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Rice University LGBTQ group cuts ties with campus Hillel over support for Israel

(JTA) — An LGBTQ student group at Rice University has cut ties with the school’s Hillel, in the latest instance of backlash from a progressive group against the Jewish campus organization’s support for Israel. 

The LGBTQ group, Rice Pride, announced the split last week in a statement on Instagram that said Hillel’s international umbrella group was “not reflective of the values of inclusion upheld by Rice Pride.” 

“Rice Pride’s ultimate goal is to provide a safe space for queer students of all backgrounds, and to recognize the intersectionalities between queer identity and race, ethnicity, and religion,” the statement said. The group did not respond to a request for comment and, on Wednesday, made its Instagram account private after drawing criticism from pro-Israel groups.

According to Rice Pride’s statement, Houston Hillel had provided funding for the group’s Queer Resource Center. The two campus groups have co-hosted 12 events since 2016. A Rice Pride leader told the campus newspaper, the Rice Thresher, that no student had said the local Hillel “has made them uncomfortable in any way.” 

But in the statement, the group said it opposed guidelines put forward by Hillel International, an umbrella group for campus chapters, that prohibit campus Hillels partnering with or hosting groups that advocate for a boycott of Israel or that deny Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state. It also listed instances of Hillel chapters at other schools opposing pro-Palestinian activism.

“Hillel’s ‘Standards of Partnership’ are incompatible with Rice Pride’s mission to create an accessible and equitable space for queer students of all backgrounds,” the statement said. “Historically, these ‘Standards of Partnership’ have been used by Hillel International to cut ties and spark conflicts with any organization that seeks to engage in spaces that validate Palestinian and Arab experiences.”

Rice Pride joins a number of other student groups across the country distancing themselves from Hillel over its Israel policies. Last year, a Muslim student group at American University canceled its participation in a Passover seder organized by Hillel due to its positions on Israel, and in 2019, the Graduate Student Union at the University of Toronto refused to support a Hillel kosher food program, calling it “pro-Israel.” Campus pro-Palestinian groups have also condemned Hillel for its support of Israel, and Jewish students who oppose the guidelines have sought to build alternative organizations.

Rice Pride’s statement also comes as students at a range of universities have said that their support of Israel has made them feel uncomfortable or unwelcome on campus. Pro-Israel groups have helped students file a series of federal complaints alleging discrimination due to their views on Israel or Zionism. A recent survey by the Anti-Defamation League, which partners with Hillel, reported that anti-Israel activity on campuses doubled since the previous school year. 

In his own statement posted to Instagram on Friday, Rabbi Kenny Weiss, executive director of Houston Hillel, wrote that the Hillel “regrets” Rice Pride’s decision. When reached for comment, he referred the Jewish Telegraphic Agency back to his statement. 

“Houston Hillel does not accept that we live in a world where students need to pick only one part of their identity to celebrate,” Weiss wrote. “We believe in building communities where one group’s inclusion does not come at the expense of another’s. This decision by Rice Pride not only alienates queer Jewish students and leaves them unsure of their own acceptance in Rice Pride spaces, but also damages the campus climate for all Jewish students.”

The decision was made without a call for input from Rice Pride’s members, according to the student newspaper. Two days after the group made its announcement public, a member of its executive board stepped down from his position in protest.

One queer Jewish student, whom the Rice Thresher identified with a pseudonym, said that she felt the decision was poorly timed, coming just after Rosh Hashanah.

“This is certainly a decision that could have waited a single week,” the student said. “To make an announcement of this kind during the High Holy Days places a lot of extra stress on Jewish people, and shows there isn’t the level of cultural fluency I would like to see from Pride leadership.”

The group’s statement acknowledged that the decision could put Jews in an uncomfortable place. Rice Pride said it made the decision to cut ties with Hillel “with the consultation and support of trusted organizations and individuals (both Jewish and not)” and will turn to other Jewish groups for additional support, including Judaism On Our Own Terms, a group formerly known as Open Hillel that arose in protest of Hillel International’s Israel policies. 

“We have no intention of excluding Jewish students, regardless of their affiliation with Hillel,” Rice Pride’s statement said. “However, we acknowledge that this decision has likely weighed heavy on the hearts of queer Jewish students at Rice, and we empathize with that.”

Weiss said the group’s portrayal of his Hillel’s policies was not accurate. 

“We wish that Rice Pride’s leadership had pursued a conversation with Houston Hillel students or professionals during their internal discussions,” he wrote in the statement. “We feel that had they done so, Rice Pride’s leaders would have learned that the conclusions they drew from outdated sources and various Hillel websites do not reflect current Houston Hillel policies or practice.”


The post Rice University LGBTQ group cuts ties with campus Hillel over support for Israel appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.

i24 NewsIran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.

“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.

Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.

Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.

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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group

People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy

London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.

Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.

Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.

In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.

The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.

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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

i24 NewsIranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.

“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.

The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.

In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.

“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.

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