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Pro-Israel Group Plans Massive Walkout Across High School, College Campuses on Jan. 18 to Demand Release of Hostages
Members of Students Supporting Israel (SSI) attending the organization’s national annual conference at Florida Atlantic University in Dec. 2023. Photo: David Mann
Students Supporting Israel (SSI), a nonprofit that promotes education about the Jewish state, is planning to hold a nationwide “walkout” across US high school and university campuses on Jan. 18 to demand the release of hostages who remain captives of Hamas in Gaza after the terrorist organization’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7.
“For over 100 days, the terrorist organization Hamas has held innocent Israeli hostages captive, following the deadliest attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust,” the group said in an announcement posted to its social media accounts on Sunday. “Join SSI in a walkout, demanding the immediate release of the remaining 120 plus hostages and honoring the memories of the 1400 plus Israelis brutally murdered.”
Hamas murdered roughly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, injured thousands more, and kidnapped over 200 people as hostages during its terrorist onslaught. The brutality of Hamas’ attacks — which, according to copious documentation, included widespread rape and sexual torture — shocked the world.
The death toll cited by SSI in its announcement was revised by the Israeli government in November.
“On Thursday, Jan. 18, a date with the meaning of Chai [the Hebrew word for ‘life,’ which is associated with the number 18] and when the academic semester begins, at 10:07 AM — a time symbolically commemorating the date of Oct. 7, our movement will walk out to (1) remember the victims of the attack, (2) call for the return of the hostages, (3) take a stand against the rising antisemitism around the world and in academic institutions,” the group announced.
SSI’s announcement comes amid a surge in pro-Hamas demonstrations on higher education campuses around the world. Universities have been hubs of such antisemitism since Hamas’ onslaught, with students and faculty both demonizing Israel and rationalizing the Palestinian terror group’s rampage. Incidents of harassment and even violence against Jewish students have also increased. As a result, Jewish students have expressed feeling unsafe and unprotected on campuses. In some cases, Jewish communities on campuses have been forced to endure threats of rape and mass slaughter.
Additionally, between Oct. 7 and Dec. 18, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 470 antisemitic incidents on college campuses, and during that same period, antisemitic incidents across the US skyrocketed by 323 percent compared to the prior year.
Valeria Chazin, co-founder of SSI who proposed the Jan. 18 walkout, told The Algemeiner on Monday that it’s important for pro-Israel student leaders to sustain the momentum of their advocacy heading into the new academic semester.
“With this event, we aim to keep the discussion about Oct 7. going because we don’t want people to forget, and we also want to make sure that it’s an event that starts the semester with an impactful statement saying that Jewish students are still here,” Chazin said. “We want to remember the victims of Oct. 7, issue a call to bring the hostages home, and raise awareness on day one of the new semester of the antisemitic environments on college campuses.”
Chazin added that numerous campus chapters of SSI have committed to participating in the walkout, including those at American University in Washington, DC, Tulane University in New Orleans, and the University of California, Los Angeles.
The date of the walkout is symbolic, SSI co-founder Ilan Sinelnikov noted, explaining that it is the birthday of the youngest hostage in Gaza, Kfir Bibas, a baby who will turn one year old on that day.
“That’s baby Bibas’ birthday, and we’re really trying to emphasize the message that it’s time to bring the crowd back out, that people should not get comfortable,” Sinelnikov said. “We have to continue organizing because Students for Justice in Palestine will not stop doing so, and we encourage everyone to participate. This doesn’t just have to be an SSI club event.”
The last mass US demonstration to show support for Israel occurred on Nov. 14, when hundreds of thousands of Jewish Americans and pro-Israel advocates packed the National Mall in Washington, DC in a historic show of solidarity with the Jewish state amid its war with the Hamas terror group.
The marchers, who traveled from across the US, represented a full spectrum of the Jewish community and its allies. As one participant told The Algemeiner, it was an important display of unity and the peaceful intentions of the Jewish people.
“I think it’s beautiful. It just shows that we are in peace, that we come in peace, and we’re not interested in violence, and on the contrary we’re fighting that in the world and all antisemitism and hatred of all kinds,” said Beverly Mehl, from New York. “It’s very important to show strength, to do something and take action.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Pro-Israel Group Plans Massive Walkout Across High School, College Campuses on Jan. 18 to Demand Release of Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
The post Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
The post Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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