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Monday Marks Day 445 for Hostages in Gaza — Longer Than the Iranian Hostages

People gather in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to mark the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre. Photo: Paulina Patimer

On November 4, 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s henchmen stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held Americans hostage for 444 days, releasing them on January 20, 1981. On October 7, 2023, Hamas storm troopers and Gazan civilians paraglided and marched into Israel and took hundreds of American and Israeli hostages after killing over 1,200.

Comparing the two situations shows how much has changed in the last four decades — none of it for the better.

Hostages, Then and Now

The Americans taken hostage by Khomeini’s followers were all adults working at the US embassy. The captives in Gaza today, both male and female, range from infants to the aged. One hostage, Kfir Bibas, born on January 18, 2023, was only 262 days old when he was stolen from his bed. He celebrated his first birthday as a hostage and has spent the majority of his life as a Hamas prisoner.

Some of the American diplomats were beaten during and after the November 4 siege of the U.S. embassy. They were undoubtedly held in inhumane conditions and sometimes threatened with execution. But unlike those seized on October 7, not one was executed. Not a single one was raped.

After the first few days of their captivity, unless they were being moved from one location to another or paraded in the street, the American diplomats were not blindfolded. Aside from when they were kept periodically in a damp, windowless warehouse on the embassy grounds, which the hostages named “The Mushroom Inn,” they could see outside.

Hamas’ hostages, on the other hand, have likely been kept underground in the maze of tunnels that constitute subterranean Gaza for most of their 445 days of captivity. Many have likely not seen the sun in all that time. They have been severely beaten.

On November 17, 1979, Khomeini ordered the female and African-American hostages released because “Islam has a special respect toward women” and because blacks had been forced to suffer “under American pressure and tyranny.” Some of the women released by Hamas in the November 2023 ceasefire were sexually assaulted and constantly intimidated.

Those Americans held by Iran who were injured or ill received medical care, albeit inferior to what they deserved. One hostage, Richard Queen, the State Department’s Vice Consul, suffering the early stages of undiagnosed multiple sclerosis, was released after 250 days. His symptoms baffled the Iranian physicians who treated him, and his captors feared the consequences of his dying in captivity. Hamas has no such fears.

UN Responses, Then and Now

In 1979, the United Nations was not quite as corrupted as it is today. The Security Council responded if not quickly (on December 4) at least decisively with Resolution 457 calling for the immediate release of the hostages. On December 31, it issued Resolution 461, condemning Iran and citing an International Court of Justice order for the release of all hostages.

In 2023, after weeks of failing to reach a consensus, the Security Council finally issued Resolution 2712 on November 15, calling for the release of all hostages, but it did not condemn or even mention the October 7 attack.

Today’s UN is focused on condemning Israel. It has whitewashed the complicity of the Palestinian people in October 7 and exaggerated their suffering. The Secretary-General’s statement was one half condemnation of Hamas and one-half warning that Israel exercise “maximum restraint” and pursue a “two-state solution.” The International Court of Justice took South Africa’s charges of genocide seriously and opened an investigation into Israeli conduct, and the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Media Coverage

In 1979, the media at first repeated the false narrative that the hostage takers were merely religious students, not Khomeini’s agents carrying out his will. But as one hostage, Barry Rosen, put it, “Khomeini was supporting our captivity; it was not just these students acting in his name.” Rosen adds that, “the students couldn’t have continued to hold us without the Imam’s approval.”

Throughout the 444-day ordeal, the media focused on the hostages, their families, and efforts being made to free them. On ABC, Ted Koppel’s career was made by a show called The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage, which eventually became Nightline.

By contrast, today’s media have not made the hostages the focal point of the story. Rather than seeing the hostages as victims of Islamist aggression, much of today’s media are more sympathetic with Palestinians and Hamas than with their hostages. They focus on “Israel’s War in Gaza,” celebrate anti-Israel protests, and mindlessly repeat Hamas’s inflated casualty and death statistics.

When Israel killed Ismail Haniyeh, the media harped on how much more difficult a “hostage deal” would be and accused Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu of belligerence.

When Israel decimated (or more) the leadership of Hezbollah — another terrorist organization responsible for holding Americans hostage — in a brilliant pager/walkie-talkie sabotage like something out of a James Bond movie, much of the media vilified it as terrorism.

Like the UN, the media have whitewashed the complicity of the Palestinian people on October 7. One of the greatest differences between the coverage of the hostages held in Iran 45 years ago and of the hostages in Gaza today is that no one was on Iran’s side then, while many are on Hamas’s side today.

Academia Reacts

For Americans, and indeed for much of the Western world, the seizure of our diplomats in 1979 was an affront too outrageous to endure. People were angry at the Iranians, Khomeini, and Jimmy Carter. In the days before memes, Americans adopted a line from a popular song by Tony Orlando and Dawn (“Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree”). Yellow ribbons appeared around trees throughout the nation as symbols of their suffering and the American people longing for their return.

Most American academics were as outraged as everyone else in 1979, and all but the most virulently anti-American among them who weren’t outraged likely kept it to themselves.

By contrast, today’s academics are more likely to celebrate October 7, especially Middle East studies “experts.”

College students were firmly on the side of the US in 1979. If there were any protests, they were anti-Iran protests. As a freshman at the University of Miami in November of 1979, I saw many cars sporting the famous bumper sticker, and people wearing the t-shirt, featuring Mickey Mouse holding an American flag in his right hand while giving the middle-finger salute with his left hand with the caption “Hey Iran.”

By contrast, today’s college students are more likely to wear keffiyehs and chant “From the River to the Sea” or “Globalize the Intifada” and other slogans they don’t understand.

End of the Crises

The 52 Americans held in Iran were released only after one-term president Jimmy Carter left the White House and Ronald Reagan was inaugurated. Reagan called Khomeini and his henchmen “criminals and thugs” and promised a very different approach than the weak coddling that the Carter administration had pursued.

When the hostages were finally released, there was a ticker-tape parade in their honor as they were celebrated in New York City’s “Canyon of Heroes.”

Will the hostages in Gaza have to wait until one-term president Joe Biden leaves the White House and Donald Trump is inaugurated? That will make it 472 days in captivity. Will there be a ticker-tape parade?

President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to get the hostages back and threatened that “there will be hell to pay” if they are not returned by his January 20 inauguration. It will be well-deserved if Hamas doesn’t release the hostages.

Chief Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) Political Correspondent A.J. Caschetta is a principal lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a fellow at Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum where he is also a Milstein fellow. A version of this article was published by IPT.

The post Monday Marks Day 445 for Hostages in Gaza — Longer Than the Iranian Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Yale University Students Abort Anti-Israel Encampment Attempts After Warning From Officials

Illustrative: Yale University students at the corner of Grove and College Streets in New Haven, Connecticut, US, April 22, 2024. Photo: Melanie Stengel via Reuters Connect.

Yalies4Palestine attempted to establish a so-called “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the Beinecke Plaza section of Yale University’s campus on Tuesday evening, prompting a quick disciplinary response from the administration.

The students were told in no uncertain terms that refusing to discontinue the activity by an 11 pm deadline set by administrators would result in disciplinary sanctions, according to a report by the Yale Daily News. Prior to that, they obstructed Jewish students’ right to walk through campus, according to videos posted to social media by a Jewish student at Yale.

Such action blocking Jews from parts of campus elsewhere has triggered a lawsuit in which the US Justice Department recently filed a statement of interest.

“The group’s activities violated Yale’s time, place, and manner polices,” a university spokesperson told the News when asked about the incident. “University officials clearly articulated Yale’s policies and the consequences of violating them.”

The students eventually left after Yale’s assistant vice president for university life, Pilar Montalvo, walked through the area distributing cards containing a message which implored students to “Please stop your current action immediately. If you do not, you may risk university disciplinary action and/or arrest” and a QR code for a webpage which explains Yale’s policies on expression and free assembly.

The cards triggered a paranoiac fit, the News reported. Upon receiving them, the students became suspicious that the QR code could be used to track and identity those who participated in the unauthorized protest. “Do not scan the QR code!” they began to chant. They left the area soon after, the paper added, clearing the way for public safety officers to photograph and remove the tents they had attempted to pitch.

According to the News, the protest was triggered by an upcoming off-campus event at which Israel’s controversial national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — who has called for annexing the West Bank and the emigration of Gaza’s residents — will be hosted by Shabtai, a student group not formally recognized by the university.

Writing to The Algemeiner in a message titled “Yale Maintains Calm Campus and Takes Disciplinary Action,” the university took credit for preventing a style of protest that could have lasted for weeks and upended the campus during final exams. It also confirmed that disciplinary sanctions have already been meted out to several students who participated in Tuesday’s unauthorized demonstration despite having been punished for committing the same infraction in the past.

“University officials articulated Yale’s policies and the consequences of violating them and actively cleared the area, which has remained clear since that time,” a spokesperson wrote. “During the interaction, staff identified students who had been warned or disciplined in previous incidents that violated university policy. Those students have received written notice today that they are subject to immediate disciplinary action.”

The most severe sanction handed down is the revocation of Yalies4Palestine’s status as a registered student organization, which proscribes their holding events on campus indefinitely. Additionally, the group will no longer enjoy access to funds that subsidize club activities and is deprived entirely of the privilege of assembling on university property. A string of transgressions precipitated the action, Yale said in Wednesday’s statement, noting that the group had been forewarned on Monday that it had exhausted the university’s tolerance for its misconduct.

“Concerns have been raised about disturbing antisemitic conduct at the gathering,” the statement continued. “The university is investigating those concerns, as harassment and discrimination are antithetical to learning and scholarship. Yale condemns antisemitism and will hold those who violate our policies accountable through our disciplinary processes.”

Yale University has ample cause to claim credit for quelling the would-be encampment and punishing those who were involved in it. The Trump administration has been impounding federal funds previously appropriated to universities that allow pro-Hamas demonstrations and promote excessive “wokeness.”

In March, it cancelled $400 million in federal contracts and grants for Columbia University, a measure that secured the school’s acceding to a slew of demands the administration put forth as preconditions for restoring the money. Princeton University saw $210 million of its federal grants and funding suspended too, prompting its president, Christopher Eisgruber to say the institution is “committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.” Brown University’s federal funding is also reportedly at risk due to its alleged failing to mount a satisfactory response to the campus antisemitism crisis, as well as its alignment with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement.

Most recently, the Trump administration cancelled $2.26 billion in federal funding for Harvard University following the institution’s refusal to agree to a wishlist of reforms that Republican lawmakers have long argued will make higher education more meritocratic and less welcoming to anti-Zionists and far-left extremists. Contained in a letter shared by interim Harvard president Alan Garber, the policies called for included “viewpoint diversity in hiring and admissions,” the “discontinuation of [DEI initiatives],” and “reducing forms of governance bloat.” They also implored Harvard to begin “reforming programs with egregious records of antisemitism” and to recalibrate its approach to “student discipline.”

Harvard is now suing the administration in federal court to halt its sequestering of grants and contracts paid for by the American taxpayer. However, resolving the complaint could take months, and any money confiscated from Yale before a ruling in that case is rendered could cause catastrophic levels of harm that lead to hiring freezes, job cuts, and unsustainable borrowing, a measure to which several universities, including Harvard, have resorted to cover budget shortfalls.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Yale University Students Abort Anti-Israel Encampment Attempts After Warning From Officials first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Abbas Calls Hamas ‘Sons of Dogs,’ Pushes for Palestinian Authority Control Over Gaza

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas holds a leadership meeting in Ramallah, in the West Bank, April 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called Hamas “sons of dogs,” while urging the terrorist group to release the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and bring an end to the war.

“The first priority is to stop the war of extermination in Gaza. It must be stopped – hundreds are being killed every day,” Abbas said in a televised speech at the Palestinian Authority’s Central Council on Wednesday.

“We are facing grave danger that could lead to a new catastrophe — a Nakba,” he continued. Many Palestinians and anti-Israel activists use the term “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” to refer to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948.

During his speech, Abbas pressed Hamas to cede control of the war-torn enclave to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and give up its arms — a demand his ruling Fatah party has reiterated in efforts to reunite Gaza and the West Bank under what it describes as “a single national authority.”

“Hamas must transfer control of Gaza and its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, and transform into a political party,” Abbas said.

However, Hamas has previously rejected calls to disarm — a key condition in ceasefire negotiations with Israel and the United States — dismissing them as “impossible conditions” and a red line the terrorist group insists it will not cross.

“Any truce lacking real guarantees for halting the war, achieving full withdrawal, lifting the blockade, and beginning reconstruction will be a political trap,” Hamas said in a statement last week.

Hamas violently eliminated Fatah, its Palestinian opposition, in a brief conflict in 2007, when the terrorist group took full control of Gaza after winning legislative elections the prior year.

In his speech, Abbas once again denounced Hamas for negotiating with the United States, accusing the group of “undermining Palestinian unity” — a criticism the PA has voiced before.

He also condemned what he described as Israel’s actions to uproot Gaza’s residents from their homes, calling it a “new Nakba.”

“We reject this. It’s an inseparable part of our land — what’s happening in Gaza is also happening in Jenin, everywhere,” Abbas said, seemingly referring to Israeli counterterrorism operations in the West Bank.

Israeli leaders have said they support voluntary emigration from Gaza for those who wish to leave but not forced displacement.

Abbas delivered his speech during a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he is expected to announce a successor, addressing international concerns about the PA’s ability to govern the enclave during reconstruction efforts.

“Our vision for achieving peace in the Middle East is based on ending the Israeli occupation and establishing a state,” Abbas said during his remarks.

He added that the PA’s goals are “returning the hostages, lifting the Israeli blockade of Gaza, stopping the displacement of our people in coordination with Arab countries, and defending the ‘Palestinian cause.’”

This is not the first time the PA has attempted to publicly separate itself from Hamas while simultaneously pursuing Palestinian reconciliation talks. However, PA officials have been regularly rationalizing Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel and in some cases even denying it took place or falsely claiming Israeli forces carried out the onslaught that started the Gaza war.

The PA, which has been riddled with accusations of corruption, has also long maintained a so-called “pay-for-slay” program, which rewards terrorists and their families for carrying out attacks against Israelis, leading critics to question whether the PA can effectively govern Gaza.

Abbas’s remarks came as Egyptian and Qatari mediators continued working to restore the January ceasefire agreement, which had halted fighting in Gaza before it broke down last month.

The BBC reported this week that mediators from Egypt and Qatar presented a new framework to both parties, which included a five-to-seven-year truce, an end to Israel’s war in Gaza, the release of all remaining Israeli hostages held in the enclave, and the release of an undisclosed number of Palestinian detainees.

The latest round of talks in Cairo last week aimed at salvaging the ceasefire and freeing Israeli hostages ended with no apparent breakthrough.

Hamas said it would no longer agree to interim deals, but rather called for a “comprehensive package negotiation” to secure the release of all remaining hostages in its custody in exchange for an end to the Gaza war, the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and the reconstruction of the enclave.

“Netanyahu and his government use partial agreements as a cover for their political agenda, which is based on continuing the war of extermination and starvation, even if the price is sacrificing all his prisoners [hostages],” Khalil Al-Hayya, the terrorist group’s Gaza chief who leads its negotiating team, said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel proposed a 45-day truce in Gaza to facilitate hostage releases and potentially start indirect talks to end the war, but Hamas has already rejected one of its conditions — that it lay down its weapons.

The Palestinian terrorist group released 38 hostages under a ceasefire that began on Jan. 19. In March, Israel’s military resumed its ground and aerial offensive in Gaza, after Hamas rejected proposals to extend the truce without ending the war.

Israeli officials have said that the offensive will continue until the remaining 59 hostages are freed and Gaza is demilitarized. However, Hamas insists it will free hostages only as part of a deal to end the war.

The post Abbas Calls Hamas ‘Sons of Dogs,’ Pushes for Palestinian Authority Control Over Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Global Antisemitic Incidents Decreased in 2024 From Post-Oct. 7 Surge but Remain Alarmingly High, New Study Finds

A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect

Antisemitic incidents worldwide decreased in 2024 following the record surge that followed the Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but they remain significantly higher than levels recorded prior to the attack, according to a new report published on Wednesday.

Just hours before the start of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day on Wednesday night, Tel Aviv University’s Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry, in collaboration with the Irwin Cotler Institute for Democracy, Human Rights, and Justice, released its Annual Antisemitism Worldwide Report, which focuses on anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2024.

“Antisemitism is not just a problem of the past or a fringe issue,” said Professor Uriya Shavit, the report’s editor. “It is a mirror to our societies. And in 2024, that reflection is still deeply troubling.”

The 160-page study revealed that anti-Jewish hatred, which spiked in the wake of the Hamas onslaught, continues to persist across continents a year and a half into the ongoing Gaza conflict.

“Contrary to popular belief, the report’s findings indicate that the wave of antisemitism did not steadily intensify due to the war in Gaza and the humanitarian disaster there,” Shavit said. “The peak was in October-December 2023, and a year later, a sharp decline in the number of incidents was noted almost everywhere.”

“The sad truth is that antisemitism reared its head at the moment when the Jewish state appeared weaker than ever and under existential threat,” he continued.

Australia saw the most significant rise in anti-Jewish incidents, with 1,713 recorded in 2024, compared to 1,200 in 2023 and 490 in 2022.

Despite the sharp surge in anti-Jewish hate following the Oct. 7 attacks, Australia recorded 478 incidents between October and December 2024, a notable drop from the 827 incidents reported during the same period in 2023.

A rise in antisemitism compared to pre-war norms continued into this year. In February, for example, Australia experienced a scandal in which two nurses were caught on video vowing to kill Israeli patients, prompting outrage from authorities. After the video went viral, both nurses were suspended and permanently barred from employment within the New South Wales state health system. They were later charged with crimes.

The United States also saw notable increases in anti-Jewish incidents, especially in cities like Chicago, Denver, and Austin. The Anti-Defamation League released its own report on Tuesday showing that antisemitism in the US surged to break “all previous annual records” in 2024, with the civil rights group recording 9,354 antisemitic incidents last year.

In New York, the city with the world’s largest Jewish population outside of Israel, police recorded 344 antisemitic hate crimes in 2024, up from 325 in 2023 and 264 in 2022. Last month, Jews were the targets of more hate crimes than any other group, according to police data.

However, between October and December 2024, New York saw 68 antisemitic incidents, a sharp decline from the 159 incidents recorded in the same months of 2023.

Canada recorded a record-breaking 6,219 anti-Jewish incidents in 2024, up from 5,791 the previous year. Although members of the Jewish community make up less than 1 percent of the country’s population, they were targeted in one-fifth of all hate crimes.

“Around the world, levels of antisemitism remain significantly higher compared to the period before Oct. 7,” Shavit said in a statement.

In Europe, Italy experienced a sharp rise in anti-Jewish hate, with 877 incidents reported in 2024 — nearly double the 454 recorded in 2023.

Switzerland and Spain both saw a rise in antisemitic activity in 2024. For example, nearly 2,000 antisemitic incidents were reported in French-speaking Switzerland last year — an increase of 90 percent from 2023. The German-, Italian-, and Romansh-speaking regions recorded a 43 percent rise compared to 2023 and a staggering 287 percent increase compared to 2022.

One of the most notorious recent cases was the Zurich attempted murder, in which an Orthodox Jewish man was stabbed and left with life-threatening injuries by a Swiss teenager, an Islamic State supporter of Tunisian origin.

On the other hand, France reported an overall decline in antisemitic incidents in 2024, but there was a concerning rise in physical assaults. The total number of antisemitic outrages last year was a slight dip from 2023’s record total of 1,676, but it marked a striking increase from the 436 antisemitic acts recorded in 2022.

Last week, a Jewish man wearing a Star of David pendant was brutally attacked and called a “dirty Jew” in Villeurbanne, a city in eastern France that is home to the country’s second-largest Jewish community. In another egregious attack that garnered international headlines, a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped by three Muslim boys in a Paris suburb last year. The child told investigators that the assailants called her a “dirty Jew” and hurled other antisemitic comments at her during the attack.

In the United Kingdom, 3,528 antisemitic incidents were recorded in 2024, down from 4,103 in 2023 and 1,662 in 2022. The country also saw a sharp decline in October, with 310 incidents reported in 2024, compared to 1,389 in the same month of 2023.

Despite recording an 18 percent drop in anti-Jewish hate crimes from the previous year’s all-time high, the UK still experienced its second worst year for antisemitism in 2024.

In Germany, 5,177 antisemitic incidents were recorded in 2024, down from 5,671 in 2023 and 2,811 in 2022. During the October-December period, 671 incidents were reported in 2024, a significant decrease from 3,163 in the same period of 2023.

In South America, both Argentina and Brazil experienced increased antisemitic activity in 2024. For example, Argentina saw a 44 percent rise in reported anti-Jewish hate crimes compared to the previous year.

The post Global Antisemitic Incidents Decreased in 2024 From Post-Oct. 7 Surge but Remain Alarmingly High, New Study Finds first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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