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Ritchie Torres Introduces Legislation to Ban Universities From Accepting Gifts From Terror-Supporting Countries
US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) speaks during the House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC, Sept. 30, 2021. Photo: Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS
US Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) introduced legislation that would bar universities from accepting gifts from foreign countries that have provided assistance to terrorist groups.
The “No Foreign Gifts Act” would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ban institutions of higher learning from taking donations from countries that “have provided financial support of foreign terrorist organizations, including China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.” The legislation would also mandate that universities report gift offers from terror-supporting countries to the US Secretary of State.
“The No Foreign Gifts Act represents a crucial step toward safeguarding the integrity of our nation’s higher education system from malicious foreign influence, which has become increasingly pronounced in the aftermath of Oct. 7,” Torres wrote, referring to the day when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel.
“By prohibiting gifts from countries that have supported foreign terrorist organizations, like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, this legislation would ensure that institutions of higher learning remain free from malign financial manipulation that is corrupting the minds of America’s next generation and causing social disorder,” the New York Democrat added.
The growing influence of foreign money on American universities has become a major point of discussion in the months following the Hamas terrorist group’s slaughter of roughly 1,200 people and kidnapping of some 250 throughout southern Israel.
According to a recent report by foreign policy analyst Mitchell Bard, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Kuwait have donated a combined $12.3 billion to American universities since 1981.
These donations have influenced the academic curriculum and program offerings of many prestigious American universities. For example, Brown University accepted a donation to create a professorship in Palestinian Studies. Saudi Arabia also donated $200,000 to Duke University to bankroll the creation of an Islamic and Arabian development studies major. The United Arab Emirates gave $250,000 to Georgetown University to fund a visiting professorship of Arab civilization.
“Foreign influence has no place in our education system — especially when it’s aimed at spreading antisemitism and anti-American sentiment on our college campuses,” Garbarino said in a statement. “For far too long, radical organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine have been propped up by foreign entities with connections to terrorism. Allowing these malign actors to continue funneling money into our colleges and universities would be the height of recklessness.”
Many hobservers ave suggested that foreign actors have influenced the narratives surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on American university campuses. US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines in July warned that “actors tied to Iran’s government” have encouraged and provided financial support to rampant protests opposing Israel’s defensive military operations against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
Haines also told Congress that Iran is becoming “increasingly aggressive” in its efforts to “stoke discord” in American institutions. Gabriel Noronha, an expert on Iran and former US State Department official, told National Review that Individuals tied to the Iranian government have been observed “posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support for protesters.”
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
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