense companies to Israel and launched a diplomatic campaign to curb the country’s military response.

At the same time, several Spanish ministers in the country’s left-wing coalition government issued pro-Hamas statements and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with some falsely accusing Israel of “genocide.”

More recently, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged other members of the European Union to suspend the bloc’s free trade agreement with Israel over its military campaigns against Hamas in Gaza and the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Last year, Spain officially recognized a Palestinian state, claiming the move was accelerated by the Israel-Hamas war and would help foster a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the time, Israeli officials condemned the decision as a “reward for terrorism.”

The post French Jewish Students Forcibly Removed From Spanish Plane After Singing in Hebrew, Camp Director Arrested first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Trucks carrying aid move, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hussam Al-Masri

Israel has rejected claims that its military policies have triggered a famine in Gaza, describing such accusations as inaccurate, politically driven, and detached from reality.

The Israeli government has facilitated the entry of hundreds of aid trucks into Gaza, officials said this week, condemning international aid agencies for their alleged failure to distribute supplies. One senior security official told reporters on Tuesday that there is no famine in Gaza, pointing to over 950 truckloads of food, water, and medical supplies that are currently stalled at border crossings such as Kerem Shalom.

“We know the calorie value of each truck that enters, and how many people it is enough for,” the official said according to The Times of Israel.

Israel has assigned responsibility to the UN for logistical failures which may have caused a breakdown in aid distribution within Gaza.

According to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli military and Defense Ministry body responsible for coordinating aid deliveries to Gaza, said the stockpiled aid in the enclave could sustain the population for over two weeks if properly distributed.

“The bottleneck isn’t on our side,” the official said. “The aid is there. It’s the UN and its partners who aren’t moving it.”

The official added, “We have not identified starvation at this current point in time, but we understand that action is required to stabilize the humanitarian situation.”

WATCH: 950 trucks worth of aid, currently waiting in Gazafor international organizations to pick up and distribute to Gazan civilians. This is after Israel facilitated the aid entry into Gaza. pic.twitter.com/aQTR7Sryhs

— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) July 22, 2025

Israel has argued that false claims of mass starvation are being amplified by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, and international humanitarian organizations to manipulate global opinion. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claims, without evidence, that more than 100 people have died from malnutrition in the beleaguered enclave. Israeli officials emphasize that these figures are unverified and may be inflated for propaganda purposes.

Western-backed attempts to bypass Hamas, such as the US-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), have served Palestinians in Gaza over the past few months. However, tragic incidents, including tramplings and occasional gunfire, have killed hundreds of Palestinians attempting to obtain aid at one of GHF’s four distribution sites. Hamas has accused Israel of shooting Palestinian civilians at aid distribution sites. Israel has denied these unverified claims.

The GFH has called on the UN to publicly condemn the killing of aid workers in Gaza by Hamas and to collaborate in order to provide relief to the enclave’s population, accusing the UN of perpetuating a “vast disinformation campaign” aimed at tarnishing the US- and Israel-backed foundation’s image.

Despite the difficulties, the program is seen by Israeli and US officials as a more accountable and secure system than aid distributed through traditional UN agencies, which Israeli investigations have revealed as hotbeds of corruption and infiltration by Hamas operatives.

Nonetheless, international pressure is building on Israel to ramp up aid distribution. However, Israel argues that the international community fails to account for Hamas’s tactics, including documented cases of aid theft and interference with humanitarian workers.

On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) published footage showing five Hamas fighters smiling while eating an assortment of fruits and rice, casting doubt over allegations of a famine in the Gaza Strip. The IDF also released additional recordings from Gaza showing thousands of aid pallets waiting for UN distribution.

“Israel is not preventing the entry of aid trucks or humanitarian shipment into the Gaza. The aid is already across the fence inside the Gaza Strip, ready for distribution, but the UN chooses to slander Israel instead of delivering the food, which now sits idle and rotting,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The post Israel Denies Gaza ‘Famine’ Claims, Condemns Failed UN Food Distribution Efforts first appeared on Algemeiner.com.