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More Universities Cave to Pro-Hamas Agitators as Demonstrations Continue

Illustrative Demonstrators take part in an anti-Israel demonstration at the Columbia University campus, in New York City, US, Feb. 2, 2024. REUTERS/David Dee Delgado

The University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside) has agreed to make major concessions to anti-Israel protesters on campus in exchange for the termination of their anti-Zionist demonstrations on campus, continuing a gradual normalization of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel — a trend that risks purging Jews and Zionists from the American academy.

Details of the settlement were disclosed by the university on Friday. It includes shuttering UC Riverside School of Business “global programs” in Israel — as well as the US, Brazil, Jordan, Egypt, Vietnam, China, and Cuba — appointing potentially anti-Zionist students to a task force on the university’s endowment, and exploring the possibility of banning Sabra Hummus, which is co-owned by the Israeli food manufacturer Strauss Group, from campus.

“This is par for the course of UC Riverside, illustrating that it is on board with antisemitism at an institutional level,” Ian Oxnevad, a research fellow at the National Association of Scholars (NAS) and author of  The Company They Keep: Organizational and Economic Dynamics of the BDS Movement, told The Algemeiner on Monday. “Boycotting an Israeli brand due to student demands recalls the Nazi youth’s demanding boycotts of Jewish businesses in the 1930s. We saw then what we’re seeing now: antisemitism becoming a social grace in academia.”

UC Riverside’s apparent capitulation followed a precedent set by Northwestern University last week, when the school agreed to establish a new scholarship for Palestinian students and form a new investment committee in which anti-Zionists students and faculty may wield an outsized voice.

Brown University also yielded to anti-Israel protesters, agreeing to hold a vote on divesting from companies linked to Israel.

The policy announcements are both substantive and performative, said Alex Joffe, an anthropologist and editor of the BDS Monitor for Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.

“It is a careful bit of theater,” he explained. “The plan states the task force will investigate removing Riverside’s endowment from the management of the UC system’s investment office. It is unclear whether or not the statewide system would or even could legally allow Riverside to make its own divestment decisions, or ‘divest,’ meaning to sell shares in weapons manufacturers held as individual stocks or as part of larger funds.”

Joffe also suggested that the number of study abroad programs the university has closed is indicative of strategic restructuring that may not, in the bigger picture, be related to BDS.

“Israel programs have been targeted for years and in some cases pressures have been so great that students have been ostracized for expressing interests, but since programs in Jordan, Vietnam, and Oxford are also being closed, the reality is that the Business School is undertaking a broader rethinking,” he continued. “But the school’s commitment to review the status of Sabra Hummus shows not only how petty the demands of pro-Hamas students are, but the ways in in which universities are capitulating on matters small and large in order to restore calm.”

Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington has also agreed to divest from companies linked to Israel, according to a “Memorandum of Understanding Between the Evergreen State College and the Evergreen Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” which the school posted on its website. The school has also agreed to issue a statement dictated by the protesters. The statement, a portion of which includes pro-Hamas propaganda, will “be reviewed by negotiators and a faculty representative before it is release.”

“The cries of ‘intifada revolution,’ ‘death to America,’ ‘death to Israel,’ and the celebration of ‘resistance’ — and the displays of thuggish tactics, taking over public areas, harassing Jews, and others — demonstrates that the BDS movement was simply the thin edge of a broader anti-American and anti-Israel movement that cares less about the Palestinians than it does about revolution,” Joffe explained.

Formally launched in 2005, the BDS campaign opposes Zionism — a movement supporting the Jewish people’s right to self-determination — and rejects Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. It seeks to isolate the country comprehensively with economic, political, and cultural boycotts. Official propaganda issued for the campaign’s academic boycott delineates specific restrictions that adherents should abide by — for instance, denying letters of recommendation to students who seek to study in Israel — and says that it aims to ensure that “projects with all Israeli academic institutions should come to an end.”

Student involvement in promoting the BDS movement and anti-Zionism amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has been widely covered by major news outlets across the world. However, the role of university faculty in leading the push against Israel has received little attention, experts have told The Algemeiner.

Last week, campus antisemitism expert Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, who founded the AMCHA Initiative watchdog group, explained that far more focus must shift to the faculty, who have provided material and intellectual support to the student protesters and, in many cases, are the individuals responsible for steering them into antisemitic movements fueled by anti-Zionism.

“So much of this has to do with faculty — it’s the missing piece for understanding all of what’s happening, but particularly administrative responses to it,” Rossman-Benjamin said. “The protesters were students who were protected, supported, and, in many cases, colluded with by faculty. Almost all of these encampments, especially the most vicious and antisemitic, have faculty groups that either have their back and are running interference with the university administrations or are actively conspiring and participating in what’s happening on campus, giving it academic legitimacy, inciting it, and encouraging the adoption of more antisemitism and aggression.”

Rossman-Benjamin added that when a university president concedes to the demands of a student mob, they do so at the insistence of faculty, who can prematurely end their employment by issuing votes of no confidence, a measure that all but guarantees a president will be removed from office. This tactic has gained traction at a growing number of universities since the eruption of anti-Israel demonstrations on campuses last month.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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French Foreign Minister Says Recognizing Palestinian State Defies Hamas, Despite Terror Group’s Praise

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot speaks to the media on the day he attends the European Union Foreign Ministers council in Brussels, Belgium, July 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot insisted on Friday that President Emmanuel Macron’s push to recognize a Palestinian state defies Hamas’s interests — even as the terrorist group welcomed the decision.

“Hamas has consistently rejected the two-state solution. By recognizing Palestine, France is rejecting the stance of this terrorist organization and affirming its support for peace over war,” the top French diplomat said in a post on X.

However, Hamas praised France’s latest announcement, calling it “a positive step in the right direction.”

France’s initiative is part of “a political development that reflects growing international conviction in the justice of the Palestinian cause and the failure of the Israeli occupation to distort facts or suppress the will of free nations,” said the Palestinian terrorist group, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades.

Hamas also said that such international steps “represent political and moral pressure” on Israel.

On Thursday, Macron announced that France will recognize a Palestinian state and issue a formal statement at the United Nations General Assembly in September as part of its “commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”

“The urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and to bring relief to the civilian population,” the French leader said in a post on X.

Macron called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages still held by Hamas, and increased humanitarian aid for Gaza.

He also stressed the need to demilitarize the Iran-backed terrorist group, rebuild the war-torn enclave, and create a Palestinian state that recognizes Israel and ensures regional security.

“The French people want peace in the Middle East. It is our responsibility — as French citizens, alongside Israelis, Palestinians, and our European and international partners — to prove that peace is possible,” the French leader wrote.

However, despite Macron’s continued efforts, his controversial diplomatic initiative to recognize a Palestinian state faces widespread public opposition, with nearly 80 percent of French citizens rejecting the move.

A recent survey conducted by the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP) on behalf of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) — the main representative body of French Jews — found that 78 percent of respondents opposed a “hasty, immediate, and unconditional recognition of a Palestinian state.”

According to IFOP’s survey, nearly half of French people (47 percent) believe that recognition of a Palestinian state should only be considered after the release of the remaining hostages captured by Hamas during the group’s invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The survey also revealed deep concerns about the consequences of such a premature recognition, with 51 percent of respondents fearing a resurgence of antisemitism in France and 50 percent believing it could strengthen Hamas’s position in the Middle East.

France’s policy move comes after Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Slovenia officially recognized a Palestinian state last year, claiming that such a move would contribute to fostering a two-state solution and promote lasting peace in the region.

On Friday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas praised France’s decision, calling it a “victory for the Palestinian cause.”

“This reflects France’s commitment to supporting the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights to their land and their homeland,” Abbas said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned France’s announcement, describing it as a “reward for terrorism.”

“Such a move … risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became,” the Israeli leader said in a post on X.

“A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it. Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel. They seek a state instead of Israel,” he continued.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also denounced the move, calling it “reckless” and saying it “only serves Hamas propaganda.”

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Costa Rica Adopts IHRA Definition of Antisemitism, Joining Latin America’s Fight Against Rising Jew-Hatred

Part of an exhibit on the Holocaust supported by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Photo: courtesy of IHRA.

Costa Rica has formally adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, becoming the sixth country in Latin America to do so as antisemitic rhetoric and anti-Jewish hatred continue to rise across the region.

Local authorities announced the decision following meetings with a delegation from the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Institute for Latino and Latin American Affairs.

Among the Latin American countries that have already endorsed the IHRA definition are Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Panama, and Uruguay.

An intergovernmental organization comprising dozens of countries, including the United States and Israel, IHRA adopted the “working definition” of antisemitism in 2016.

Since its adoption, the definition has gained widespread support from Jewish organizations and lawmakers around the world, and is now used by hundreds of governmental bodies, including the European Union and the 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.”

Beyond traditional antisemitic acts associated with the medieval period and Nazi Germany, the definition provides contemporary examples of antisemitism found in public life, media, education, workplaces, and religious settings — including Holocaust denial and modern forms targeting Israel, such as demonizing the Jewish state and denying its right to exist.

Jewish organizations hailed Costa Rica’s recent decision as a significant milestone in the global fight against Jew-hatred, amid a worldwide surge in antisemitism following the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“We are grateful that Costa Rica has joined the growing number of nations that view the IHRA definition as an essential guidepost to recognize antisemitism in its various forms so it can be properly addressed,” Dina Siegel Vann, director of AJC’s Institute for Latin American Affairs, said in a statement.

“We urge all nations to take this important step to protect their Jewish communities and uphold their Democratic values,” she continued.

Gilbert Meltzer, president of Costa Rica’s Jewish Community, commended the government’s decision to “support morality and combat discrimination.”

“The increase of hate speech and attacks on Jews all over the world, especially after Oct. 7, demands ethical decisions and firm actions as this one,” Meltzer said in a statement.

The European Jewish Congress also praised Costa Rica’s latest move, describing it as “a timely and courageous step” amid a rising climate of hostility against Jews.

“Defining hate is the first step to combating it. A principled move that must inspire others,” the statement read.

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‘Reckless Decision’: US Officials Blast France for Recognizing Palestinian State

US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron react on the day of a press conference, at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

US officials were quick to castigate France for its intention to recognize a Palestinian state in September at the United Nations General Assembly, describing the policy as “reckless” and a move that undermines efforts to end the ongoing war in Gaza.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who announced the decision on X, published a letter sent to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas confirming France’s intention to press ahead with Palestinian recognition.

“True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine,” Macron said. “I will make this solemn announcement at the United Nations General Assembly next September.”

France, home to the third largest Jewish community in the world, will become the first major Western country to recognize a Palestinian state, after smaller nations more generally more critical of Israel did so last year.

Washington lambasted France’s announcement.

“The United States strongly rejects Emmanuel Macron’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on the X social media platform. “This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th.”

Likewise, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee slammed France for moving to recognize a Palestinian state.

“How clever! If Macron can just ‘declare’ the existence of a state perhaps the UK can ‘declare’ France a British colony!” he said on X. “Macron’s unilateral ‘declaration’ of a ‘Palestinian’ state didn’t say WHERE it would be. I can now exclusively disclose that France will offer the French Riviera & the new nation will be called ‘Franc-en-Stine.’”

Huckabee has long opposed the recognition of a Palestinian state. In June, the ambassador said that he did not think that an independent Palestinian state remains a goal of US foreign policy.

US President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed Macron’s plan, saying it won’t make a difference.

“What he says doesn’t matter,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “He’s a very good guy. I like him, but that statement doesn’t carry weight.”

Trump added, “”Look, he’s a different kind of a guy. He’s okay. He’s a team player, pretty much. But here’s the good news: What he says doesn’t matter. It’s not going to change anything.”

Israeli officials lambasted France’s plan as a “reward for terrorism,” arguing a Palestinian state at this time would become a hub for terrorism and likely a proxy of Iran, which has long backed the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

“A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it. Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel; they seek a state instead of Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a post on X.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned Macron’s “absurd and unserious” decision that Paris will formally recognize a Palestinian state.

“A Palestinian state would be a Hamas state — just as the [Israeli] withdrawal from the Gaza Strip 20 years ago led to Hamas’s takeover there,” he said in a statement posted on X.

“Israel’s attempt to base its security on Palestinian promises to fight terror failed entirely in the Oslo process,” he continued, referring to the 1990s peace initiative between Israel and the Palestinians that sought a two-state solution. “Israel will no longer gamble with its security and its future.”

Israel maintains that Palestinian statehood should only come as the result of a negotiated peace agreement that ensures Israel’s security and recognition as a Jewish state.

The French announcement comes amid ongoing hostilities in Gaza, where Israeli military operations continue following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.

Macron defended the decision to recognize a Palestinian state in a statement, saying that the proclamation underscores that France is “true to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”

“We must finally build the State of Palestine, ensure its viability and enable it, by accepting its demilitarization and fully recognizing Israel, to contribute to the security of all in the Middle East,” he added.

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