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MIT Suspends Anti-Zionist Group for Rules Violations
Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Dr. Sally Kornbluth testifies during a US House Education and Workforce Committee hearing at the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, Dec. 5, 2023. Photo: Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has suspended Coalition Against Apartheid (CAA), an anti-Zionist group, for staging an unauthorized demonstration in the Stratton Student Center on Monday.
“Members of the CAA — the Coalition Against Apartheid — once again conducted a demonstration on campus without going through the normal permission processes that apply to every student group at MIT,” Kornbluth said in a statement on Tuesday, adding, “the CAA’s executive officers received a letter today from Vice Chancellor Suzy Nelson immediately suspending the CAA’s privileges as a recognized student organization.”
Per the terms of the suspension, CAA is temporarily banned from using campus facilities — or “any space” — for events and meetings, receiving funds from the university, and holding demonstrations on university property. President Kornbluth also said that formal complaint against CAA has been filed with the school’s Committee on Discipline.
Kornbluth added, however, that “suspending CAA is not related to the content of their speech” and that “we shouldn’t feel it’s OK to vilify everyone who advocates for the Palestinian people as ‘supporting Hamas.’”
On Tuesday, CAA accused Kornbluth of unfairly punishing its members, 13 of whom, the group said, have been “threatened” with expulsion.
“It is in these moments, when we face the harshest repression, that we know the balance of power is shifting,” the group said. “Their response today reveal that MIT fears the mass mobilization of our community, who have remained steadfast with Palestine. Thousands of our community members, from students and alumni, to faculty and staff, have participated in our actions as part of the struggle for the liberation of Palestine.”
CAA’s suspension comes as MIT is under investigation by Congress for allegedly ignoring antisemitic discrimination and harassment and refusing to discipline anti-Zionist groups. The school’s past handling of unauthorized anti-Zionist protest has also drawn scrutiny from the Jewish community.
On Nov. 8, 2022, Coalition Against Apartheid (CAA), a campus anti-Israel group allegedly “physically prevented” Jewish students from attending class by forming a “blockade” of bodies in Lobby 7, a space inside the main entrance of the university. Non-students were invited to attend CAA’s demonstration, and together the entire group spent hours chanting “Intifada” — a term used to describe violent Palestinian uprisings against Israel — and declaring solidarity with Hamas.
The MIT Israel Alliance, writing in a letter which described antisemitism on campus as reminiscent of Nazi Germany on the eve of the Holocaust, said that by the end of that day, Jewish students were advised to enter the university through its back entrance and avoid the campus’ Hillel building.
Then, as now, Sally Kornbluth refused to denounce the students’ activity as antisemitic incitement, saying in a statement responding to the demonstration that “I am deliberately not specifying the view points, as the issue at hand is not the substance of the views but where and how they were expressed.”
US college campuses have experienced an alarming spike in antisemitic incidents — including demonstrations calling for Israel’s destruction and the intimidation and harassment of Jewish students — since Oct. 7, 2023, the day of Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel. In a two month span, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 470 antisemitic incidents on college campuses alone. During that same period, antisemitic incidents across the US skyrocketed by 323 percent compared to the prior year.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post MIT Suspends Anti-Zionist Group for Rules Violations 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.