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Northwestern University Students, Faculty Slam School for Forming Committee to Combat Antisemitism
Thousands of anti-Israel demonstrators from the Midwest gather in support of Palestinians and hold a rally and march through the Loop in Chicago on Oct. 21, 2023. Photo: Alexandra Buxbaum/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Dozens of student groups at Northwestern University just outside Chicago on Thursday dismissed concerns of rising antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war as “mass hysteria and collective psychosis,” seemingly calling for the destruction of the Jewish state and joining faculty in castigating the school for forming a new panel to combat Jew-hatred on campus.
On Monday, Northwestern President Michael Schill announced the creation of a new committee “on preventing antisemitism and hate.”
Comprising faculty, staff, students, alumni, and trustees, the committee was formed in response to an explosion of pro-Hamas sentiment and acts of antisemitism on campus following Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
The school’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter has falsely accused Israel of apartheid, genocide, and “settler-colonialism” at its events and in its social media posts. The group also marched around campus earlier this month chanting, “Hey, Schill, what do you say, how many kids did you kill today?” In one incident — in which SJP has denied any involvement — an unknown group vandalized print copies of The Daily Northwestern, the campus newspaper, covering them in leaflets headlined, “Northwestern complicit in genocide of Palestinians.”
In Monday’s announcement, Schill disavowed such activity while noting specifically that chants of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” are perceived by “significant parts of our community” as “promoting murder and genocide.” The popular slogan among pro-Palestinian activists has been widely interpreted as a call for the destruction of Israel, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Nonetheless, in response to Schill’s announcement, 65 student organizations on Thursday signed an op-ed in The Daily Northwestern that was headlined, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
“Indeed we know there is a genocide happening, and it is happening to Palestinians by the Israeli apartheid government,” the article read. “Palestine has always served as a litmus test of our collective imagination of what freedom could look like. When we say from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, we imagine a world free of Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-Blackness, militarism, occupation, and apartheid. From the river to the seas, Palestine will be free. Until liberation.”
The op-ed dismissed efforts to combat the recent surge in antisemitic incidents on college campuses as “mass hysteria and collective psychosis,” arguing Schill is being “irresponsible” and “dangerous” by “denying genocide” and “mischaracterizing the mission of activists.”
The students also argued that “the destiny of all marginalized people — both in occupied Palestine and around the world — is intertwined. We believe in the liberation of all peoples from Chicago to Sudan to the Congo to Western Sahara to Palestine.”
Some members of the Northwestern community lambasted the op-ed.
“Ah, yes! Let’s lump this highly complicated and charged conflict in with all of the bad things in this world and blame it on the Jews!” Northwestern University student Josh Miller tweeted in response to the column. “I cannot believe that this op-ed ran in The Daily Northwestern.”
The student groups did not mention or denounce the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, when they invaded the Jewish state and murdered over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped more than 240 others as hostages. The brutality of Hamas’ onslaught — which included rape, torture, and the beheading of babies — has shocked the world.
Also on Thursday, over 150 Northwestern faculty and staff signed a letter accusing Schill of undermining academic freedom and free expression, as well as jeopardizing the safety of “staff and faculty of color.” The letter went on to argue that Israel is committing “genocidal violence in Gaza,” despite the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) taking precautions to prevent civilian casualties.
Antisemitic outrages are not new to Northwestern University.
Last November, SJP tacked together copies of an op-ed by a Jewish student, Lily Cohen, graffitied it with the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and zip-tied it to fences enclosing the Deering Library. SJP took responsibility for the offensive displays that evening in an X/Twitter post charging that “US and Israeli law enforcement agencies collaborate to develop violent tactics to subjugate Black and Palestinian communities — in the name of American and Israeli racism, materialism, and militarism.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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New York City Mayor, Police Commissioner Detail Increased Security Measures for Israel Day Parade
Thousands of participants and spectators gather along Fifth Avenue to express support for Israel during the 59th Annual Israel Day Parade in New York City, on June 2, 2024. Photo: Melissa Bender via Reuters Connect
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch held a briefing on Friday morning to detail their “comprehensive security plan” to ensure the safety of New Yorkers at the Israel Day Parade on Sunday.
The theme of this year’s parade is “Hatikvah,” which means “the hope” and is also the title of Israel’s national anthem. Several former hostages — abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel — will march in the parade on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, including Andrey Kozlov, Ilana Gritzewsky, Aviva and Keith Siegel, Eliya Cohen, and Doron Steinbrecher. The hostages are marching to raise awareness for the 58 people still held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The logo of this year’s parade is a multicolored tree that has a yellow ribbon on its trunk, in solidarity with the hostages.
Almost daily, there have been anti-Israel protests in New York City, including on college campuses, and the city is facing an unprecedented uptick in antisemitism, according to the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
“We will not tolerate any attempts to disrupt this event or engage those who come to celebrate,” Trish started the security briefing on Friday morning by saying. She then detailed measures that will be taken by the NYPD at the parade on Sunday, which include requiring spectators to enter the viewing area through designated screening entry points. No backpacks, chairs, large bags, and other items will be allowed.
Tisch added that, while currently the NYPD is not aware of any specific or credible threats related to the parade, nevertheless there will be a “robust and visible police presence” at the event, including uniformed police officers as well as bomb squads and both counterterrorism and surveillance teams. NYPD helicopters and drones will also be in the area and intelligence teams will be moderating social media for potential threats.
“The NYPD will be out there to make sure Sunday is safe, joyful, and everything that it’s meant to be,” Tisch concluded.
“We want to ensure we have a safe acknowledgement of Israel’s Independence Day on Sunday,” Adams added. “We look forward to the flags and beauty of this celebration.”
Adams announced earlier this week the establishment of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, the first office of its kind to open in a major city in the US. The new mayoral office will aim to tackle “all forms of antisemitism.”
“There is no place for antisemitism and hate in the state of New York. Plain and simple,” Adams said at Friday’s security briefing. “Those who spread hate want to divide us, but we must remain united. A hateful few will not dictate how the rest of us live.”
Adams is scheduled to march in the parade on Sunday. New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James are also scheduled to attend. The parade is organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York with support from the UJA-Federation of New York.
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Israel’s Yuval Raphael Advances to Grand Final of 2025 Eurovision Song Contest
Yuval Raphael from Israel with the title “New Day Will Rise” on stage at the second semi-final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest in the Arena St. Jakobshalle. Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa via Reuters Connect
Israel’s Yuval Raphael advanced to the grand final of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest after a stunning performance of her song “New Day Will Rise” in the second semi-finals on Thursday night in Basel, Switzerland.
The 24-year-old, who is a survivor of the Oct. 7, 2023, Nova music festival massacre, performed an emotional ballad in English, French, and Hebrew that was written by singer and songwriter Keren Peles. The results of the semi-finals are based solely on public vote.
Ten acts from the second semi-final advanced to the grand final, including performers from Armenia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, and Malta. Raphael will compete in Saturday’s grand final against those acts and the qualifiers from Tuesday’s semi-final. They include performers from Albania, Iceland, Estonia, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine, Norway, San Marino, and the Netherlands. Also competing in the grand final is the Eurovision “Big Five” — Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Italy – and Switzerland, which was last year’s winner.
Unlike in the semi-finals, the results of the grand final are based on a combination of the televote and the jury vote, in which professional juries from all 37 participating countries vote for their favorites. Last year, a Eurovision jury member from Norway admitted that he refused to give points to Israel’s representative, Eden Golan, because of his personal resentment toward Israel’s military actions in the Gaza war.
There have been a number of public calls, including from national broadcasters and former Eurovision contestants, to have Israel banned from this year’s competition because of the country’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip targeting the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
During a dress rehearsal for the semi-final on Thursday afternoon, audience members booed at Raphael, whistled, and waved oversized Palestinian flags. Under rules of the competition, all flags are allowed but there are limitations on the size. The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, which is organizing this year’s Eurovision events, said in a released statement that the audience members with the oversized flags were escorted out of the St Jakobshalle arena by security personnel.
The 2025 Eurovision Song Contest grand final will take place on Saturday night in Basel’s St Jackobshalle arena. The detailed results of the second semi-final will be revealed after the grand final.
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Iran, Europeans Hold Nuclear Talks, Agree to More, Diplomats Say
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. Photo: Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool via REUTERS
Diplomats from Iran and the three European parties remaining in a moribund 2015 nuclear deal met in Istanbul on Friday, Iranian and British officials said, their first round of talks since the US began nuclear talks with Tehran in April.
The talks between senior diplomats from Iran and Britain, France, and Germany – known as the E3 – took place as US President Donald Trump pushes for a deal to limit Iran‘s nuclear program. On Friday he called on Iran to move quickly after he said his administration had put forward a proposal to Iran.
An Iranian source close to the negotiating team said Tehran has yet to receive the US proposal, “but Oman has got it and will hand it over to Tehran soon.”
The European powers are not part of current negotiations between Iran and the United States, the fourth round of which ended in Oman on Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
However, they have held repeated talks with the Iranians most recently in March where they discussed how they saw the parameters of a deal to replace the 2015 accord.
The three powers have sought to coordinate with Washington notably on whether and when they should reimpose UN sanctions against Tehran – known in diplomatic circles as the “snapback mechanism” – if no agreement is reached.
That coordination has not been easy with European diplomats bemoaning a lack of clarity in US policy on its negotiations with Tehran.
Iran and the Europeans agreed to hold further talks if needed, Iran‘s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on X on Friday.
“Iran and the three European countries are determined to maintain and make optimal use of diplomacy,” Gharibabadi said. “We will meet again to continue the discussions if necessary.”
British diplomat Christian Turner said on X that Iran and the E3 shared a commitment to dialogue and that they agreed to meet again, without giving a timeframe.
Under the terms of a UN resolution ratifying the 2015 nuclear pact, the three European powers have until October 18 to trigger the snapback mechanism before the resolution expires.
According to diplomats and a document seen by Reuters, the E3 countries may do this by August if no substantial deal can be found by then.
Relations between the E3 and Iran have worsened over the last year despite sporadic meetings, against a backdrop of new sanctions imposed on Tehran over its ballistic missile program, its detention of foreign citizens and support for Russia in its war against Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met the equivalent of national security advisers of the E3 powers also in Istanbul on Friday to discuss Iran and Ukraine, a US official said.
The post Iran, Europeans Hold Nuclear Talks, Agree to More, Diplomats Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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