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Rashida Tlaib Event at Arizona State University Canceled Amid Backlash
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses attendees as she takes part in a protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, US, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis
Arizona State University (ASU) has canceled an event featuring US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) that was organized by anti-Israel groups and scheduled to be held on campus on Friday.
An ASU spokesperson told The Algemeiner that organizers of the event — which included ASU’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter — had circumvented school polices for organizing events on campus.
“Organizers of events using ASU facilities must be properly registered with ASU and must meet all university requirements for crowd management, parking, security, and insurance,” the university official said. “In addition, the events must be produced in a way which minimizes disruption to academic and other activities on campus. The event featuring Congresswoman Tlaib was planned and produced by groups not affiliated with ASU and was organized outside of ASU policies and procedures. Accordingly, that event will not take place today on the ASU Tempe campus.”
Groups supportive of the event quickly campaigned to pressure ASU to change course. SJP had promoted the Tlaib event on its Instagram page this week, describing the only Palestinian American in Congress as an “unapologetic advocate for justice” and “one of the leading voices in our country today.”
Over the last couple days, pro-Israel activists and antisemitism watchdog groups had called on ASU to cancel the event. A bipartisan group of Arizona state lawmakers even issued a joint press release saying that, while the congressman has a right to speak on campus, her “extremist, antisemitic views are not welcome in the state of Arizona.” The lawmakers also lambasted SJP, which has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks for blaming Israel for Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israeli communities and rationalizing the Palestinian terror group’s brutality.
Tlaib’s presence on campus could risk further inflaming an already tense situation over the Israel-Hamas war. The lawmaker has received widespread, bipartisan criticism for a wave of virulent comments attacking the Jewish state since the Hamas atrocities last month.
Friday’s event would have been held just three days after anti-Israel demonstrators were accused of throwing landscaping rocks on campus at the second-floor windows of a building, disrupting a student government meeting inside. The student government was considering resolutions expressing support for ASU students impacted by the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) legislation against Israel. Students with several Jewish organizations on ASU’s campus also attended the meeting, which was reportedly ended as the rocks were thrown. Some students with SJP were among the protesters.
According to press reports and video circulated on social media, Jewish students had to be escorted out of the building by university police, who are now investigating the incident.
After Hamas killed over 1,200 people and abducted more than 240 more as hostages during the Palestinian terror group’s onslaught across southern Israel, Tlaib flew a Palestinian flag outside her home and seemingly blamed the Jewish state for the attack, accusing the country of having an “apartheid system” that fosters “conditions that can lead to resistance.” Tlaib and other members of the so-called “Squad” of far left progressive House members came under fire for slamming Israel without condemning Hamas by name.
The lawmaker also accused US President Joe Biden of supporting a “genocide” against Palestinians by supporting Israel’s right to defend itself in the wake of the Hamas atrocities.
Late last month, Tlaib refused to apologize after falsely claiming on social media that Israel bombed the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza as part of its military operations targeting Hamas, which rules the coastal Palestinian enclave. It turned out that a misfired Palestinian rocket from Gaza caused a widely reported explosion near the Al Ahli Hospital, according to intelligence from Israel and several Western governments. Experts agreed that Israel was not responsible, but Hamas and several media outlets continued to falsely blame an Israeli air strike for causing the blast.
“Both the Israeli and United States governments have long, documented histories of misleading the public about wars and war crimes,” Tlaib said in a statement at the time. “This debate should not distract us from the urgent need for a ceasefire to save innocent lives.” The congresswoman did not mention Hamas.
Earlier this month, Tlaib was censured by her colleagues in the US House of Representatives for her recent spate of anti-Israel comments amid the Jewish state’s war with Hamas. The censure measure accused Tlaib of “promoting false narratives” regarding Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of the Jewish state and of “calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”
Friday would not have been the first time that ASU’s SJP chapter hosted a public figure accused of antisemitism. In 2021, it invited Mohammed El-Kurd to address students, using about $10,000 in student government funding to pay for the event. The Palestinian writer has trafficked in antisemitic tropes, demonized Zionism, and falsely accused Israelis of eating the organs of Palestinians, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Tlaib’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip

Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
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