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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.”
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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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US Treasury Department Targets International Charities, Individuals Fundraising for Hamas
Palestinian supporters protesting outside a Scotland vs. Israel match at the a UEFA Women’s European Qualifiers at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland on May 31, 2024. Photo: Alex Todd/Sportpix/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has identified three individuals and one charity as having significant financial ties to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
In a statement released on Monday, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, OFAC announced new sanctions against the entities spotlighted by its investigation and noted they play integral roles in funding Hamas’s terrorism ventures under the guise of “charitable work.” The department said that the investigation was part of its efforts to surface abuses by self-described “charity organizations” really working to financially support terrorist groups.
“As we mark one year since Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack, Treasury will continue relentlessly degrading the ability of Hamas and other destabilizing Iranian proxies to finance their operations and carry out additional violent acts,” US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said in a statement. “The Treasury Department will use all available tools at our disposal to hold Hamas and its enablers accountable, including those who seek to exploit the situation to secure additional sources of revenue.”
“Treasury is committed to exposing terrorists and terrorist organizations that abuse the NPO sector. By publicly identifying a sham charity, this action reduces the overall risk of the NPO sector and helps preserve access by legitimate humanitarian organizations to financial services,” OFAC added in a statement.
The Treasury Department identified Hamid Abdullah Hussein al Ahmar (al Ahmar), a Yemeni national living in Turkey, as an influential and prolific financier of Hamas. According the US government announcement, al Ahmar has served as the chairman of the Al-Quds International Foundation, a charity organization controlled by Hamas. In addition, OFAC identified nine entities controlled by Ahmar — Al Ahmar Trading Group, Al Ahmar Oils Supply and Distribution, Sama International Media, Al Salam Trading and Agencies General Establishment, Saba, Trade & Investment S.R.O, Sabafon International SAL, Sabaturk Dis Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Vivid Enerji Yatirimlari Anonim Sirketi, Investrade Portfoy Yonetimi Anonim Sirketi — as potentially having ties to Hamas’s operations.
The agency also flagged a cohort of Hamas funders based in European countries. Italy-based Hamas member Mohammad Hannoun runs the “Charity Association of Solidarity with the Palestinian People,” according to OFAC, which said the so-called “charity” actually operates as a fundraising effort for Hamas’s military wing. Hannoun has been designated by OFAC for “having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, Hamas.”
Germany-based Hamas member Majed al-Zeer helps spearhead the terrorist group’s European fundraising initiatives, OFAC claimed, adding that he has “appeared publicly with other senior Hamas members in order to generate funding and other support for Hamas.”
Adel Doughman leads Hamas’s Austrian activities and is “one of the most prominent Hamas representatives in Europe,” according to OFAC. Doughman has also maintained high-ranking positions in Europe-based organizations that have allegedly funneled money to the terrorist group.
Both Al-Zeer and Doughman “are being designated for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Hamas,” OFAC wrote.
OFAC also highlighted Hamas’s use of “unlicenced” financial institutions such as Al-Intaj Bank to help facilitate their activities. The Hamas government in Gaza granted the alleged terrorist-supporting bank a “permit” to operate in the Palestinian enclave. The bank “provides financial services for Hamas despite not being connected to international banks,” OFAC said.
OFAC levied sanctions on the implicated actors, banning their organizations and transactions from operating in the United States and mandating their reporting to the agency.
“As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above, and of any entities that are owned directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by them, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC,” the agency wrote.
In the year following Hamas’s Oct. 7 slaughter of 1,200 individuals in southern Israel, US federal agencies have identified a flood of terrorist-tied fundraising and information efforts on American soil. In July, US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned that “actors tied to Iran’s government” have encouraged and provided financial support to rampant protests opposing Israel’s war against Hamas.
Iran has for years provided Hamas with weapons, funding, and training.
The post US Treasury Department Targets International Charities, Individuals Fundraising for Hamas first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Kamala Harris Refuses to Affirm Netanyahu as an ‘Ally’ of the United States
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, US, Aug. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Erica Dischino
US Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris refused to affirm that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu is an “ally” of the United States, dodging a direct question on the subject and fueling doubts about her commitment to the Jewish state.
During an interview with the long-running news program “60 Minutes,” Harris was pressed on the Biden administration’s struggles to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which has totally ruled Gaza since 2007. Journalist Bill Whitaker asked the incumbent US vice president whether Washington, DC wields influence over Netanyahu and whether the Biden administration considers the Israeli prime minister a trusted partner.
“Do we have a real, close ally in Prime Minister Netanyahu?” Whitaker asked.
“I think, with all due respect, the better question is do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is yes,” Harris responded.
Over the course of the interview, Whitaker accused Netanyahu of ignoring American requests to tone down Israeli military activity in Gaza and Lebanon. Harris did not voice disagreement with the journalist’s claims.
“We supply Israel with billions of dollars in military aid. And yet, Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to be charting his own course. The Biden-Harris administration has pressed him to agree to a ceasefire. He’s resisted. You urged him to not go into Lebanon. He went in anyway. He has promised to make Iran pay for a missile attack, and that has the potential of expanding the war. Does the US have no sway under Prime Minister Netanyahu?” Whitaker asked.
US officials have said in recent weeks that Hamas has refused to agree to a ceasefire deal, pointing the finger mainly at the terrorist group’s top leader, Yahya Sinwar.
Meanwhile, Israel has in recent weeks been launching more intensive military operations against the terrorist group Hezbollah, which for the past year has been firing rockets, missiles, and drones at northern Israeli communities almost daily.
Iran, which supports both Hamas and Hezbollah, launched over 180 ballistic missiles at Israel directly. The Jewish state has vowed to respond to the attack.
Harris responded to Whitaker, arguing that American military aid has allowed Israel to “defend itself against 200 ballistic missiles” aimed at killing the Jewish state’s civilians. “It is without any question,” she continued, that the federal government has an “imperative” to help Israel mitigate threats from belligerent entities such as Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah. The vice president added that Israel has an obligation to allow “humanitarian aid” to enter the Gaza Strip and cooperate with ceasefire negotiations.
Harris added that American pressure against Israel has “resulted in a number of movements in that region” that have helped improve living standards for Palestinians in Gaza.
Since ascending to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket in July, Harris has sought to shore up support among the Jewish community as well as the Arab and Muslim communities in the US. The vice president has also been dogged by accusations that she maintains only mild support for Israel.
In an official White House statement commemorating the Oct. 7 slaughter of roughly 1,200 people throughout southern Israel, the vice president vowed to “do everything in my power to ensure that the threat Hamas poses is eliminated, that it is never again able to govern Gaza, that it fails in its mission to annihilate Israel, and that the people of Gaza are free from the grip of Hamas.”
In the same statement reflecting on the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, Harris dedicated a paragraph to seemingly criticizing the Israeli war effort. The Democratic nominee promised that she “will always fight for the Palestinian people.”
“Hamas’s terrorist attack on Oct. 7 launched a war in Gaza. I am heartbroken over the scale of death and destruction in Gaza over the past year — tens of thousands of lives lost, children fleeing for safety over and over again, mothers and fathers struggling to obtain food, water, and medicine,” the statement read. “It is far past time for a hostage and ceasefire deal to end the suffering of innocent people. And I will always fight for the Palestinian people to be able to realize their right to dignity, freedom, security, and self-determination. We also continue to believe that a diplomatic solution across the Israel-Lebanon border region is the only path to restore lasting calm and allow residents on both sides to return safely to their homes.”
The post Kamala Harris Refuses to Affirm Netanyahu as an ‘Ally’ of the United States first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Celebrities Partner With Families of Female Hamas Hostages to Call for Their Return Home
Chloe Fineman poses at the screening of the film “Megalopolis” at AMC Lincoln Square in New York City, US, Sept. 23, 2024. Photo: Reuters
A total of 13 celebrities, social media activists, and other influential pro-Israel supporters advocated for the return of 13 women who have been held hostage by Hamas for 365 days since the deadly terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, in a new video released by The Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
In the video shared on social media as part of the #BringThemHomeNow movement, the 13 activists talk about the hostages, describing who they are, their personalities, and their hopes and dreams for the future. The clip was published on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel, where Hamas-led terrorists murdered 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages, 97 of which remain in Hamas captivity. The remaining hostages include seven Americans, four of whom are presumed to be alive, according to the American Jewish Committee.
The influential figures who participated in the video include media personality and television host Andy Cohen; “Saturday Night Live” cast member and comedian Chloe Fineman; designer Rebecca Minkoff; Princess Noor Pahlavi, the daughter of the exiled Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi; artist Zoe Buckman, actresses Patricia Heaton, Debra Messing, Ginnifer Goodwin and Emmanuelle Chriqui; attorney and activist Elica Le Bon, and social media influencers Emily Austin, Adela Cojab Made and Baby Ariel.
The 13 female hostages still held captive by Hamas who are highlighted in the clip are Romi Gonen, 24; Naama Levy, 20; Liri Albag, 19; Ofra Keidar, 70; Shiri Bibas, 33; Inbar Hayman, 27; Emily Damari, 27; Karina Ariev, 20; Agam Berger, 20; Doron Steinbrecher, 31; Arbel Yehud, 29; Daniella Gilboa, 20; and Judy Weinstein Haggai, 70. The video includes footage of some of the hostages that has been released either from their abduction on Oct. 7 or during their ongoing captivity.
It was announced in December that Hayman and Weinstein-Haggai were killed in Hamas captivity. Their bodies remain in Gaza. Weinstein-Haggai was an American-Canadian who immigrated to Israel in 1976. Her husband was killed by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7.
The post Celebrities Partner With Families of Female Hamas Hostages to Call for Their Return Home first appeared on Algemeiner.com.