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My College’s Efforts to ‘Humanize Palestine’ Only Led to Anti-Israel Propaganda
Schaeffer Hall, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. Photo: Flickr.
Last October, the University of Iowa student-led Middle East and North African Students Association (MENASA) collaborated with Iowans for Palestine (IFP) and Eastern Iowa Jewish Voice for Peace (EIJVP) to host a panel called “Humanizing Palestine.”
Although the event was promoted to “combat dehumanizing rhetoric surrounding Palestine,” the speakers presented a biased narrative amounting to hateful anti-Israel propaganda.
Their falsehoods fell into two categories: distortions about the current war, and misrepresentations about the conflict’s history.
One current undergrad, an anti-Zionist and member of two of the anti-Israel groups, used her platform to demonize Israel and declare her “commitment to fighting against all injustices, including the genocide being committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza…” Later, she denied the connection that the Jewish people have to Israel.
For over a millennia, Jews have called Israel home. As the center of Jewish faith, Jerusalem is revered as their holiest site. An honest reading of past and current international law shows that not only have Jews always had legitimate claims to establish and defend their country, but that their military has gone above and beyond to stop all Palestinian attempts at genocide.
Another speaker, the cofounder of a pro-Palestinian charity foundation that boasts about supporting organizations with proven ties to terror groups, emotionally manipulated the audience with pleas to “consider Palestinians when they are killed,” implying that the only way to do so is to blame Israel for every civilian casualty. In reality, Israel has made more effort than any other military in modern history to protect Palestinian civilians.
Furthermore, the war in Gaza only occurred because Hamas massacred and raped 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, and voted to repeat that attack until Israel was destroyed.
Another member of EIJPV outrageously claimed that her early education led her to “connect the dots between the Warsaw Ghetto and Gaza,” and dismissed all accusations of antisemitism towards Palestinians because she had “never once experienced antisemitism from a Palestinian, or from anyone at these [anti-Israel] protests, or from anyone carrying a Palestinian flag.”
Not only is this an oblivious and self-centered stance, but she would have needed to actively ignore so many incidents on and off our campus in the past year to make that claim with a straight face.
Further, her comparison is a horrific insult to all the Jews who were tortured, forced out of their homes, and murdered during the Holocaust. Life in the Warsaw Ghetto was defined by deliberate starvation, disease, and the constant threat of death. The uprising was an act of courage by Jewish men and women fighting back against Nazi forces who were actively working to wipe out an entire people.
While the situation in Gaza has its own challenges, they are suffering from the consequences of a self-inflicted war, not an attempt of extermination. In fact, the population in Gaza has gone up multiple times since 1948, while the level of Jews worldwide has still not come close to recovering from the Holocaust.
This comparison is Holocaust Inversion, and echoes the antisemitic belief prevalent in Palestinian society that the Holocaust was necessary to save the world from all future evils committed by Jews.
The bottom line is, the people involved in this event are trying to convince our community that it’s perfectly acceptable when people refuse to condemn Hamas, scream “I am Hamas,” or deny the rape of Israeli hostages. Apparently, the only way to humanize Palestine is to demonize Jews.
If that isn’t antisemitism, then nothing is.
The University of Iowa should make clear their official positions on such dangerous and contentious claims and offer equal support to events that platform a variety of perspectives in order to show their commitment to free speech and balance — so students can critically engage with opposing views and strive for justice and peace. Problematic events like these do nothing but spread hatred and disinformation.
Jasmyn Jordan is a 2024-2025 CAMERA Fellow and senior honors presidential scholar at the University of Iowa, double majoring in Political Science and International Relations, with a minor in Journalism.
The post My College’s Efforts to ‘Humanize Palestine’ Only Led to Anti-Israel Propaganda 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.