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Midwest Campus Groups Use ‘Pro-Palestinian’ Label as a Way to Attack Jews and Israel
University Hall at Ohio State University. Photo: OZinOH/Flickr
While the Midwest is known for its “Midwest Nice” reputation, on college campuses, pro-Palestinian student groups in the region have used that hospitality to justify open support for terrorist groups and violence against Jews in the Middle East.
In doing so, these groups blur the line between activism and extremism, raising serious questions about their true agenda in our now vulnerable academic institutions.
Take, for example, the recent release of Agam Berger, an Israeli civilian who was held captive by Hamas for 482 days.
Instead of celebrating her survival and release, the group “United With Milwaukee Popular University for Palestine (UWM PUP)” posted an image comparing her being embraced by other former hostages against a faceless, malnourished (assumed to be a Palestinian) man, with the caption: “Difference in treatment between Palestinian hostages held by the genocidal entity vs. Israeli hostages held in Gaza.”
What they’re saying is that Hamas treats the hostages they brutally kidnapped on Oct. 7 with dignity, while Israel abuses its prisoners.
This narrative not only ignores the fact that hostages held by Hamas endured torture, starvation, and sexual violence while the overwhelming majority of Palestinians incarcerated in Israel are treated by Western prison standards — but completely ignores that Palestinians are in Israeli jails because they have been convicted of crimes — often violent ones — while the hostages were illegally stolen by Hamas.
In fact, conditions in Israeli prisons are such that at least one Palestinian prisoner recently slated for release actually begged Israel to keep him rather than return to relative freedom under Hamas in Gaza.
By casting Hamas as more humane than a democratic state, these “pro-Palestinian” groups engage in a false moral equivalence that legitimizes terrorism and dehumanizes Israeli victims.
In St. Louis, a community group active but not affiliated with students on local campuses, Voices of Palestine Network, shared a video with the caption: “Don’t let the killer become the victim.” They claimed to reveal the “truth” about the Israeli hostages’ lack of innocence, as if such context could justify the crimes against humanity committed on October 7 and afterwards.
Eastern Iowa Jewish Voices for Palestine and Ohio State University Jews for Justice in Palestine shared similar posts claiming that Western media have not covered Israel’s actions, which is just plain wrong. Even prestigious private schools are suffering from this kind of hateful bullying. Northwestern University was just defaced with antisemitic graffiti that included statements such as, “Death to Israel” and “Intifada now!”
Many students, faculty, and administrators may believe that this rhetoric — however inflammatory — is merely speech and not action.
But across the country, we’ve already seen how inflammatory expression can evolve into extremely toxic behavior — harassment, bullying, social exclusion, violent attacks, and fear — especially when targeting the minority of students who are visibly Jewish or openly pro-Israel.
When this kind of intimidation replaces discussion, students begin self-censoring to avoid backlash and the foundation of academic freedom erodes.
It is time for universities, student governments, and community leaders across the Midwest to draw a clear moral line between upholding free speech and implicit endorsements of bigoted threats against the Jewish and pro-Israel communities. Administrators must publicly condemn the glorification of terror and demand accountability from groups that harass and intimidate their peers.
Campus spaces are meant for students to wrestle with ideas. But how can that happen when a minority of bullies exploit that freedom to suppress the speech of others?
The choice is simple. Speak out now or allow antisemitic and anti-American radicalization to take root under the guise of activism.
The post Midwest Campus Groups Use ‘Pro-Palestinian’ Label as a Way to Attack Jews and Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Japanese Hotel Asks Israeli Guest to Sign Pledge Denying Involvement in War Crimes
Skyline of Kyoto at night. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
A hotel in the Japanese city of Kyoto defended itself last week after an Israeli guest informed the Israeli embassy in Japan that staff had insisted that he sign a statement saying he had not engaged in war crimes, prompting a visit from officials at the city’s Medical and Health Center.
The unnamed Israeli traveler, a member of the Jewish state’s Navy reserves and a combat medic, told the Israeli publication Ynet that after showing his passport to check-in at the Wind Villa Guesthouse, “the clerk handed me this form and told me that without signing it, I wouldn’t be allowed to check in.” He called the statement “ridiculous and absurd,” noting that he told the clerk, “We don’t kill women and children. Why would we do that?”
The tourist initially resisted signing until being pressured to do so, saying that “in the end, I decided to sign it because I have nothing to hide,” and that “the statement is true — I did not commit any war crimes, and Israeli soldiers do not commit war crimes. I signed because I didn’t want to create problems, and because this form means nothing.”
The hotel posted the document on X titled “Pledge of Non-Involvement in War Crimes” and then sought to explain its company policy over a series of nine threaded, Japanese-language posts on the social media platform.
The pledge requires guests to sign “I have never committed war crimes,” and then the form offers such examples as “attacks on civilians (children, women, etc.)” and “sexual, violence, forced displacement, or looting.”
In addition, the hotel wants those staying to affirm “I pledge to continue complying with international law and humanitarian law and to never engage in war crimes in any form.”
Wind Villa disputed that it required guests to sign or that it singled out its customer because of his nationality.
“1) We ask all guests who are suspected of having committed war crimes to sign a pledge. 2) It is not discriminatory because it is not only targeted at Israelis,” the hotel wrote on X. “3) Filling out the form is optional, and not filling it out will not mean you will be denied accommodation.”
Wind Villa further justified its actions on the basis that “Israel has a universal conscription system, and the possibility that young men in particular will be involved in military operations after Oct. 8, 2023, cannot be ignored,” referring to the day after Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded Israel and launched the current war in Gaza. It also stated that “so far, there have been no guests who have refused to fill out the pledge form, and there have been no cases of guests being refused accommodation. Therefore, there is no violation of the Inns and Hotels Act.”
The Wind Villa is not the only hotel to become embroiled in controversy after allegedly discriminating against Israelis amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Last year, for example, an Israeli family visiting Paris was denied service at the Novotel Paris Porte de Versailles after an attendant noticed their Israeli passport.
The post Japanese Hotel Asks Israeli Guest to Sign Pledge Denying Involvement in War Crimes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Favors Upgrading US Free Trade Deal, Economy Minister Says
Israel’s Minister of Economy and Industry Nir Barkat gestures during an interview with Reuters at the 13th WTO ministerial conference, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Abdel Hadi Ramahi
Israel has proposed revamping its four-decade-old free trade agreement with the United States, its economy minister said on Monday, as it looks to head off tariffs from its closest ally.
An upgraded trade pact would ease restrictions on data sharing that would enable significant collaboration, Economy Minister Nir Barkat told Reuters at a conference in Jerusalem.
He said Israel had already agreed to several requests, which included lifting tariffs on US agricultural goods.
Most US goods are already exempt from Israeli tariffs under a 1985 trade deal. The US. is Israel‘s biggest trading partner with bilateral trade worth an estimated $37 billion in 2024, according to US trade data. Last year, Israel had a $7.4 billion trade surplus with the United States.
President Donald Trump’s administration this month announced sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries, including a 17 percent levy on Israeli imports, before saying there would be a 90-day pause with a baseline 10 percent tariff on imports to allow for trade negotiations.
Prior to the sweeping tariffs announcement, Israel said it would lift all remaining import duties on US goods and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Trump in Washington.
The post Israel Favors Upgrading US Free Trade Deal, Economy Minister Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Three Teens Convicted in Sweden Over Shooting Attack on Israeli Defense Firm
Swedish police use a bomb-disposal robot at a shooting scene near an Israeli target, which the national broadcaster said was a unit of Israeli company Elbit Systems, in Gothenburg, Sweden, Oct. 10, 2024. Photo: TT News Agency/Adam Ihse via REUTERS
Three teenagers were convicted in Sweden on Monday of being involved in a shooting attack on an office of Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems in Gothenburg last year.
A fourth boy, who was accused of actually carrying out the attack by opening fire at the entrance to the building in October, was 13 at the time – too young for him to stand trial under Swedish law.
No one was injured in the shooting. The verdict did not mention any motive for the attack.
One boy who was 15 at the time was found guilty of instigating attempted murder and sentenced to 20 months of juvenile detention, the Gothenburg District Court said in its verdict.
The court said he had persuaded the perpetrator to shoot, knowing there was a considerable risk someone could be killed. The boy’s lawyer declined to comment on the verdict.
The two other teenage defendants were acquitted of being accessory to attempted murder but were found guilty of the lesser charges of being accessory to threats and weapons crime and of involving an underage person.
Swedish police in May last year said they had stepped up security around Israeli and Jewish interests in the Nordic country after officers on patrol heard suspected gunshots near Israel’s embassy in Stockholm.
Sweden has seen an epidemic of gun violence in recent years, primarily driven by criminal gangs. The country’s minimum age for criminal responsibility is 15.
The post Three Teens Convicted in Sweden Over Shooting Attack on Israeli Defense Firm first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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