RSS
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.
RSS
Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
The post Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
The post Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
The post Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.